NEWS

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As the 2024 presidential race takes shape, calls are mounting for Maya Rudolph to reprise her Emmy-winning portrayal of Vice President Kamala Harris on "Saturday Night Live." The clamor intensified after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection, throwing his support behind Harris as the Democratic nominee.

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Mobius Motors, the trailblazing Kenyan automaker known for its rugged, affordable SUVs designed for Africa’s challenging roads, has announced it will cease operations due to insurmountable financial difficulties. This marks the end of a 13-year journey for the company that aimed to revolutionize the African automotive market.

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X, formerly known as Twitter, has suspended its business operations in Brazil over censorship row. The social media platform said a Brazilian Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Moraes, threatened its legal representative in Brazil with arrest if it did not comply with his "censorship orders".

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Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate for the 2024 election. The announcement came Tuesday morning via text message to supporters, with Harris set to formally introduce Walz at a rally in Philadelphia later in the day.

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Senegalese news organisations widely heeded a call Tuesday for a news blackout to protest against economic measures by the new government which they say threaten the industry. Most newspapers did not publish and two popular private radio stations played music instead of broadcasting the news.

Private television stations such as TFM, ITV and 7 TV demonstrated solidarity with the protest by displaying its slogan and image -- three raised fists gripping a pencil.

The Senegalese Council of Press Distributors and Publishers (CDEPS) said in a joint editorial published on Monday that the freedom of the press was threatened in Senegal. The body, which groups editors of private and public companies, complained that the authorities, who came to power in April, were freezing the bank accounts" of media companies for non-payment of tax. It also condemned the seizure of production equipment", the "unilateral and illegal termination of advertising contracts" and the freezing of payments" due to the media.

The aim is none other than to control information and tame media professionals, the CDEPS said.

Le Soleil was among several pro-government newspapers that did not follow the Day Without Press action. Earlier, journalists from the RFM private radio station met to discuss the blackout.

News director Babacar Fall said the new government's campaign to clamp down on the non-payment of tax was a means of exerting pressure on private media to extinguish critical voices.

Ana Rocha, a journalist at the meeting, expressed hope the blackout would spur the government to come to the negotiating table.

At a newspaper kiosk in the centre of the capital Dakar, Homere Badiane said he empathised with the organisers of the protest.

By contrast, Ousmane Balde, 38, came especially to buy the only three newspapers that hit the shelves in solidarity.