Politics and society

Central African Republic will launch the continent’s first legal cryptocurrency investment hub, the presidency said, extending the impoverished country’s embrace of digital finance despite words of caution from the International Monetary Fund, Reuters agency reported. Marred by decades of conflict, Central African Republic last month became the first country in …

Tunisia’s main union announced it will stage a nationwide strike calling for wage increases as the cost of living rises, the BBC reported. It comes a day after the UGTT refused to participate in a limited dialogue proposed by President Kaïs Saïed to study ideas for political and economic reform. …

Ugandan Internal Affairs Minister, Gen. Kahinda Otafiire said poor people will not go to heaven because they insult God through lamentations and accusations every day, New Vision newspaper reported. The minister reportedly made those comments at a school event in Kyenjojo, western Uganda, while telling students that hard work was …

Authorities in Sudan have ordered a morgue in the capital, Khartoum, to shut down because bodies there are starting to decompose in the heat because of frequent power cuts. The facility is said to hold nearly 1,000 unidentified corpses. A health ministry official, Hisham Zain al-Abidin, said the morgue was …

The Cemac Banking Commission (Cobac), has not accepted the adoption by the Central African authorities of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency as one of the country’s official currencies. Following an extraordinary meeting on May 6, the Cobac banned the use of cryptocurrencies in banking and financial institutions in the countries of the …

Zimbabwe’s central bank has lifted the suspension on bank lending services that was meant to stop the slide of the local currency, the BBC reported. Authorities have gradually walked back from the proposal. Inflation has surged to over 96% in the country, as the government blames currency speculators who it …

Uganda’s Health Minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng authorized private hospitals to charge 20,000 shillings (€6) to people wishing to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as an overhead for vaccines. While announcing collaboration with private health facilities in Kampala, Dr Aceng said the government is now allowing all private facilities to start …

Zimbabwean government on Saturday ordered banks to stop lending with immediate effect in a move Harare said was designed to stop speculation against the Zimbabwean dollar and was part of a raft of measures to arrest its rapid devaluation on the black market, Reuters reported. The southern African country reintroduced …

South Africa’s Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, has called for a scrap metal export ban amid vandalism of public infrastructure. According to the Minister, this measure would ensure that there would be no external market for the stolen metal to be sold as scrap metal. “There is absolutely no …

At least 600,000 children in Ethiopia are out of school, the result of a severe drought that is forcing many families to move to other parts of the country. According to Gianfranco Rotigliano, the UNICEF representative in the country, these children no longer go to school because teachers have also …