Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Since starting treatment five years ago, 50-year-old Alice Chenyika kept her blood pressure under control by adhering to doctors’ strict instructions to take two daily doses of nifedipine. Now Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis has pushed prices up, and the medicine is far beyond her reach …
Read More »Cash-strapped Libyans sceptical ahead of peace talks
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Queueing up outside banks in Tripoli, Libyans say they have little hope of an end to the political and economic turmoil shaking their country, on the eve of international crisis talks in Italy. Accompanied by his five-year-old son, architect Mohamad Kredigh was hoping to get …
Read More »Nigeria’s new minimum wage: too much to ask?
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | On the campaign trail for re-election in February, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari may have spoken too soon when he backed an initiative to hike his country’s minimum wage by a whopping two thirds. Buhari, who had been advised on the wage by a negotiating committee …
Read More »Somali, Eritrean leaders in Ethiopia to cement regional ties
Gondar, Ethiopia | AFP | The presidents of Somalia and Eritrea met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Friday to cement regional economic ties as relations warm between the once-rival nations. Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki arrived in the northern Ethiopian city of Gondar …
Read More »Russia seeks to dump dollar as new US sanctions loom
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Moscow is intensifying efforts to wean its economy off the dollar as Washington considers tough new sanctions that could deny Russia access to foreign debt markets and cut its banks from the greenback. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly slammed the US unit’s dominance on the …
Read More »US midterms: Key factors of the 2018 elections
Washington, United States | AFP | Immigration, health care, jobs. The extraordinary US midterm election has been a tug of war over key issues, but none has had a more dramatic impact on voters than Donald Trump, the man who isn’t even on the ballot. The Republican president is the …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Chasing the wind
ANDREW MWENDA: Why the belief that Ugandans are angry because youth lack jobs and other economic opportunities is mistaken THE LAST WORD | ANDREW MWENDA | Last week, President Yoweri Museveni inaugurated a $600 million fertilizer and aluminum plant in Tororo. A few days before, he had opened a new $150 …
Read More »Zimbabwe president says study points to oil in country
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Thursday that an Australian firm would explore for oil and gas in the nation after a study indicated deposits. Invictus Energy has in recent months reworked survey data generated in the early 1990s by US oil giant ExxonMobil, previously known …
Read More »South African president fires tax boss Moyane
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday sacked the head of the country’s tax collection agency, an ally of scandal-tainted former leader Jacob Zuma, said the presidency. The president dismissed Tom Moyane after a judiciary inquiry recommended his immediate removal “to forestall any further …
Read More »Samsung Electronics posts record in Q3 despite smartphone struggles
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | Samsung Electronics on Wednesday posted record quarterly operating and net profits for the July-September period as solid demand for its memory chips cushioned the fallout from slowing smartphone sales — but warned of tougher times ahead. The South Korean tech giant — the world’s …
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