Elon Musk Sells $6.9bn Of Tesla Shares As Twitter Lawsuit Looms

 Tesla boss Elon Musk has sold another 7.92 million shares in the electric car maker, worth around $6.88bn (£5.7bn).

The sales took place after the firm’s annual shareholder meeting last week, regulatory filings show.

Mr Musk says he needs the money in case he is forced to buy Twitter for $44bn.

The multi-billionaire is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the social media platform after saying last month he would pull out of a deal to buy it.

The latest transactions were carried out on 5, 8 and 9 August, according to six filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

After news of the share sale was made public Mr Musk responded to a tweet asking whether he had finished selling Tesla shares with “yes”, adding that he needed the money in case he was forced to buy Twitter and was unable to secure some of the funding for the deal.

“It is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock,” he said.

Asked by another user whether he would buy Tesla shares again if the Twitter takeover does not take place Mr Musk also responded “yes”.

In July, Mr Musk said he planned to walk away from his bid to buy Twitter, prompting the company to sue him.

The world’s richest person has accused the company of withholding information about fake accounts.

Last month, a US judge ruled that Twitter’s lawsuit against Mr Musk should go to trial in October.

Twitter hopes that the court will order Mr Musk to complete the takeover at the agreed price of $54.20 per share.

Mr Musk has countersued Twitter, although the details of that lawsuit have not been made public.

Also in July, Twitter said that between April and June it had spent $33m on the proposed deal.

It also said its number of monthly daily users had risen to 237m – but it reported a net loss of $270m, which was worse than expected.

Meanwhile, Tesla revealed last month that it had offloaded 75% of its Bitcoin, which was worth about $2bn at the end of 2021.

The company made waves last year when it revealed a major investment in the world’s biggest cryptocurrency.

Tesla said it bought traditional currencies with the $936m proceeds of its Bitcoin sales.

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Congo Arrests Opposition Leader Kabund

 Former right-hand man of Democratic Republic of Congo’s president and now opposition leader, Jean-Marc Kabund, was arrested on Tuesday, his lawyer said, during controversy over a remark about his onetime boss.

The former vice president of parliament and current lawmaker had a falling out with President Felix Tshisekedi earlier this year, after which he launched his own political party.

He has been under investigation in recent weeks on charges that authorities have not specified.

His lawyers say he is accused of contempt of the head of state after a speech calling him “a danger”.

Kabund’s lawyer Henriette Bongwalanga said he was arrested on Tuesday after a hearing at the attorney general’s office.

“They did not respect the procedure. Today they came after the hearing and (arrested) him despite his (parliamentary) immunity,” she said.

The justice ministry could not be reached for comment and a spokesperson for the government declined to comment.

A police source said Kabund had been taken to Makala Central Prison in Congo’s capital Kinshasa.

Kabund was a leading figure behind Tshisekedi’s rise to power and their fallout has highlighted emerging fault-lines in the country’s leadership. This could spell uncertainty for the future of the ruling Sacred Union coalition as the 2023 presidential election nears, political analysts have said. read more

In a statement about the proceedings last week, Kabund said the investigation against him was proof that Congolese institutions were being exploited to serve political interests.

“Fighting the Tshisekedi regime is an absolute necessity for me, no matter the price to be paid,” he wrote on Twitter.

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Africa To Back Infantino Bid For Fifa Re-Election

 African football will support Fifa president Gianni Infantino in his re-election bid next year, the Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe has said.

Caf officially endorsed the candidacy of Infantino at its general assembly in Tanzania on Wednesday, with Motsepe reiterating support from the confederation itself and also on behalf of member associations to “our brother based in Europe”.

Re-elected unopposed as president of football’s world governing body in 2019, Infantino is set to stand for a third term at the 73rd Fifa congress next year.

“We discussed at the executive committee meeting that in recognition of the huge contributions, commitment and the track record that you’ve built in terms of improving African football, all 54 member nations have taken a resolution to vote for you (Gianni Infantino) for re-election,” said Motsepe.

“He has shown so much commitment and love to football in Africa. I’ve been honoured whilst visiting about 30 nations over the last year, to hear the people who love football on the African continent as well as the presidents of football in all of the 54 African nations.

“They’ve said that the work Gianni Infantino has done, the visible improvements and the contribution to African football is greatly appreciated.”

No other candidate has yet declared an interest in standing in the Fifa elections against Infantino, who was first elected president in February 2016.

The 52-year-old Swiss-Italian took to the stage in Tanzania to thank Africa for its support and pledged his continuous backing to the game on the continent.

He then joined Motsepe for the launch of Africa’s new Super League, which is scheduled to start in the 2023-24 campaign.

Back in January, the Fifa boss came under severe criticism for comments referencing African migrants dying at sea when talking about the reforms to football’s calendar.

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Sierra Leon: VP Jallow invokes 3pm curfew to counter growing civil unrest

President Julius Maada Bio still yet to be heard from on his trip to the United Kingdom

Since Monday Sierra Leonians have taken to the streets protesting against living conditions that the blame on their government.

Fueling this discontent is Sierra Leonian social media critic based in Belgium who has achieved popularity peddling conspiracy theories against the government.

Last week President Julius Maada Bio traveled to the United Kingdom on a private visit and is being accused of taking 97,000 British Pounds Sterling of the nation’s money with him.

The resulting civil unrest beginning Monday August 8, 2022 forced Vice President Mohammed Juldeh Jallow to announce a 3pm curfew.

In addition to the curfew, internet service to the entire country was also shut down momentarily but has reportedly been restored.

So far there has been no statement from President Bio from the United Kingdom.

The global economic crisis is putting immense pressure on the leadership of various countries with Sri Lankans forcing their president to flee the country after taking over the presidential palace.

Such events tend to have “copy cat” versions in other countries as frustrated citizens believe they can also follow the same path to unseat their respective governments

DNT News with Correspondence reports from John Henry Coker

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