Major news items in leading Zambian media outlets

The following are the highlights of Zambia's major media outlets on Tuesday.

-- A Zambian court has finally restored former President Rupiah Banda's immunity.

Banda was seeking judicial review of the decision of the Speaker of the parliament to strip him of his legal immunity and subject him to criminal prosecution.

The Zambian parliament resolved the strip Banda of his immunity in 2013 so that he could be subjected to criminal prosecution in the courts of law for alleged corruption during his reign from 2008 to 2011. (Daily Nation)

-- President Edgar Lungu has called on Zambians to give him a fresh five-year mandate to start new projects and to complete those that were started by his predecessor, late President Michael Sata.

Lungu said his job has been simple during his one year in office because he has just been implementing what his predecessor left.

Zambia will go for elections on August 11. (Zambia Daily Mail)

-- Zambia's Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda expressed optimism that the mining industry in the country will rebound and that employees who were laid off because of the impact of global challenges will soon be re-employed.

He said the continued investment in the sector by a number of firms was a positive indicator of the future of the sector which has seen over 9,000 losing jobs since last year. (Times of Zambia)

-- The Zambian government has said it is receiving unsolicited offers from foreign investors wanting to buy off already contracted debts like the Eurobonds.

In the last four years, Zambia has contracted three Eurobonds worth 3 billion U.S. dollars with over 80 percent increase in interest rates between the first 750 million dollars contracted in 2012 and the 1.25 billion dollars contracted last year. (The Post of Zambia) Endit