Standard Bank plans to increase stakes in Nigeria and Angola businesses

Standard Bank has opens new tab, Africa’s biggest lender by assets, is looking to increase stakes it holds in businesses in Angola and Nigeria.

The Angolan government is planning to sell as much as a 34% stake in Standard Bank de Angola SA through an initial public offering.

According to a presidential decree, after seizing a 49% stake that was controlled by a former insurance tycoon who is serving a nine-year prison term.

South Africa-based Standard Bank Group owns the remaining 51% and has the right to buy an additional 24% stake in the Angolan business.

Its CEO Sim Tshabalala said they are going through a process where we are putting our best foot forward and therefore would increase our shareholding if all goes well.

“In Nigeria we are again wanting to increase our shareholding in the business. It’s a great business,” he added, without saying by how much.

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Kenya Airports Authority says Aug. 19 strike won’t disrupt operations

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) says it had contingency measures in place to prevent a strike by the country’s main aviation union that is set to begin on 19 August from disrupting airport operations.

The Kenya Aviation Workers Union, which represents workers at airports and the national carrier Kenya Airways, opens new tab, said it would launch industrial action from Monday over a proposed deal with India’s Adani Airports Holdings to develop the country’s biggest airport in the capital Nairobi.

The union has said it thinks the Adani deal will lead to job losses and bring in non-Kenyan workers, and referred to it in a strike notice as the “intended sale” of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Kenya’s government has said the airport is not for sale and that no decision had been made on whether to proceed with what it called a proposed public-private partnership to upgrade the East African travel hub.

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Boost for South Africa’s Zuma as prominent leftist politician joins his party

The deputy leader of South African opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says he was resigning to join the party led by former president Jacob Zuma, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK).

Floyd Shivambu’s departure is a blow to the Marxist EFF, headed by Julius Malema.

The EFF saw its share of the vote fall to below 10% in May’s national election, as the newly formed MK party surged ahead to become the third-biggest in parliament.

EFF and MK are both part of a leftist opposition alliance formed after the election to counter the coalition government led by the long-ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the business-friendly Democratic Alliance.

But Shivambu’s switch indicates the rising appeal of MK, which largely draws on Zuma’s popularity in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Zuma was expelled from the ANC this year after he took the reins of MK, which did better than expected in the election and played a key role in bringing the ANC’s share of the vote below 50%.

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Japan’s eastern region orders evacuations as Typhoon Ampil approaches

Japan grounded hundreds of flights and urged tens of thousands of people to evacuate in the eastern parts of the country on Friday, as a strong typhoon caused power blackouts in the middle of a major summer holiday week.

Typhoon Ampil, categorised as “very strong” by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), was situated off the Pacific coast of Japan’s main island at 3 p.m. (0600 GMT).

The agency has two higher categories – “very strong” and “violent”.

The typhoon is expected to get close to the eastern region of Kanto, which includes the capital Tokyo, on Friday evening.

Ampil has wind speeds of 45 metres per second with maximum gust of 60 metres per second (216 kph/134 mph), according to the JMA.

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China to monitor arrivals of people, goods for mpox virus

China will monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox for the next six months, a statement from its customs administration said on Friday, after the WHO said the virus was again a global health emergency.

“Personnel from countries with monkeypox outbreaks who have been in contact with monkeypox cases or display symptoms … should take the initiative to declare themselves to Customs,” it said.

The WHO changed the name of monkeypox to mpox.

Vehicles, containers and goods from areas with mpox cases should be sanitised, the statement added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared mpox a global public health emergency for a second time in two years, following an outbreak of the viral infection in Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighbouring countries.

China’s National Health Commission last year announced mpox would be managed as a Category B infectious disease, enabling officials to take emergency measures such as restricting gatherings, suspending work and school or sealing off areas when there is an outbreak of a disease.

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Mpox virus detected in Pakistan, health authorities say

Pakistan has detected three patients with the mpox virus.

The health department in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said on Friday.

The viral infection was detected in the patients on their arrival from the United Arab Emirates, the department said.

The World Health Organization has declared recent outbreak of the disease as a public health emergency of international concern after a new variant of the virus has been identified.

Pakistan has had cases of mpox, also called monkeypox, previously.

It was not immediately clear which variant was detected in the patients.

Two of the patients had been confirmed to have mpox, said Salim Khan, the director general of health services for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A third patient’s samples had been sent to the National Health Institute in the capital, Islamabad, for confirmation, he said, adding all three patients were being quarantined.

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Paetongtarn Shinawatra to become Thailand’s next PM, following father’s footsteps

On the campaign trail in rural Thailand last year, Paetongtarn Shinawatra reminded voters of her influential billionaire family’s legacy of populism in what was her electoral debut.

The 37-year-old, who spent weeks at the hustings while visibly pregnant, delivered mixed results.

Her Pheu Thai party came only in second in 2023’s election but cobbled together a ruling coalition after the vote-winner was blocked by military-backed lawmakers.

Now, the daughter of the country’s most divisive but enduring politician, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, will take the office her father and aunt once occupied, underlining her family’s central place in Thai politics.

On Friday, some 48 hours after Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was dismissed by a court order, Paetongtarn secured the parliamentary support required to replace him.

With that win, Paetongtarn will become the youngest Thai prime minister and only the second woman to occupy the position, after her aunt Yingluck.