Toppled Niger President Loses Immunity

The risk of soaring Chinese electric car prices in the EU could be easing after both sides agreed to negotiate a planned series of import taxes. Top officials from both regions spoke about the tariffs on a call and agreed to discuss them further, though frictions remain. The EU says Chinese EVs were unfairly subsidised by its government. In response, China accused the EU of protectionism and trade rule breaches. They said the two sides would continue to engage at all levels in the coming weeks. They said any negotiated outcome to the proposed tariffs must address the injurious subsidisation of Chinese EVs.

Kenya’s government has scrapped some proposed taxes in this year's controversial finance bill, including a 16% levy on bread, after a public outcry, The announcement by MPs came as police fired tear gas and used water cannons to try to disperse angry protesters in the capital, Nairobi. Dozens of people have been arrested, and lawyers earlier joined chanting crowds at the city's main police station to demand that detainees be freed. Kuria Kimani, chairman of the parliamentary finance committee, announced the U-turn over the new finance bill at a press briefing attended by President Ruto and other lawmakers in the ruling coalition.

A South African lawmaker has been suspended by his party, the Democratic Alliance after a series of old clips resurfaced online of him spewing violent racist language against black people. Renaldo Gouws initially insinuated one of the videos was doctored and denied it but a statement issued by the DA says it was genuine and not a fake. In the video, Mr Gouws, who was sworn into parliament last week, uses a local slur typically reserved for Black Africans repeatedly along with the n-word, and calls for black people to be killed. The centre-right DA the country's second-biggest party, has faced accusations of racism from critics who say the party wants to protect the interests of the white-minority population - a charge it denies.

President Bola Tinubu has directed that all civil servants drawing salaries from the government after relocating abroad should be made to refund the money. The President also directed that the supervisors and department heads of the culprits must also be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud under their watch. He reiterated that the government would take appropriate measures to ensure they were punished and the money refunded to the government treasury.

The Nigerian Air Force says that its airstrikes destroyed 13 illegal oil refining sites and seven boats in Rivers, Bayelsa and Imo states. NAF spokesman Edward Gabkwet says between June 18 and 22, 2024, its Air Component of Operation Delta Safe destroyed the illegal refining sites, seven Cotonou boats as well as dispersed five buses attempting to siphon suspected crude oil products from surface tanks. He says airstrikes against economic saboteurs and oil thieves would be sustained until the activities of the criminals are reduced to the barest minimum.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited , has shifted the delivery date for the $700m Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben gas pipeline project from March 2024 to August. The Minister for Petroleum Resources for States Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, says the project would now be completed and commissioned latest by August. The NNPCL says the River Niger Crossing operation has been the major impediment to the completion of the strategic OB3 Gas Pipeline for over three years, due to failure of the various technologies deployed to achieve the construction of the 48-inch pipe under the river bed between Ndoni in Rivers State and Aboh in Delta State.

Nigerians have resorted to loans as one of their survival strategies, as a report by the Central Bank of Nigeria, said consumer credit jumped by 12 per cent to approximately ₦3.9bn in January 2024, riding on the back of majorly heightened inflation. The apex bank’s latest monthly economic report, says the total consumer credit outstanding increased to N3,823bn in January 2024. The report further explained that a disaggregation of consumer credit revealed, that personal loans increased by 14.3 per cent to N3,028bn from N2,649bn in December 2023. A study by SBM Intelligence found that 27 per cent of Nigerians across different income categories now resort to loan apps to keep up with their living expenses in the wake of record inflation.

World leaders at the Ukraine summit for peace in Switzerland are exploring ways of ensuring the security of nuclear sites and of Ukraine's food exports. They are seeking to adopt a final communique which blames the war's widespread suffering and destruction firmly on Russia, which Kyiv would regard as a success. But Austria's leader has said that the declaration is not expected to gain unanimous support from participants. More than 90 countries and international organisations are attending the summit, aimed at creating the broadest possible backing for a process that could help end the war in Ukraine. Russia has not been invited, and its biggest backer China is not present, leading some to cast doubt on the summit's effectiveness. The draft final document, seen by Reuters news agency, calls for Ukrainian control to be restored over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the country's ports on the Azov Sea, all currently occupied by Russia.

The Israeli military says it will hold a daily "tactical pause of military activity" along a road in southern Gaza to enable more humanitarian aid to enter, but emphasised that there is no ceasefire and combat would continue in Rafah. They will only affect a route that leads northwards from the key Kerem Shalom crossing, which Gaza shares with Israel. Aid agency ActionAid told the BBC it was getting a "confused" picture over what the pauses mean. Israel has been under continuous pressure from its allies, including the US, to prevent the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from worsening. The Israel Defense Forces says Sunday's announcement follows "additional related discussions with the UN and international organizations". The IDF clarified that there is no ceasefire in the southern Gaza Strip, and fighting would continue in Rafah.

A democratically elected president who was kicked out of power by the military a year ago should now lose his immunity from prosecution, Niger's top court has ruled. That decision by the newly created body clears the way for Mohamed Bazoum, 64, to be tried by a military court. He and his wife Hadiza have been detained in the president palace without a telephone since the coup last July. Since then, Niger's new military leaders have brought in drastic policy changes - including severing defence and diplomatic ties with former colonial power France and pivoting towards Russia. The ruling junta in the capital, Niamey, has been legally empowered to prosecute him on charges of treason, undermining national security and financing terrorism. Mr Bazoum's lawyers have called the process a "travesty" and withdrew from a hearing last week.