Maitland, South Africa | AFP | South Africa is fighting to revive its frayed clothing industry, once a crucial provider of jobs in a country suffering from high unemployment, as a flood of cheap imports forces local factories to shutter and lay off workers. Once the economic lifeblood of many small …
Read More »S.Africa seeks cash from firms linked to Zuma graft scandal
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African prosecutors said Tuesday they are seeking $130 million from global consultancy McKinsey and a local firm linked to a graft scandal that has engulfed President Jacob Zuma. The announcement was the first move against the Gupta family that is accused of corrupt …
Read More »Sudan police beat protesters at demo against rising prices
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Anti-riot police fired tear gas and beat protesters with batons Tuesday as hundreds of Sudanese demonstrated against soaring bread prices near a presidential palace in Khartoum, an AFP correspondent said. Bread prices have more than doubled after a jump in the cost of flour due …
Read More »US inflation modest in 2017, despite rising retail sales
Washington, United States | AFP | Healthy retail sales in 2017 are another sign of the growing strength of the US economy, but inflation was slower than expected, according to the latest government data released Friday. This combination of solid economic growth and consumer spending, that has come with falling …
Read More »Son of Angola’s ex-president sacked from national investment fund
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan President Joao Lourenco removed the son of his predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos from the top job at the oil-rich country’s sovereign wealth fund, the presidency said on Wednesday. Jose Filomeno dos Santos, who was implicated in the “Panama Papers” offshore scandal, will be …
Read More »Chad shelves bid to cut civil service salaries
N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | The cash-strapped central African nation of Chad has suspended a plan to reduce the salaries of its civil servants, Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke announced on Wednesday. The plan, announced earlier this month, aims to ease the strains on a budget badly hit by a nearly …
Read More »World Bank upgrades global growth forecasts as recovery strengthens
Washington, United States | AFP | For the first time in many years, the World Bank’s outlook for the global economy is better than expected rather than worse, with all regions seeing improved growth, according to its latest forecast released Tuesday. However, the bank warns that countries must make investments to …
Read More »Angolan leader denies tensions with predecessor despite clean-up campaign
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan President Joao Lourenco on Monday denied “any tension” with his long-serving predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos, many of whose relatives and friends he has sacked from public office in a fight against corruption in the oil-rich southern African nation. In November, within three months …
Read More »Sudan students, police clash on third day of protests
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Hundreds of Sudanese students from the University of Khartoum threw stones at anti-riot police Monday on a third day of protests against soaring bread prices, an AFP correspondent reported. Bread prices more than doubled last week as flour manufacturers raised prices on dwindling wheat supplies …
Read More »Sudan student killed in protests against bread price rise
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | A student was killed in Sudan on Sunday during protests against soaring bread prices, officials and witnesses said. Protests broke out in areas of war-torn Darfur and Blue Nile states as well as the capital Khartoum with demonstrators burning tyres and blocking roads and police …
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