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🇬🇭 Ghana passes anti-LGBT bill
Ghana’s parliament has passed the highly contentious Anti-LGBT bill after about three years of deliberations.
The new bill imposes a prison sentence of up to three years for anyone convicted of identifying as LGBT.
It also imposes a maximum five-year jail term for forming or funding LGBT groups.
The bill was approved unanimously on Wednesday following the completion of the third reading. Proposed amendments to the bill were rejected by the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, during the session.
Lawmakers heckled down attempts to replace prison sentences with community service and counselling.
The bill is now slated to be forwarded to President Akufo-Addo for his assent for it to be signed into law. The president has in the past said that he would do so if the majority of Ghanaians want him to.
#Ghana
@africaintel
🇹🇳 Tunisian labour union says authorities detain a top official
Tunisian authorities have detained a top official in the country's biggest labour union, the UGTT union said on Thursday, adding that the decision have political motivation and aims to hit union rights.
The detention of Tahar Mezzi, who is the deputy secretary-general and the head of private sector in the union, comes two days before a huge protest called by UGTT against what it called "violation of union rights and the disruption of social dialogue".
The UGTT did not say on what grounds Mezzi was detained.
Since last year, police have arrested at least four senior union officials.
The UGTT, which has about 1 million members, had been a critical voice after the arrest of activists, businessmen and journalists since President Kais Saied seized most powers in 2021 when he closed Parliament.
#Tunisia
@africaintel
🇬🇧🇷🇼 UK to pay at least £370m to Rwanda for asylum deal
The UK will pay at least £370m to Rwanda as part of its plan to relocate asylum seekers there, the government's spending watchdog has revealed.
Up to £150,000 will also be paid for each person sent to the east African country over a five-year period.
Labour said the new figures in the report by the National Audit Office were a "national scandal".
However, the Home Office said: "Doing nothing is not without significant costs."
A spokesperson said: "Unless we act, the cost of housing asylum seekers is set to reach £11bn per year by 2026.
"Illegal migration costs lives and perpetuates human trafficking, and it is therefore right that we fund solutions to break this unsustainable cycle."
#UK #Rwanda
@africaintel
🇳🇬 MTN Nigeria apologise over service outage
Nigeria’s biggest telecom services provider MTN suffered a major service outage on Wednesday which still persists in some parts of the country.
In a statement, the telecom operator attributed the network challenges to a multiple fibre cuts adding that its engineers are working hard to resolve the problem.
Millions of Nigerians rely on the South African company’s connections to carry out day to day business and personal activities.
The company say services are being restored in some places.
#Nigeria
@africaintel
A woman who allegedly laundered huge amounts of Bitcoin for a $6 billion investment fraud in China was manipulated by a “super villain," say her lawyers at her UK trial https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-01/-super-villain-of-6-billion-fraud-is-key-to-uk-laundering-trial-lawyer-says?utm_source=telegram&utm_content=crypto&utm_medium=social
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JPMorgan says Bitcoin’s price may drift back toward $42,000 after April https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-29/jpmorgan-predicts-bitcoin-correction-once-halving-euphoria-cools?utm_source=telegram&utm_content=crypto&utm_medium=social
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The Fed’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation rose in January at the fastest pace in almost a year https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-02-29/bumpy-the-bloomberg-open-asia-edition?utm_source=telegram&utm_content=crypto&utm_medium=social
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Bank of America's Merrill arm and Wells Fargo’s brokerage unit are offering access to ETFs that invest directly in Bitcoin https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-29/bofa-s-merrill-wells-fargo-offer-bitcoin-etf-products-for-clients?utm_source=telegram&utm_content=crypto&utm_medium=social
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More than $75 billion has been lost to pig-butchering scams, a new study shows https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-29/pig-butchering-crypto-scams-netted-more-than-75-billion-new-study-finds?utm_source=telegram&utm_content=crypto&utm_medium=social
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“It is on this note that I want to remind you that I will not cover up for any corruption. I will not be like [President] Museveni whose ministers steal money meant for Karamoja iron sheets and he ‘covers’ up for them"- Bobi Wwine
https://bit.ly/4313447
#MonitorUpdates
Unpaid KCCA casual workers storm Parliament
https://bit.ly/3uJbRLt
#MonitorUpdates
Cracked walls at Pakwach Health Center IV worry patients https://bit.ly/3SWPHxm #MonitorUpdates
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President Museveni has appointed Prof. Gilbert Bukenya as the Senior Presidential Advisor on Environment and Sanitation. #MonitorToon #MonitorUpdates
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🏳️🌈❌🇽🇰🕋 — In partially unrecognized Kosovo*, Human rights NGOs have sued conservative Albanian-Kosovar muslim MP from LVV Labinote Demi Murtezi, accusing her of 'hate speech' and discrimination against the so-called LGBTIQ+ community.
Under Kosovo* law, individuals found guilty of 'hate speech' could face up to five years in prison.
🔗 kos_data (@kos_data)
* — Per United Nations Security Council resolution 1244, Kosovo is an autonomous region of Serbia.
🇪🇬 Egypt tops the list of most influential countries in Africa in terms of soft power
In the world ranking, Egypt took the 39th place, according to the annual report Global Soft Power Index 2024 by the British consulting company Brand Finance.
Egypt is followed on the continent by the following countries:
🔹 South Africa (43rd in the world);
🔹 Morocco (50th);
🔹 Algeria (73rd);
🔹 Tunisia (77th);
🔹 Nigeria (79th);
🔹 Ghana (85th);
🔹 Tanzania (93rd);
🔹 Senegal (94th);
🔹 Kenya (95th).
Soft power is defined in the report as a country's ability to influence the sympathies and behavior of other people and states in the international arena through its example and its values, rather than coercion.
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🇺🇳🇨🇩 UN peacekeepers withdraw from Kamanyola base as DR Congo police take charge
Pakistani MONUSCO peacekeepers closed their Kamanyola base in eastern DRC.
The Head of the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo attended the ceremony.
“Kamanyola is the first MONUSCO base in South Kivu to close following the joint signing by the DRC (Congo) government and MONUSCO on 21 November 2023 of the note on the accelerated, gradual, orderly and responsible withdrawal of MONUSCO,” special representative of the UN Secretary-General said.
The MONUSCO base was established in 2005.
The Congolese National Police is from now on responsible for security in the region. The interim Commander-in-Chief of MONUSCO forces said he was confident in their professionalism.
The Kamanyola base is located in a particularly volatile area of the Ruzizi plain.
#UN #DRC
@africaintel
🇬🇭 Ghana's ECG cuts electricity to parliament over $1.8m debt
The state-run Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) on Thursday cut power supplies to the parliament over a debt of 23m Ghanaian cedi ($1.8m).
The outage interrupted a debate on the president's State of the Nation speech.
Local media reported that a back-up power generator restored power to the chamber a few minutes later.
But other parts of the parliament building remained without power for most of the day before supplies were restored.
MPs and parliamentary staff who were using the elevator when the abrupt blackout hit were stuck.
The power company's communications director told it had resorted to disconnecting power because of parliament's refusal to "honour demand notices to pay up".
Electricity was restored later in the day after parliament paid 13m cedi and made a pledge to settle the remaining debt within a week.
#Ghana
@africaintel
🇨🇳🇪🇬 China willing to enhance economic, trade cooperation with Egypt, commerce minister says
China is willing to further promote economic and trade cooperation with Egypt, and to continue to encourage and support its enterprises to invest and start businesses in the African country, the Chinese commerce minister said.
Minister Wang Wentao, who met the Egyptian prime minister on Wednesday, said China is ready to expand relations, looking into the potential for cooperation in fields such as information and communications, smart cities, e-commerce, green development, and high-tech industry.
#China #Egypt
@africaintel
🇲🇱 Mali follows with "great interest and attention" the evolution of the BRICS, Malian Foreign Minister says
Many members of the group, Russia included, are considered friends of Bamako, Abdoulaye Diop highlighted during an interview with Sputnik in Moscow.
"We recognize ourselves in the positions taken by the BRICS and in particular the desire to move towards a multipolar world. And we also appreciate the economic approach that the BRICS are putting in place with the existence of a bank," he noted.
Twenty-two companies applied for licenses to operate digital-asset exchanges in Hong Kong, including larger players like Bybit, OKX and Crypto.com https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-01/hong-kong-attracts-22-applicants-for-crypto-exchange-licenses?utm_source=telegram&utm_content=crypto&utm_medium=social
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Bitcoin's rally above $60,000 is renewing optimism in the crypto industry, yet regulatory scrutiny is likely to continue in Hong Kong and beyond https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-02-29/bitcoin-s-btc-latest-moon-shot-is-no-cure-all-for-regulatory-crackdowns?utm_source=telegram&utm_content=crypto&utm_medium=social
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Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz is cautioning investors that Bitcoin may see some corrections before rallying to a record and ending the year "much higher" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-29/galaxy-s-novogratz-warns-of-bitcoin-correction-before-rallying-to-record?utm_source=telegram&utm_content=crypto&utm_medium=social
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A growing number of US military officers predict that AI will revolutionize combat. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-02-29/how-us-defense-department-uses-ai-warfare-to-target-enemies?utm_source=telegram&utm_content=crypto&utm_medium=social
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Nigerian authorities detained two Binance executives, days after the central bank governor said the nation is losing out on taxes from unregistered crypto exchanges https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-29/ngn-usd-nigeria-detains-binance-executives?utm_source=telegram&utm_content=crypto&utm_medium=social
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Mpuuga: I'm going nowhere
https://bit.ly/3V3zAk3
#MonitorUpdates
IGG to investigate shoddy works at seed schools https://bit.ly/3T0toGN #MonitorUpdates
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Readers’ take on trust in media and similar photos https://bit.ly/3IjWE6t #MonitorUpdates
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🇦🇷 ⛽❌ 🇧🇴
The Argentine federal government announced that starting in October it will stop importing gas from Bolivia.
This was stated by officials from the National Energy Secretariat during a public hearing.
They warned that the objective is "never again" to import more gas from Bolivia.
Every day, we inch ever closer to Total Bolita Death.
🇬🇧 Nineteen English councils handed multimillion-pound bailout agreements
A record 19 councils in England have been handed multimillion-pound government bailout agreements totalling £2.5bn to prevent them collapsing into bankruptcy in the next few months, in a move likely to trigger a new round of public asset sales.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has agreed that the councils can take the highly unusual step of using funds raised by loans, or the sale of assets such as land and buildings, to plug holes in day-to-day revenue accounts.
The move, which follows an emergency £600m cash injection for all councils in January, is seen as a way of ministers minimising the prospect of further town hall insolvencies before the general election, rather than a solution to the wider crisis.
Councils given exceptional financial support include Birmingham, Nottingham, Thurrock, Croydon, Slough, and Woking, all of which are in special measures after issuing formal section 114 declarations of bankruptcy in recent years.
Other councils in the list include Havering in east London, which had said that failure to get financial support would trigger immediate bankruptcy; and Somerset, which declared a “state of financial emergency” in autumn.
The other councils are: Bradford, Cheshire East, Cumberland, Eastbourne, Medway, Middlesbrough, Plymouth, Southampton, and Stoke-on-Trent. It is unclear if any councils had been refused financial support by ministers.
🔗 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/29/english-councils-bailout-agreements-capitalisation-directions
🇲🇱 🇷🇺 Mali aims to elevate its economic ties with Russia to match the caliber of its political connections, Mali’s FM says
"It is true that, today, our ambition is to raise economic and commercial cooperation to the level of the good quality of political relations, but also to the level of military and security cooperation," Abdoulaye Diop told Sputnik.