AFRICA

Cairo, Egypt | Xinhua |  The Egyptian pound further declined against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, plunging to below 31 pounds to the dollar before settling at 29.7 in the afternoon. The Egyptian local currency has lost about half of its value since March 2022, when a dollar was worth …

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | The World Bank on Tuesday forecasted the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) economy to slow to 3.6 percent in 2023 and rise to 3.9 percent in 2024. According to the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report, the growth was revised down for almost 60 percent of countries, …

Harare, Zimbabwe | Xinhua | Zimbabwe’s gold output reached a new record high of 35.38 tonnes in 2022, spurred by new mining projects, timely payments and incentives to miners. The output was 19.5 percent up from the previous year’s output, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported Tuesday, citing statistics from the country’s …

Abuja, Nigeria | Xinhua | Nigeria aims to end the importation of petroleum products by 2024 when local refineries are expected to be fully functional, an official said Monday. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva told reporters during a press briefing in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, that the refining …

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | A delegation from FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) started a tour to Kenya on Monday, as the country tries to recover following a lengthy international ban last year. The nine-month FIFA suspension ended on November 28, 2022, following the intervention of Kenya’s new …

United Nations | Xinhua | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday welcomed the launch of the final phase in the political process toward restoring a civilian-led transition in Sudan, said his spokesman. This step builds on the progress achieved on the signing of the Political Framework Agreement on Dec. 5, 2022, …

Updated for the first time since 2008, the new ‘200 Greatest Singers of All Time’ list includes Miriam Makeba, Tabu Ley, and Burna Boy, among others. SPEICAL FEATURE | BIRD AGENCY |  Rolling Stone, one of the world’s leading music publications platforms, kicked off the new year with an update …

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | Xinhua | Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has appointed a new governor of the east African nation’s central bank, the presidency said in a statement late Saturday. The statement by the Directorate of Presidential Communications said President Hassan has appointed Emmanuel Tutuba as the new governor of …

Lusaka, Zambia | Xinhua | The Zambian government on Friday announced that it has halted electricity exports to some neighboring countries due to reduced power generation capacity the southern African country was facing. Minister of Energy Peter Kapala, however, said the government will not completely do away with exports in order to …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Xinhua | More than 3.3 million people in Ethiopia’s conflict-affected northernmost Tigray region have received humanitarian aid since early October, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The OCHA, in its latest Ethiopia situation update issued Thursday, said humanitarian partners have assisted …