Category: World

Afreximbank’s partnership with Plot Enterprise Ghana is placing cocoa processing, rural employment and African creative exports at the centre of a wider push to keep more value from the continent’s resources within local economies.The collaboration, highlighted through the bank’s impact programming, links Ghana’s cocoa belt to global markets at a time when volatile cocoa prices, climate shocks and financing strains are reshaping one of West Africa’s most important agricultural sectors. Plot Enterprise, based in Takoradi in Ghana’s Western Region, processes

President Donald Trump has put a planned attack on Iran on hold after Gulf leaders urged Washington to allow negotiations more time, while warning that the US military remains ready for a “full, large scale assault” if no acceptable deal is reached.The decision marks a critical pause in a confrontation that has drawn the US, Iran, Israel and Gulf states into one of the most volatile security crises in the region this year. Trump said the strike had been scheduled

Washington announced a $1.776 billion compensation fund for people who claim they were unfairly investigated or prosecuted, opening a politically charged new phase in President Donald Trump’s campaign against what his administration calls government “weaponisation”.The Justice Department said the Anti-Weaponization Fund would be created as part of a deal resolving Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the unauthorised leak of his tax records. Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization

A chance photograph taken on a remote Queensland property has returned Ptilotus senarius to scientific view after 58 years without a confirmed record, turning a plant long treated as presumed extinct into a live test case for smartphone-powered biodiversity discovery.The small, slender shrub, a member of the Amaranthaceae family, had not been collected since 1967 and was known only from preserved herbarium specimens before horticulturalist and bird bander Aaron Bean photographed an unusual plant in June 2025 while working on

Mineral Resources will restart operations at its wholly owned Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia, moving to bring back production after an 18-month shutdown as stronger prices revive confidence across parts of the battery metals sector.The Perth-based diversified miner said site activity will begin ramping up in late May, with crushing and mining operations scheduled to start in June and first spodumene concentrate production expected from July. The first shipment from the Port of Esperance is expected in the

Elon Musk has signalled that SpaceX is moving towards a public listing “pretty soon”, setting the stage for what could become the largest stock market debut on record and a defining test of investor appetite for space, satellite internet and artificial intelligence businesses.Musk said he was back in Texas working on plans for the initial public offering as SpaceX prepares to open itself to public market investors after more than two decades as a closely held company. The move comes

Washington’s defence establishment is confronting a sharper supply-chain warning after President Donald Trump left Beijing claiming major trade progress, while China kept key controls on materials vital to US weapons, aircraft, satellites and advanced electronics.Trump ended his two-day visit by declaring that he had reached “fantastic trade deals” with President Xi Jinping, saying the understandings would benefit both economies. The commercial package pointed to tariff discussions, agricultural market access, aviation purchases and new bilateral boards for trade and investment. Yet

Samsung Electronics and its largest labour union will return to negotiations on Monday in a high-stakes attempt to prevent an 18-day strike that could disrupt semiconductor production, unsettle global technology supply chains and deepen pressure on South Korea’s export-led economy.The talks, to be held with government mediation, follow days of failed discussions over pay, performance bonuses and transparency in reward structures at the world’s largest memory chipmaker. The National Samsung Electronics Union has threatened to begin industrial action on May

California has barred Kars4Kids from airing its familiar vehicle-donation jingle in its current form after a court found the campaign misled donors about who benefited from their contributions.The ruling by Orange County Superior Court Judge Gassia Apkarian found that the long-running radio and television advertisements violated California’s false advertising and unfair competition laws by omitting material information about the charity’s mission, geographic focus and beneficiaries. Kars4Kids has 30 days from the judgment to stop non-compliant broadcasts in the state and

Health authorities are racing to contain a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern Ituri province after 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths were recorded, while Uganda confirmed a separate fatal case involving a man who had travelled from Congo.The outbreak has been reported mainly in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones, with suspected cases also under investigation in Bunia, Ituri’s provincial capital near the Ugandan border. Preliminary laboratory testing detected Ebola virus in 13 of

Health authorities have moved to contain a new Ebola virus disease outbreak in Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, triggering an urgent regional coordination meeting with Uganda, South Sudan and international response partners as concern grows over cross-border transmission.The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the outbreak on Friday after investigations identified 246 suspected cases and 65 suspected deaths. Most infections have been reported in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones, while suspected cases have

Africa is losing about $5 billion a year to currency conversion costs, exposing a costly weakness in the continent’s ambition to build a seamless single market.A fresh assessment of cross-border trade barriers says limited currency convertibility remains one of the biggest obstacles facing businesses, traders and consumers across the continent. The cost arises because payments between African countries often pass through foreign currencies, mainly the dollar or the euro, before reaching their final destination. Each conversion adds fees, exchange-rate losses

Kazakhstan has ordered artificial intelligence to be introduced across all secondary schools by 2029, setting a tight first deadline for the government to design a pilot project within 17 days as President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pushes education reform deeper into the country’s digital transformation agenda.Tokayev signed the decree on May 12, directing the government to prepare concrete proposals by June 1 for an initial pilot in secondary education. The wider national plan, covering 2026 to 2029, must be approved by July

Moscow’s Arbitration Court has ordered Euroclear to pay about €200 billion to Russia’s central bank, sharply escalating a legal confrontation over sovereign reserves immobilised in Europe since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The ruling gives Moscow a formal domestic judgment against the Brussels-based clearing house, although enforcement outside Russia is expected to face major legal and political barriers.Russia’s central bank filed the case in December 2025, seeking compensation for assets and proceeds it says it has been

Mexico’s tougher enforcement against ride-hailing pick-ups at airports is emerging as a logistical risk for football supporters weeks before the country helps open the 2026 World Cup.Authorities have stepped up action against app-based services such as Uber and DiDi in federal airport zones, reviving a long-running clash between digital platforms, airport taxi operators and transport regulators. The dispute is most visible at Mexico City International Airport, where enforcement operations and taxi protests have disrupted access roads and raised concerns over

A commercial vessel anchored off Fujairah has been taken by unauthorised personnel and steered towards Iranian territorial waters, intensifying concern over security at one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.The incident was reported 38 nautical miles, about 70 kilometres, north-east of the UAE port of Fujairah, close to the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz. The ship was at anchor when unidentified personnel boarded it and took control, leaving maritime authorities to assess whether the episode marks a fresh

Kyiv came under a large Russian missile and drone attack before dawn on Thursday, leaving at least one person dead, dozens wounded and rescuers searching through the ruins of a damaged residential building where residents were feared trapped.Explosions shook several districts of the Ukrainian capital during an air raid alert that lasted more than four hours, as air defences attempted to intercept a mixed barrage of ballistic missiles and drones. City officials said falling debris and direct impacts damaged homes,

South Africa’s rand firmed in early Wednesday trade as investors turned their attention to Beijing, where talks between U. S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping were expected to influence appetite for emerging-market assets, commodities and risk-sensitive currencies.By 0749 GMT, the rand was trading at 16.4517 against the dollar, about 0.4% stronger than its previous close. The move followed a weaker session on Tuesday, when disappointing labour market data and caution over global inflation pressures weighed on South

South Africa’s retailers are paying a widening price for weak security systems, with losses now extending beyond stolen stock to staff safety, customer confidence, delivery costs, insurance premiums and already thin operating margins.Shrinkage has become a boardroom issue rather than a store-level irritation. Retailers are dealing with shoplifting, employee theft, fraud, vandalism, armed robberies, cyber intrusions and organised syndicates that target goods with established resale value. The sector’s annual losses linked to crime and shrinkage are estimated at about R23

EVelution Energy has moved closer to anchoring a domestic US cobalt supply chain after signing a memorandum of understanding with Democratic Republic of Congo’s state cobalt buyer and Trafigura for long-term shipments of cobalt hydroxide to its planned Arizona refinery.The agreement brings together EVelution Energy, Entreprise Générale du Cobalt and Trafigura in a framework that could channel Congolese cobalt to the United States for processing into battery-grade cobalt sulphate or alloy-grade cobalt metal. The material is intended for sectors including

 Nigeria’s equities market has moved into a stronger expansion cycle as abundant domestic liquidity, expectations of looser monetary conditions and a widening valuation rerating continue to draw investors into listed banks, industrial counters, consumer goods companies and exchange-traded funds.Analysts at PAC Research have linked the rally on the Nigerian Exchange to four main forces: expanding local liquidity, expectations that monetary policy will normalise further, renewed appetite for stocks that had traded at discounts to earnings and assets, and a gradual