By Chris Mfula LUSAKA (Reuters) – Zambia’s official creditors are close to signing a memorandum of understanding on debt relief, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said on Friday. Zambia became the first African country to default on its sovereign debt during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but it has struggled to finalise restructuring talks on external…
By Nelson Bocanegra BOGOTA (Reuters) – Analysts are divided on whether Colombia’s central bank board will hold the interest rate steady for the first time in 18 months or back one more increase in a tightening cycle meant to fight inflation, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. Fifteen of 26 analysts predicted the seven-member board…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. business activity accelerated to an 11-month high in April, according to a survey on Friday, which was at odds with growing signs that the economy was in danger of slipping into recession as higher interest rates cool demand. S&P Global said its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the…
LONDON (Reuters) – Former Barclays investor Edward Bramson on Friday questioned how the British bank and its chairman Nigel Higgins vetted its ex-CEO Jes Staley over his earlier business ties to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Activist investor Bramson said in a letter seen by Reuters that Higgins had told him that he had never asked…
By Andrew MacAskill, Alistair Smout and Sachin Ravikumar LONDON (Reuters) -British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab resigned from the government on Friday after an independent report found he had bullied officials, the latest scandal to force out one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s top ministers. The loss of a third senior minister over their personal…
By Deena Beasley and Julie Steenhuysen (Reuters) – Eli Lilly and Co expects the U.S. Medicare health plan to back down from strict coverage limits on new Alzheimer’s drugs as more evidence emerges in coming weeks showing that clearing amyloid brain plaques can help patients, a company executive told Reuters. Lilly plans to release results…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Right-wing U.S. radio host Larry Elder, a Black lawyer who has denied there is systemic racism in America, has announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. “America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable. We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader…
By David Stanway SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Volunteers in dozens of countries were set to plant trees, clean up trash and urge governments to do more to combat climate change to mark Earth Day, as scientists warn of more extreme weather and record temperatures this year. The run-up to the 54th annual celebration of the environment,…
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that interest rates will fall as long as he is in power, and that inflation will decline with them, repeating his unorthodox views. Erdogan was speaking in Istanbul weeks before a presidential election on May 14. Some anticipate a shift to more orthodox policies after…
(Reuters) – Chile, the world’s second largest lithium producer, said it plans to transfer control of the production of the mineral essential for electric vehicle (EV) batteries to a new state-owned company. Here are key facts about lithium and EVs: WHAT IS LITHIUM? The silvery-white element is the lightest metal and highly reactive, giving it…
