FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ISSUES ONE-MONTH ULTIMATUM TO TRADERS TO CRASH PRICES.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has issued a one-month notice to traders and other market stakeholders involved in exploitative pricing to crash the prices of goods.

Its Executive Vice-Chairman, Tunji Bello, gave the order at a one-day stakeholders’ engagement on exploitative pricing in Abuja.

According to Bello, the commission will begin enforcement after the expiration of the notice.

He said the meeting was to address the growing trend of unreasonable pricing of consumer goods and services and unwholesome practices of market associations.

Bello said the issue of critical national importance of the day is the growing trend of unreasonable pricing of consumer goods and services across the country, and the unwholesome practice of market associations engaged in price fixing.

This is as the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently pegged the inflation rate at 33.40 per cent, with the food inflation at over 40 per cent.

The high inflation rate has worsened since President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023, pronounced an end to fuel subsidies.

Explaining further, FCCPC also said it would not fail to invoke the full weight of the law on defaulters.

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NIGERIA, NIGER SIGN SECURITY COOPERATION AGREEMENT AMID TENSIONS.

Despite strained relations following last year’s coup in Niger, Nigeria and Niger have signed a new security cooperation agreement.

Announced by the Nigerian army, the accord aims to bolster regional stability and security.

“Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to resuming and strengthening collaboration for regional stability and security,” stated a Nigerian army communiqué following the signing of the memorandum of understanding by defense chiefs from both countries in Niamey, Niger’s capital.

The coup in July 2023, which ousted Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum, strained relations between Nigeria and Niger and caused divisions within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The coup raised concerns about efforts to combat Islamist violence in the region.

ECOWAS had threatened military intervention in Niger if diplomatic efforts to restore the democratic government failed, prompting Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali to withdraw from the 15-member bloc in January.

These countries criticized ECOWAS for not aiding in their fight against Islamist violence and subsequently formed the Alliance of Sahel States with a military agreement.

Niger, though reducing its participation, remained part of the Nigeria-led Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) fighting Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region.

The new agreement signals Niger’s intention to re-engage actively in security cooperation within the MNJTF framework, according to the Nigerian communiqué.

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SENEGALESE FM VISITS RUSSIA, SEEKS TO IMPROVE BILATERAL RELATIONS.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held bilateral talks with his Senegalese counterpart Yassine Fall in Moscow.

Speaking during the joint news conference, Senegal’s Foreign Minister Yassine Fall said the two countries hoped to increase collaboration on mineral exploration, energy, agriculture, scientific research, formation of hydrocarbon workers, as well as fisheries.

I would like to invite leading entrepreneurs in Russia to cooperate with Senegalese entrepreneurs, to invest in Senegal”, Fall said.

Fall also noted that Senegal advocates for a peaceful solution to conflicts in the Sahel region as well as the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

“We’ve also discussed the reduction of terrorist actions in the Sahel region and the urgent need of irradicate them.

There are many conflicts that affect the world. Senegal encourages the finding of peaceful solutions negotiated in the different crisis, being the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, but also in the heart of our continent. In Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” she said.

“By questioning the recent history, one realizes that the African and Russian worlds carry a close relationship that goes back to the colonization of our continent and the fight against apartheid”, Fall added.

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SPAIN’S PRIME MINISTER ENDS THREE-DAY TOUR IN DAKAR.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez ended his three-day tour of West African nations aimed at boosting cooperation in controlling irregular migration from the region to Spain’s Canary Islands, with a meeting with Senegal’s president in Dakar.

Following the talks between Sánchez and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the pair held a joint press conference where the Spanish Prime Minister repeated his support for circular and regular migration between the two countries.

Sánchez also announced that they had signed a “memorandum of understanding,” allowing them to expand and improve their cooperation on circular migration, as well as incorporate new sectors such as training and capacity building for Senegalese workers who move to Spain.

Sanchez said that migration is “not a fairy tale” but is necessary and “convenient for the countries of origin as well as for the countries of destination”.

Sánchez began his tour on Tuesday in Mauritania, where he said Spain would renew cooperation between the two nations’ security forces to combat people smuggling.

He visited Gambia on Wednesday and met with the President Adama Barrow, stating afterward that the two countries had agreed to work together on security, as well as on opportunities for legal, temporary migration.

The three coastal African nations have become the main departure points of migrants trying to reach the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago located close to the African coast and used as a stepping stone for migrants and refugees trying to reach continental Europe.

More than 22,000 people have disembarked on its shores since January, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry, more than double the number of irregular arrivals for the same period last year.

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FLOODS KILL THIRTY-ONE PERSONS NORTHERN SUDAN.

Floodwaters have swept through many communities and villages in northern Sudan over the past two days, resulting in the deaths of dozens and collapsing hundreds of homes.

According to Sudanese Civil Defense spokesperson Qureshi Hussein, 31 people have died so far in the north of the country due to the floods.

Yassin Abdul Wahab lost his home and was forced to build a makeshift shelter for his family.

“People are sleeping in the streets, and the situation is very bad,” he said.

“We are currently working on building a shelter for the family using materials from the collapsed house,” he added.

Heavy rain and flooding across Sudan this month has impacted more than 317,000 people, officials said.

Of those impacted, 118,000 people have been displaced, exacerbating one of the world’s biggest displacement crises due to the ongoing war in the country.

Tuesday marked 500 days since Sudan plunged into war after fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

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HARRIS VOWS TOUGHER APPROACH ON MIGRATION, SUPPORTS WEAPONS FOR ISRAEL.

Kamala Harris vowed a tougher approach to migration along the U.S. southern border and said she would not withhold weapons to Israel, in her first interview with a major news organisation since becoming the Democratic nominee for president.

Harris sought to show she is in command of the issues and give Americans a sense of her policy positions with little more than two months until Election Day on Nov. 5.

Harris said she would renew a push for comprehensive border legislation that would tighten migration into the United States, and vowed to “enforce our laws” against border crossings.

“We have laws that have to be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequence,” Harris said.

She also hewed closely to President Joe Biden’s strong support of Israel and rejected calls from some in the Democratic Party that Washington should rethink sending weapons to Israel because of the heavy Palestinian death toll in Gaza.

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SCHOOLS IN PAKISTAN’S KARACHI CLOSED AS RARE AUGUST CYCLONE BUILDS UP.

Heavy rains and stormy winds forced authorities in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, to close schools on Friday, after a deep depression in the Arabian Sea that the weather office says could develop into a cyclonic storm.

Parts of Karachi received 147 mm (5.79 inches) of rain overnight, the local weather office said, and the city’s mayor, Murtaza Wahab, in a post on X, asked residents to avoid “unnecessary movement”.

The deep depression which is off the Rann of Kutch in India’s Gujarat, is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm on Friday, India’s weather office said, adding that it would move north-west over the Arabian Sea in the next two days.

Authorities in Pakistan asked fishermen and sailors not to venture out to sea, and warned that the storm is likely to result in flooding in cities as well as flash floods in hilly areas in coming days.

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JAPAN’S MILITARY TO SPEND ON AI, AUTOMATION, PERKS TO COMBAT RECRUITMENT CRISIS.

Japan’s defence ministry on Friday said it will invest in AI, automation and improving troop conditions to address a worsening recruitment shortfall that has left its forces understaffed amid a build up aimed at countering China’s growing military power.

The measures, unveiled in its latest defence budget request on Friday, come after the Self Defense Forces’ (SDF) worst ever annual recruitment drive. In the year to March 31 it enrolled just under 10,000 sailors, soldiers and air personnel, half of its target.

Fearful that China could use military force to bring neighbouring Taiwan under its control and drag Japan into a war, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in 2022 announced a doubling in defense spending to stock up on missiles and other munitions, pay for advanced fighter jets and create a cyber defence force.

Japan’s falling birth rate, however, mean it is struggling more than ever to maintain current SDF troop levels at 250,000 people.

To cope with fewer recruits, the ministry said it will introduce artificial intelligence technology, allocating 18 billion yen next year for an AI surveillance system for military base security.

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PACIFIC ISLANDS TO BOOST REGIONAL POLICING AFTER LEADERS MEETING.

The Pacific Islands Forum has endorsed a plan to boost police numbers among its members, cutting the need to rely on external forces in a crisis, with China security ally Solomon Islands supporting the Australian-funded initiative on Friday.

The bloc of 18 nations has the potential to play a strong and active role in regional security, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, the forum’s chairman, said on the final day of an annual meeting of leaders.

The Pacific Islands were “a region of collaboration and support and working together, rather than a region of competition and a region where other countries look to try to gain an advantage over us”, he told a press conference in Tonga.

Some analysts see the plan to set up a regional policing unit to be deployed to tackle major incidents as a move by Australia to block China’s growing police presence in the region, amid strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington.

The Solomons, which has police ties with Australia, the forum’s largest member, as well as China, which is not a member, said it had agreed to the Pacific Policing Initiative.

“We also endorse, as part of developing this initiative, the importance of national consultation, so that it is owned and driven by countries, so we really do appreciate the initiative,” said Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele.

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TAIWAN MILITARY SAYS CHINA LACKS ABILITY TO INVADE, BUT HAS OTHER OPTIONS.

China lacks the ability to “fully” invade Taiwan as it does not have the equipment, but is bringing on line advanced new weapons and has other options to threaten Taiwan, such as inspecting foreign cargo ships.

China, which views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past five years to assert its claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

The government of the defeated Republic of China fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists, and no peace treaty or armistice has ever been signed.

In an annual threat assessment of China sent to lawmakers on Friday, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, Taiwan’s defence ministry said Beijing continues to hone skills such as joint command operations.

“However, the use of tactics and strategies against Taiwan is still limited by the natural geographical environment of the Taiwan Strait and insufficient landing equipment and logistic capabilities,” it said.

China “is not yet fully possessed of the formal combat capabilities for a comprehensive invasion of Taiwan”.

But China is speeding up development of a slew of new weapons, such as the H-20 bomber and hypersonic missiles and beefing up the number of nuclear warheads, while trialling new tactics, the ministry said.