New members Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will join the economic bloc from January 2024 JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – The BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) has announced its first expansion, inviting six new countries. The new members Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopi...
LONDON (AA) – British police announced Tuesday that it formally charged Diezani Alison-Madueke, former Nigerian oil minister, with bribery-related offenses. Madueke, 63, who also served as president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), was a key figure in the Nigerian government between 2010 and 2015. An inves...
Niamey, Niger – AFP A convoy of around 300 supply trucks arrived in Niger’s capital Niamey on Monday as Burkina Faso came to the aid of its sanctions-hit neighbour. The West African bloc ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Niger after army officers toppled president Mohamed Bazoum in a coup last month. Benin and Nigeria closed their [&hell...
Beirut, Lebanon – AFP Hundreds of Syrians staged a general strike on Sunday against deteriorating living conditions and price hikes, local media reported, amid a series of sporadic demonstrations in the country’s regime-held south. The rare strike in Sweida province comes after the government this week lifted fuel subsidies, dealin...
TRIPOLI (AA) – Libya’s central bank on Sunday announced its reunification after being split into two for nearly a decade due to the country’s long-running civil war. The bank in a statement said it has become a “unified sovereign institution” after a meeting in the capital Tripoli between central bank governor Saddek El Kaber and [...
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AA) – Nigeria on Thursday announced the release of $241 million to tackle a food shortage in the country. Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state said the money will be spent on buying food and distributing it to citizens as the government’s response to inflation and insufficient food supplies following the removal of ...
Beirut, Lebanon – AFP French firm TotalEnergies said Wednesday that a drilling rig had reached Lebanese waters ahead of exploration for offshore gas reserves, months after a landmark accord demarcating the Lebanon-Israel maritime border. “TotalEnergies, the operator of Block 9, announces the arrival of the drilling rig, Transocean ...
Data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development states that more than 138,000 people in the U.S. were rendered homeless in 2022. WASHINGTON – The number of people experiencing homelessness in the US has increased by 11% so far this year – the largest increase since 2007. The increase is due to high housing […]
KANO, Nigeria (AA) – The Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), the umbrella body for workers in the country, has threatened to start an indefinite nationwide strike if there is a further increase in the pump price of petrol. Speaking at a meeting of the African Trade Union Alliance in the capital Abuja, NLC President Joe Ajaero […]
Niamey, Niger – AFP Niger’s coup leaders said late Sunday they denounced the “illegal, inhumane and humiliating sanctions” imposed by a West African regional bloc, in a statement broadcast on national television. The military regime said the people of Niger “have been hard hit by the illegal, inhumane and humiliat...
