Libya's parliament has passed a law to ban unlicensed possession of weapons and ammunition, in the North African country's latest attempt to control the widespread scourge of illegal arms. Any Libyan citizen may apply for a weapon license within 90 days before the law comes into effect in March 2014, according to General National Congress Spokesman Omar Humaidan, saying those who don't obey the law will face severe penalties.

South Sudan

Emergency Operation

The UN World Food Program (WFP) launched a three-month program to scale up humanitarian assistance to South Sudanese affected by the crisis in the country. The $57.8-million aid, including specialized nutritional support for new mothers and young children who are most at risk from a disruption in their food supply, will be provided to about 400,000 South Sudanese who are victims of the conflict, said Valerie Guarnieri, the WFP's East and Central Africa Regional Director.

Ghana

RMB for Sale

Ghana will allow banks to quote yuan rates and sell the Chinese currency this year as more businesses in West Africa's secondbiggest economy trade with the Asian nation. "Many more people are traveling to China to do business and we think we should make life a bit easier for them," Bank of Ghana Governor Kofi Wampah told Ghana Web on January 14. "It will also ease pressure on the cedi as this will decrease the demand for dollars." Ghana's national currency, the cedi, has dropped 20 percent against the dollar since the start of 2013 as companies demanded the U.S. currency to pay for imports. Traders heading to China need to take dollars that would later be converted to yuan, according to Wampah. The central bank introduced new currencytrading regulations for banks to improve liquidity and boost transparency, Wampah said, without giving details on the rules.

Malawi

Mobile Health Service

The introduction of a hotline through which Malawian mothers living in outlying villages far away from health facilities means they can now have access to medical advice. VillageReach, a non-profit NGO, is running a program called Chipatala Cha Pa Foni which means Health Center by Phone. The maternal mortality ratio in Malawi is 675 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, while the under-five mortality rate is 112

Zimbabwe

Investment Drop

Investments to Zimbabwe, mostly foreignfunded projects, dropped by nearly a quarter year on year in 2013 as investors held on to their money to watch the outcome and aftermath of the Southern African country's general elections. The government-run Zimbabwe Investment Authority said earlier in January it approved projects worth $685.8 million last year, compared to $909 million in 2012. More than half of the investments came from China, followed by Russia and Britain. One third of the approved projects were in mining while the remaining concentrated in service and manufacturing sectors. Zimbabwe's economy has recovered from a decade-old recession, but growth has significantly slowed in recent years. The government lowered the forecast growth from 5 percent to mere 3.4 percent this year.

Madagascar

New President

Hery Rajaonarimampianina, former Finance Minister of Madagascar, has had his victory in December 2013's presidential elections upheld by the electoral court, according to the country's electoral commission. He secured 53.5 percent of votes while his competitor Jean Louis Robinson garnered 46.5 percent, said Atallah Beatrice, President of Independent National Election Commission. More than 7.9 million voters registered to vote in the run-off.

The first hybrid high-speed train will be rolled off the production line in September 2015, said China CNR Corp. Ltd., one of China's biggest train makers. The train will integrate a combination of two or three power sources from electricity, battery pack and diesel engine depending on operation and rail conditions. With a design speed of 160 km per hour, the trains are expected to run on both trunk and branch railways. Due to the trains' adaptability to be operated on both electric and nonelectric railways, they will be used more widely than the traditional trains.

Financing of small technology companies will become easier as China pledges to promote innovation in the financial sector, People's Bank of China announced in a statement jointly released with five other government departments in January. The Central Government has encouraged banks to set up branches specializing in financial services for small and mediumsized companies, and will allow private capital to be used to set up small and medium-sized banks, which should be under prudential supervision. Qualified microcredit and leasing companies are encouraged to raise money for small technology enterprises by converting assets to securities and issuing bonds. Banks should formulate measures to expand credit services by giving incentives to credit authorizers and applying duty exemptions to facilitate the financing of small technology firms, said the bank.

Chinese researchers said they have made a significant breakthrough in the structural analysis of the viral infectivity factor (Vif) of the HIV virus, which will help in the development of new medications to treat or even cure the disease. Published on the website of science journal Nature, the research reveals the structural analysis of HIV-1 protein Vif, whose role is to subvert antiviral activity, laying a foundation for the design of novel anti-HIV drugs, according to the research. Launched in March 2012, the study was carried out by a team of Chinese researchers led by Huang Zhiwei, professor of Structural Molecular Biology with the School of Life Science and Technology at Harbin Institute of Technology

China has its first smart phone system with independent intellectual property rights as a native technology company unveils a new mobile phone operating system in January. Following Android, iOS, and Windows phone, the system, named 960 OS, was developed by the Coship Electronics Co. Ltd., a Shenzhen-based company. It is based on the Linux kernel and took 15 years to complete the development, the company said. Information stored in a smart phone will be better protected under the operating system.

Actress Lupita Nyong'o is the first ever Kenyan Oscar nominee. Nyong'o earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film 12 Years A Slave, in which she played the role of a slave girl who becomes the sexual object of desire for her master. The film also earned a best actor Oscar nomination for Nigerian actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. News Roundup Nyong'o also won the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Award for 12 Years a Slave during the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two BAFTA nominations for her role. She has received The Palm Spring Film Festival "Breakthrough Award" and the 2013 Hollywood Film Awards "New Hollywood Award" and was named one of Variety's "10 Actors to Watch."

Ma Huateng, Chairman and CEO of Tencent, China's largest Internet company by revenue, became the richest man on China's mainland amid rising share prices for his Hong Kong-listed company, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index that was updated in January. Ma's net wealth is estimated at $13 billion with Tencent's share price surging to HK$512.5 ($66)