Business

The European Investment Bank and the Rwandan Development Bank have launched an initiative to back new investments by companies affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The new targeted financing scheme will include support companies in sectors most impacted by the trade, economic and health challenges triggered by COVID-19 and unlock investment …

Nigerian railway workers have started a three-day strike, launched by the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR), to push the government to improve their living and working conditions. The strike is likely to disrupt services in some of the busy stations, including the railway line that links the northern Kaduna …

The Gates Foundation will offer $4 million to address the looming shortage of syringes for Covid-19 vaccination in Africa. This comes amid warning from the World Health Organization (WHO) that the shortage of crucial commodities such as syringes was slowing the rollout of Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the continent. Kenyan …

The US billionaire and Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, has pledged $ 2 billion through his Bezos Earth Fund, for land restoration in Africa. The US billionaire had previously indicated he would make investments worth $ 1 billion during an event with Prince Charles on Monday. “We must conserve what we …

Algeria has stopped gas exports through a pipeline that crosses neighbouring Morocco because of a dispute between the two countries, the presidency has said. “Due to Morocco’s hostile acts towards Algeria undermining national, unity the president has ordered the oil company Sonatrach to cut off trade relations with the Moroccan …

Mark Zuckerberg, boss of Facebook on Thursday announced the parent company’s name is being changed to “Meta” to represent a future beyond just its troubled social network. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp will keep their names under the rebranding. “We’ve learned a lot from struggling with social issues and living under …

Authorities in Sudan have announced that the Khartoum International Airport will reopen on Wednesday to all inbound and outbound flights. The head of civil aviation authority, Gen Ibrahim Adlan, told news agencies that the airport will resume operations starting Wednesday 4pm local time (1400 GMT). Read also: Anglican world leader …

The German firm, BioNTech, has signed deals with Rwanda and Senegal to build Africa’s first vaccine manufacturing facility based on mRNA technology. BioNTech, which with Pfizer created one of the world’s most widely used Covid-19 vaccines, says the plant will have an initial capacity to produce 50 million doses annually. …

The World Bank has warned that the rapid rise in energy prices seen in Europe and parts of Asia won’t ease until the second half of next year, and it will have a knock-on effect on Africa, the BBC reports. It says the global economy is struggling to satisfy a …

Former US president, Donald Trump, on Wednesday announced the launch of his own social network, “Truth Social”, after being banned in January from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The former president wants to “resist the tyranny of the giants of technology”, who “used their unilateral power to silence dissenting voices in …