#Uber’s newest rival for market share in Africa hails from #Russia

"Ethiopian Airlines will start helping Chinese visitors process visas to travel across Africa."

"When it comes to climate change, Africa is in the eye of the storm. This is especially true of its fast-growing cities, where a change in climate patterns is threatening rapidly-expanding populations and investment opportunities, a new report shows."

"The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo)—the world’s largest producer of cobalt—has slammed a three-fold increase on royalties paid for the mineral."

"The ride-hailing giant launched Uber Bus in Egypt on Tuesday (Dec. 4), the first country to roll out the service globally. The platform allows passengers to request for buses through the app, after which they are matched with other riders on the most suitable route. Riders are allowed to pay via cash or card and will only be able to request Uber Bus if their pickup and drop-off locations are within the currently-serviced neighborhoods in Cairo."

"Nigeria’s plans to bring home its former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to face corruption charges is gathering pace."

"Global private equity investors remained bullish on their prospects in Africa in 2018, promising to increase their allocations and doubling down on their decade-long plans, a new study shows."

" African subscribers of Netflix will soon have more local options of shows to watch."

"Through the use of digital trackers and indicators, our workday is managed down to the second."

"This week, a report will be released that outlines exactly why and how thousands of priceless objects should be returned to Africa. An early look at the report, due on Friday (Nov. 23), calls for a change in French law that would allow restitution through bilateral agreements between France and the affected African states."

"It’s no easy task to hold an election in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Just ask the country’s electoral commission, which started 2017 by publicly announcing that the general election, planned for December 2018 might actually only be held as late as April 2019."

"The pair have launched Mowali, a continent-wide mobile money interoperability joint venture which allows users send money between mobile money accounts across different providers. The service is immediately open to users of MTN Money and Orange Money but can also be enabled for other mobile money providers as well as banks, possibly serving the over 300 million mobile money users in Africa."

"Since her historic win on Nov. 6 as the first Somali-American Muslim woman in Congress, Ilhan Omar has been very busy: attending House freshman orientation in Washington DC, making friends with other elected progressive women, working to lift a ban that prohibits scarves and hats in the legislative chambers, and addressing issues from climate change to improving the well-being of incarcerated women."

"When it comes to poverty alleviation in the developing world, cash transfer schemes have been at the center of a difficult debate. For years, donor agencies and governments were urged to integrate the poor into their economies by providing them with a basic amount of cash. Yet those programs have been dogged by controversies, with critics arguing they encourage dependency, negatively impact labor, and pit community members against each other."

"Carlos Saturnino, who presented the group’s so-called regeneration programme, said that it will cost an estimated 40 million euros, its implementation will take two to three years in three phases and aims to transform Sonangol into a true oil prospecting, exploration and distribution company."

"A moeda angolana continua a aproximar-se de uma depreciação este ano de 50% face ao euro (47,73%) e ao dólar (46,55%), segundo indicam esta sexta-feira os dados divulgados pelo Banco Nacional de Angola (BNA)."

"In late August, South African telecoms giant MTN, Africa’s biggest mobile operator, was stunned by an $8.1bn demand from Nigeria’s Central Bank, which had accused the firm of illegally sending money abroad. With executives and investors in a state of disbelief and shares plunging to a nine year low, the firm barely had time to respond before the country’s attorney general – an unusual outlet for such orders – demanded a further $2bn in taxes and charges from the company in an unrelated case just days later."

"According to the organisers, of the 61 projects put forward, there was investment interest in 45, representing a total deal value of a little under $32bn, in sectors including energy, transport, logistics, and agriculture. The AIF sent a clear message that demand for bankable projects exists alongside the available capital to finance them. "

“In the African space in which we play, there is going to be a lot of room for traditional players for many years to come,” he says. “But Africa has got a very high cost of data, and that has always been a barrier to entry to many people trying to access financial services."

"Three years after she was first arrested in London on money laundering charges, Nigeria is finally looking to bring home its former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to face corruption charges."

"MTN, Africa’s largest telecoms company, is doubling down on its Nigeria operations despite a history of billion-dollar fines."

“This is a model for a constructive way to be a man,” says Negrette, “a positive [way of] living to look at as a reference.” He believes that this kind of initiatives will soon generated tangible progress, and that “these guys are at the cusp of a societal transformation.”

"In a recently released music video, Fuse ODG and Damian Marley (Bob Marley’s youngest son) explore the themes of slavery, colonialism, black pride and modern day police brutality. ‘Bra Fie’(which translates from the Ghanaian language Akan as “Come Home”) is an Afrobeats tune that harks back to the pan-Africanist themes of some of the older Marley’s anthemic hits. But it could also be a soundtrack for a potential wave of “homecoming” to Ghana for people of African descent. "

"The United Nations Security Council is about to lift an arms embargo and targeted sanctions against Eritrea. UN Security Council resolution 1907, which was passed in 2009, noted that the Eritrean government was backing Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia government as well as other movements attempting to undermine the Ethiopian state."

"An additional 1.3 billion people will be added to Africa’s populationby 2050 and, unless infrastructure development happens at an unprecedented pace, sharp housing shortages will likely be an offshoot of the rapid population growth."

"On Wednesday (Nov. 14) the Danish government said it would withhold 65 million crowns ($9.8 million) in aid citing allegations of human rights abuses. The minister of development cooperation Ulla Tornaes announced the decision on Twitter noting “negative developments” and “unacceptable homophobic statements.”