By Maggie Michael CAIRO (Reuters) -Over four terrifying hours last weekend, masked gunmen affiliated to one of Sudan’s warring factions raided one of Khartoum’s oldest churches, opening fire at church officials as they searched for cash, gold and women, two witnesses said. The raid was one of many targeting homes, factories, banks and places of…
By Libby George LONDON (Reuters) – Turkey’s lira weakened to a record low against the dollar on Thursday, after incumbent Tayyip Erdogan’s lead in presidential elections surprised markets, while the nation’s sovereign dollar bonds steadied after a three-day post-election rout. The cost of insuring the country’s debt against default fell slightly, but equity markets and…
(Reuters) – Egypt’s central bank kept its overnight interest rates unchanged on Thursday, saying that growth had slowed in the fourth quarter and international commodity prices were easing. As forecast by analysts, the bank left its lending rate at 19.25% and deposit rate at 18.25%, its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said in a statement. “Domestically,…
By Mai ShamsElDin and El Tayeb Siddig CAIRO (Reuters) – After surviving weeks of fighting in Khartoum, Sanaa Mahmoud has finally got her family to safety in Cairo but says her daughter still wakes up at night screaming because of the gunfire and airstrikes that rocked her neighbourhood. “They saw everything, the gunfire was falling…
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli nationalists marking the 1967 capture of East Jerusalem were to march through the Muslim quarter of the Old City on Thursday in an annual parade that Palestinians see as a provocation. Here are details on “Jerusalem Day” and why it stirs fears of renewed violence: WHAT IS JERUSALEM DAY? Israel fought…
SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan (Reuters) -At a meeting in Russia’s former Central Asian backyard, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on Thursday pledged further support for war-torn Ukraine with plans to increase its capital by 3 billion-5 billion euros. The emerging markets lender has already earmarked 3 billion euros for Ukraine – which is fighting off…
ANKARA (Reuters) – Tayyip Erdogan’s challenger in Turkey’s presidential race has sharpened his tone on migrants on Thursday, vowing to send all migrants back to their countries once elected in a May 28 runoff vote. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of a six-party opposition alliance, won 45% support in Sunday’s vote while Erdogan got 49.5%, falling…
By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s central bank is expected to raise short-term interest rates by another quarter-point to a more than 16-year high next week, in what may be the last increase in an aggressive tightening cycle aimed at battling persistent inflation. All 15 economists polled by Reuters projected a 25 basis points…
By Andrew Mills DOHA (Reuters) – The Arab League’s welcoming back of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad into its ranks highlights how far behind Qatar has fallen in its bid to be a diplomatic voice that carries weight in the Middle East. Earlier this month Qatar reluctantly withdrew its opposition to Saudi Arabia’s initiative to readmit…
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday Jordan needed to accelerate structural economic reforms to push growth beyond the average 2% to 3% it has struck in recent years to help it generate more jobs to reduce high unemployment. “With unemployment still high, and particularly among the youth and…
