African News Review

Jabeur makes African history with Wimbledon final spot against Rybakina – Inquirer Sports

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Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur returns the ball against Germany’s Tatjana Maria during their women’s singles semi final tennis match on the eleventh day of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 7, 2022. (AFP)
LONDON – Ons Jabeur became the first African woman in the Open era to reach a Grand Slam singles final on Thursday when she defeated close friend Tatjana Maria in the Wimbledon semi-finals.
The 27-year-old world number two from Tunisia triumphed 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 and will face Elena Rybakina in Saturday’s championship match.
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Russian-born Rybakina, representing Kazakhstan, knocked out 2019 champion Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3.
“I’m a proud Tunisian woman standing here,” said Jabeur, who was the first Arab player to make a Slam semi-final.FEATURED STORIES
Before Thursday, South Africans Irene Bowder Peacock, at the 1927 French Open, and Renee Schuurman, in the 1959 Australian Open, were the only African women to have reached a Slam singles final.
“It’s a dream come true from years of work and sacrifice. I’m happy that’s paid off and I’ll continue for one more match,” said Jabeur.
“Physically, Tatjana is a beast, she doesn’t give up — I thought she would give up — her touch, her serve and everything on the court is impressive. I hope she continues this way. Let’s not play again, I’m good for now.
“I know in Tunisia they are going crazy right now. I want to see more Arab and African players on the tour. I love the game and I want to share the experience with them.”
Jabeur coasted through the first set against mother-of-two Maria with breaks in the third and seventh games.
The Tunisian fired 15 winners to her opponent’s six in the first set while not facing a single break point.
However, Maria, described by Jabeur as her “barbecue buddy”, did manage to finally break through for 3-1 in the second set off the back of a series of delicate slices.
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Jabeur’s 17 unforced errors in the second set compared to the six of the more accurate German, who levelled the contest.
But there was to be no upset win as the 103rd-ranked Maria’s challenge was quashed.
Jabeur secured a double break for a 5-0 advantage before securing her place in history on a second match point.
‘Amazing match’
Rybakina overpowered former champion Halep, breaking the Romanian four times in a dominant display on Centre Court.
“It was really good — today I was mentally prepared and did everything I could and it was an amazing match,” said the 23-year-old.
“I think it’s going to be a great match (against Jabeur). She’s a great player, very tricky player. It’s not going to be easy to play against her drop shots and volleys.”
Former world number one Halep had not lost a set coming into Thursday’s match but was immediately under pressure against the big-serving 17th seed.
Rybakina, who stands six feet (1.84 metres) tall, raced into a 3-0 lead with an early break of serve and had break points in all of Halep’s service games in the first set.
Halep, seeded one place above her opponent, did well to stay in touch but failed to carve out any break points of her own in the first set.
Rybakina, the first woman representing Kazakhstan to reach a Grand Slam semi-final, showed no mercy at the start of the second set, breaking again to establish an iron grip.

Halep broke to love in the fourth game to establish a foothold but a double fault in the following game handed the initiative back to her opponent.
Rybakina, the ace leader in the women’s tournament, sealed an impressive win on her first match point with a backhand winner down the line to break Halep again, wrapping up the match in 76 minutes.
The 23-year-old switched her nationality to Kazakhstan in 2018 to take advantage of greater financial help.
Russian and Belarusian players were banned from this year’s Wimbledon following the invasion of Ukraine.

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Viola Davis shines as an African general in first trailer for 'The Woman King'

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The trailer shows Davis as she trains up a new group of recruits to fight against the people who wish to harm and enslave her people. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, who also directed “Beyond the Lights” and “The Old Guard,” the film tells the unheard true story of a group of strong Black women.Along with Davis, the movie also stars John Boyega, Thuso Mbedu and Hero Fiennes Tiffin. Prince-Bythewood wrote the script with Dana Stevens, and Davis is also serving as a producer on the film.

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Central African Republic president launches crypto initiative following Bitcoin adoption

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Faustin-Archange Touadéra, president of the Central African Republic, has announced the government will be backing an initiative centered around developing the country’s blockchain infrastructure.In a Monday announcement on Twitter, Touadéra said the CAR government would be launching Sango, a crypto initiative proposed following the country’s adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in April. According to Sango’s website, the government intends to launch the program during a July 3 event in which the president, members of his cabinet and industry experts will discuss the physical and digital infrastructure needed for the CAR to enter the crypto space, as well as the legal framework for the country. The Sango project’s plans include building a “legal crypto hub” aimed at attracting businesses and global crypto-enthusiasts, expanding the adoption of Bitcoin in the country, and creating a virtual “crypto island” — a special economic zone in the metaverse that will seemingly have an equivalent space in the physical world. According to Sando, the CAR plans to have a dedicated legal framework for crypto in place by the end of 2022.“The ambitious strategy to quickly build a successful economy can only rely on new technologies that have taken the world by storm and taken money to another level, with Bitcoin as a watchword,” said Touadéra. With #Bitcoin as #legaltender & inspiration, our country opens a new chapter in its inspiring journey towards a brighter future via #blockchain #tech. Everyone is welcome to witness the Sango Genesis Event that will be broadcast on the 3rd of July, on https://t.co/LIQiKGhcBS. pic.twitter.com/7u6knv5f6w— Faustin-Archange Touadéra (@FA_Touadera) June 27, 2022Related: Crypto users in Africa grew by 2,500% in 2021: ReportTouadéra’s and the CAR’s plans to adopt crypto seem to be emulating those of El Salvador, whose Bitcoin Law declaring the digital currency legal tender went into effect in September 2021. The Latin American nation also announced plans to create its town Bitcoin City funded by $1 billion worth of BTC bonds, placed on hold as of June amid the bear market.

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South Africa Hails COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Waiver

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Johannesburg, South Africa — 
South Africa on Saturday hailed a WTO agreement to allow developing countries to start producing their own COVID vaccines following a near two-year battle.
“We secured an agreement. It was a strongly fought agreement,” said Minister of Trade Ebrahim Patel, who along with India and NGOs had been calling for an intellectual property rights waiver on COVID-related treatments.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) announced a relaxation of intellectual property restrictions on vaccines Wednesday in a move aimed at a providing more equitable access to shots but which many observers criticized for being limited in time and scope.
After months of wrangling, and talks going down to the wire this week to win over some major players in pharmaceutical manufacturing to a compromise, the United States and China finally clinched the deal by agreeing on which countries would benefit from the waiver.
Both South Africa and India had been vocal in their demands for such a move which they said was needed to stop “vaccine apartheid.”
According to the WTO, 60% of the world’s population has received two doses of the COVID vaccine but there are glaring examples of inequity with only 17% having been inoculated in Libya, with the figure at 8% in Nigeria and less than 5% in Cameroon.
In a statement, the South African government saluted a waiver designed to provide local vaccine manufacturers with the right to produce either vaccines or ingredients or elements that are under patents, without the authority of the patent holder, hailing this as a notable step forward — even if limited to five years.
Pretoria added that “to scale up the production on the continent, further partnerships will be needed including access to know-how and technologies.”
The accord for the time being excludes, however, tests and costly therapeutic treatments against COVID on which the WTO is to pronounce in the coming six months.
Commercialization in Africa will be a challenge, however.
Durban-based South African pharma giant Aspen, which clinched a deal last November with U.S.-based Johnson & Johnson to manufacture a “made in Africa for Africa” Aspen-branded COVID vaccine Aspenovax, said last month it could pull the plug owing to lack of orders.
“Our focus now is to ensure we address demand by persuading global procurers for vaccines to source from African producers,” said Patel.
South Africa has three sites under the aegis of Aspen in Durban, Afrigen in Cape Town and Biovac, also in Cape Town, which makes the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Afrigen’s biotech consortium makes the messenger RNA shot based on the Moderna formula, the first to be made based on a broadly used vaccine that does not require the developer’s assistance and approval.

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