Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday unveiled a record budget plan to lawmakers, ramping up ambitious spending goals for his second term in charge. The draft budget increased more than 13 percent from last year at 10.33 trillion naira — around $33.8 billion (30.8 billion …
Read More »Nigeria’s Buhari says anti-migrant attacks ’embarrassment’ for Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday denounced recent xenophobic violence in South Africa as an “embarrassment” for the continent, as he wrapped up a state visit. Buhari’s trip was overshadowed by a spate of recent attacks against foreign workers in South Africa, where …
Read More »XENOPHOBIA: Nigeria’s Buhari arrives in S.Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in South Africa on Wednesday for a state visit after an outburst of xenophobic violence in and around Johannesburg stirred tensions between Africa’s leading economic powerhouses. Buhari and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa will meet Thursday to …
Read More »Blame game as wheels come off India’s auto sector
New Delhi, India | AFP | When India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed that a preference by millennials for ride-hailing apps was contributing to a painful slump in car sales, it sparked an online backlash from furious youngsters. They started a campaign using ironic hashtags such as #BoycottMillennials and #SayItLikeNirmalaTai …
Read More »China plans new tariffs on $75 bn of US imports
Beijing, China | AFP | China announced Friday it will hit US soybeans, lobsters, peanut butter and other imports worth $75 billion with new tariffs in retaliation for Washington’s planned duty hikes, further intensifying the bruising trade war between the world’s top two economies. The punitive tariffs of 5 to …
Read More »Moscow set for fresh protests after month of rallies
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Moscow was set for fresh protests Saturday, the latest in a wave of demonstrations that has seen tens of thousands take to the streets after opposition figures were banned from local elections a month ago. The rallies, which have taken place every Saturday since the ruling, …
Read More »Uganda slams report on ‘Huawei spying’
Uganda slams report Huawei helped spy on opposition leaders Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Uganda on Friday denied a report that employees of Chinese telecom giant Huawei had aided a domestic spying operation targeting pop star turned opposition icon Bobi Wine. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Huawei …
Read More »A year after Mnangagwa’s election, old woes haunt Zimbabwe
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Langton Chiwocha chose Emmerson Mnangagwa among 23 candidates in Zimbabwe’s presidential elections a year ago. Today he says he deeply regrets his choice. “We had high expectations as many promises were made, but things have turned worse since the elections,” Chiwocha told AFP. “I wish I …
Read More »I.Coast must overhaul key cocoa sector: World Bank
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, earns just a fraction of the crop’s potential value and must process it domestically and develop its distribution to fully reap the benefits, a World Bank report said Thursday. Cocoa accounts for 40 percent of the West African …
Read More »From a lake high in Madagascar, Africa’s own caviar
Mantasoa, Madagascar | AFP | Madagascar, renowned for its unique wildlife and vanilla production, has a new claim to fame — the island nation is Africa’s first and only source of caviar. The business is an unlikely project in a country beset by grinding poverty, but its owners are determined …
Read More »