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Prompt Board Next day settlement
Expert Board All you need re an Individual stock.
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President @APMutharika Albino killers may face the death penalty @thetimes Law & Politics |
The president of Malawi has called for a debate on introducing the
death penalty for “albino hunters” after the most recent case of a
victim being killed for his body parts.
A priest and a police officer were among a gang of 12 arrested over
the kidnapping and murder of McDonald Masambuka, 22, the 22nd person
with albinism to have been killed in the country since 2014.
Suspects led police to a shallow grave containing his dismembered
body. He went missing on March 9 from Machinga in the east of the
country. His legs and some bones had been removed. A surgical
assistant and one of the victim’s closest relatives are among those
facing charges over his death, police said.
The body parts are made into charms or potions by traditional healers
who claim they bring wealth and good fortune. The entire body of a
someone with the condition can sell for tens of thousands of pounds.
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Afonso Dhlakama died - apparently of kidney failure caused by diabetes - in or near his Gorongosa mountain hideout early on Thursday Daily Maverick Law & Politics |
the result of his death would “probably be instability within Renamo
as there is no clear successor”, said an official in South Africa’s
Department of International Relations and Co-operation.
“But no serious impact on the general stability of the country and
probably the end of Renamo’s threat to Frelimo.”
Fauvet said Dhlakama “exercised iron control over Renamo, and there is
no obvious successor, nobody who can negotiate with Nyusi with the
same authority”.
“The worst possible outcome would be for Renamo to fall apart, with
its armed force just becoming groups of bandits raiding villages and
staging ambushes. Hopefully, the government and the remaining Renamo
leadership can negotiate some kind of stopgap solution that will avoid
such a scenario.”
Thomashausen, who had known Dhlakama since 1981, agreed with the South
African official that Dhlakama’s death did not pose a threat to
Mozambique’s democracy.
But he did not quite agree that it would end Renamo’s political threat
to Frelimo. He said Frelimo had suffered a big loss in the recent
by-election in Nampula city and so Renamo could still do well in the
general municipal elections in October.
But that would, he acknowledged, depend on a smooth succession within Renamo.
He said there could be a fierce contest for the party’s leadership
between its secretary-general Manuel Bissopo and Dhlakama’s daughter
Maria Soares who heads the party’s parliamentary caucus.
Afonso Dhlakama, a thorn in the side of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo
party for nearly 40 years, died – apparently of kidney failure caused
by diabetes – in or near his Gorongosa mountain hideout early on
Thursday
Conclusions
A ''mercurial'' Leader is dead was happens to the Party? I think it
disintegrates.
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Popular Putin prepares for Cold War 2.0 @asiatimesonline Law & Politics |
Immediately after his official inauguration on Monday, Russian
President Vladimir Putin is expected to announce a new government. And
a bombshell is in the making. The new cabinet is bound to be a Stavka:
that is, a war cabinet.
Yet the new, absolute red line is Syria – as recently delineated by
the Russian Defense Ministry: Any attack on Russian assets or
personnel will be met with a devastating response.
Back in February 1945, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Josef
Stalin met in Yalta to design the post-World War II world – which
ended up being framed by the Cold War. Now, in a Cold War 2.0
environment, Russia is repositioning Crimea as a debate hub on global
cooperation – complete with a brand-new, billion-dollar international
airport and the Crimean Bridge, spanning 19 kilometers across the
Kerch Strait, and open for traffic in late May, six months ahead of
schedule.
That’s what “Russian aggression” feels like.
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U.S. freezes funding for Syria's "White Helmets" @CBSNews Law & Politics |
Now they are not getting any U.S funding as the State Department says
the support is "under active review." The U.S had accounted for about
a third of the group's overall funding.
"This is a very worrisome development," said an official from the
White Helmets. "Ultimately, this will negatively impact the
humanitarian workers ability to save lives."
The White Helmets, formally known as the Syrian Civil Defense, are a
group of 3,000 volunteer rescuers that have saved thousands of lives
since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. A makeshift 911, they have
run into the collapsing buildings to pull children, men and women out
of danger's way. They say they have saved more than 70,000 lives
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16-APR-2018 :: War Drums Putin cornered like a Rat in Syria - What happens next? @TheStarKenya Law & Politics |
In his book from 2000, Putin briefly tells a story of the first time
he learned “the meaning of the word cornered.”
There, on that stair landing, I got a quick and lasting lesson in the
meaning of the word cornered. Tere were hordes of rats in the front
entryway. My friends and I used to chase them around with sticks. Once
I spotted a huge rat and pursued it down the hall until I drove it
into a corner. It had nowhere to run. Suddenly it lashed around and
threw itself at me. I was surprised and frightened. Now the rat was
chasing me. It jumped across the landing and down the stairs.
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OCT 15 :: Putin is a GeoPolitical GrandMaster Law & Politics |
Putin has always been considered a grandmaster of geopolitics, but of
late has been placed under tremendous pressure by the oil warfare
specialist –President Barrack Obama of the US.
In the context of the interminable Russiagate saga, increasingly harsh
US sanctions, the Skripal charade (which, incidentally, has totally
disappeared from the Western news cycle), and the serious escalation
in Syria – in contrast to the Russia-Iran-Turkey attempt at a peace
process in Astana – that’s an all but inevitable option chosen by the
Kremlin.
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U.S. says will be consequences for China's South China Sea militarisation @Reuters Law & Politics |
Sarah Sanders told a regular news briefing: “We’re well aware of
China’s militarization of the South China Sea. We’ve raised concerns
directly with the Chinese about this and there will be near-term and
long-term consequences.”
U.S. news network CNBC reported on Wednesday that China had installed
anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three
outposts in the South China Sea. It cited sources with direct
knowledge of U.S. intelligence.
Asked about the report, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a
regular news briefing: “We’re well aware of China’s militarization of
the South China Sea. We’ve raised concerns directly with the Chinese
about this and there will be near-term and long-term consequences.”
CNBC quoted unnamed sources as saying that according to U.S.
intelligence assessments, the missiles were moved to Fiery Cross Reef,
Subi Reef and Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands within the past 30
days.
They would be the first Chinese missile deployments in the Spratlys,
where several Asian countries including Vietnam and Taiwan have rival
claims.
Last month, U.S. Admiral Philip Davidson, nominated to head U.S.
Pacific Command, said China could use its “forward operating bases” in
the South China Sea to challenge the U.S. regional presence and “would
easily overwhelm the military forces of any other South China Sea
claimants.”
Conclusions
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China threatens Taiwan, but how far will Beijing go? Asia Times Law & Politics |
While the media continue to focus on developments from the recent
summit between Pyongyang and Seoul and the upcoming meeting between
Pyongyang and Washington, Beijing has taken advantage of the diversion
to increase pressure on Taiwan.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a highly-charged speech before the
National People’s Congress, warned that Beijing was ready to fight its
enemies in a “bloody battle” to regain its past glory and preserve its
empire. Subsequently, an editorial in the Global Times, a state-owned
but unofficial outlet for ideas that Beijing wishes to float for
reaction, said China must prepare for a “direct military clash in the
Taiwan Straits”. These are not just words.
In recent weeks, Beijing sailed its aircraft carrier and associated
support vessels through the Taiwan Strait, conducting live-fire
exercises, and flew its bombers and fighters around the island nation
at least twice last month.
This is not the first display of force by China in the area and China
has not hesitated to engage in actual hostilities with regard to
Taiwan.
Given the narrowness of the Taiwan Strait – 130 to 220kms – and the
range of modern weaponry, Chinese airplanes would be vulnerable not
long after reaching the midpoint between the two nations. An incursion
into Taiwanese airspace – let alone an actual overflight – would
create a major international incident. That says nothing about what
could transpire should a Chinese airplane be shot up – or even shot
down.
The US added more fuel to the fire by flying two B-52 long-range
nuclear-capable bombers within 250 kilometers of Guangdong on the
mainland to the west of Taiwan late last month. This is in addition to
the Freedom of Navigation (FON) operations conducted by US warships in
the South China Sea, not too distant from Taiwan.
Events in the airspace and seas around Taipei are certain to heat up
this year, and while it is clear that bullies understand and respect
only force, what is not known is how things will play out. Taiwanese
independence and Xi Jinping’s face are at stake.
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Taiwan Livid After China Secretly Installs Cruise Missiles On Contested Spratly Islands @zerohedge Law & Politics |
"In one or two months, China will hold more long-range military
training and increase combined forces operations when engaged in such
activities in waters near Taiwan,” Yen said when responding to another
lawmaker Chiang Chi-chen about Beijing’s increased military exercises
in the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea.
Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington’s Center for
Strategic and International Studies think-tank, said deploying
missiles on the outposts would be important.
“These would be the first missiles in the Spratlys, either surface to
air, or anti-ship,” he said.
He added that such deployments were expected as China built missile
shelters on the reefs last year and already deployed such missile
systems on Woody Island further to the north.
Poling said it would be a major step on China’s road to dominating the
South China Sea, a key global trade route. -Reuters
“Before this, if you were one of the other claimants ... you knew that
China was monitoring your every move. Now you will know that you’re
operating inside Chinese missile range. That’s a pretty strong, if
implicit, threat,” said Poling.
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"Flattery secures his friendship, criticism his enmity," wrote McCain in "The Restless Wave" Law & Politics |
“He has showered with praise some of the world’s worst tyrants,” McCain added.
He also accused Trump of failing to raise U.S. concerns about human rights.
“The world expects us to be concerned with the condition of humanity.
We should be proud of that reputation,” McCain said. “I’m not sure the
President understands that.”
Trump’s branding of unflattering news stories as fake news -
regardless of their validity - was a technique “copied by autocrats
who want to discredit and control a free press,” McCain said.
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India offered a $1.6bn oil discount, if it pays in crypto @asiatimesonline Emerging Markets |
it’s not difficult to understand why Nicolas Maduro is trying very
hard to sell his Petro crypto coin. Launched in late 2017 with the aim
of circumventing US trade sanctions while also attempting to ease the
pressure on the ever-sliding Bolivar – Venezuela’s inflation rate rose
from 4,000% last year to 18,000 % in April and some economists say it
could hit 100,000 % by the end of the year – the Petro could be the
last roll of the monetary dice for President Maduro.
He claims the token, that supposedly is backed by the country’s oil
assets, raised $5 billion after it went on public sale in March and,
while domestically opposition politicians argue that is illegal and
many in the crypto industry have said it is a national-level scam,
Maduro seems to be doing all he can to use it to turn some quick
profit.
According to local news outlet Correo del Orinoco, the Venezuelan
president has pushed the country’s financial authorities to register
16 new crypto exchanges and the aim is clear. Make it easier for the
country’s citizens to purchase the world’s first state-backed
crypto-currency.
Maduro also seems to be extending the government’s crypto platform
and, via an April 27 announcement, he reportedly told the Venezuelan
people they could now invest in the country’s gold, via a Central Bank
of Venezuela crypto-based “‘petro oro” initiative.
Now news has emerged that Venezuela, the world’s second-largest crude
oil producer, has tried to cut a deal with India, according to Quartz,
by offering a 30% discount on petroleum sales if, yes you’ve guessed,
payments are made using the Petro.
What a dilemma to have. Make a quick $1.6 billion? Or stick to your
principles. Can India dare go down Maduro’s crypto rabbit hole? Is
this Delhi’s red pill, blue pill moment?
So, what would you do?
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Obrigado e tchau, Dos Santos @Africa_Conf Africa |
As his family's business interests shrink and his political supporters
decamp, José Eduardo dos Santos is set to lose the last redoubt of the
empire he built over 38 years – the presidency of the ruling Movimento
Popular de Libertação de Angola. On 27 April, the party politburo
formally approved the candidacy of the state President, João Lourenço,
to replace his predecessor as MPLA president at a special congress in
September.
With minimal fanfare, President Lourenço has been dismantling Dos
Santos's network. The pace quickened after the ex-President appeared
to backtrack, at a 16 March Central Committee (CC) meeting, on his
prior promise to leave politics this year. Dos Santos had claimed that
Angola's first local elections, planned for 2020, were so important
that they required his continued presence, perhaps until April 2019.
But the proposal was firmly rejected, prompting the party to speed up
the timetable for Dos Santos's exit as party chief.
In private, Dos Santos says he has already accepted that he will go,
and should be allowed a dignified exit. Tension is high, however.
Moments before the CC meeting opened in March, the two men's aides had
a heated argument about which of their bosses should be first to enter
the conference hall.
For Lourenço, the campaign against his predecessors is aimed at
convincing foreign investors that Angola has turned a page. Yet Luanda
still rejects any deal with the International Monetary Fund in the
hope that oil prices rise to around $70 per barrel, at which level
officials believe they can steer the country out of the crisis. Oil
production could drop as much as 8% this year because of the fall in
investment since 2014.
Sanctions imposed by the US Federal Reserve, including a ban on the
sale of dollars to banks or institutions based in Angola, still weigh
heavily on investment decisions. Nor does the European Central Bank
recognise Angola's central bank as an effective supervisor. That
restricts financial transfers. With or without an IMF deal, Lourenço's
govermment will have to push through a raft of macro-economic and
financial reforms to bring in the new investors. And some way down the
line, Angolans should see higher growth and more jobs.
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Angola's new president, Joao Lourenco, has made an encouraging start via @TheEconomist Africa |
FEW presidents have entered office amid such low public expectations
as did João Lourenço, who in September became Angola’s first new
president in 38 years. His assumption of power did not involve a
change of ruling parties. Rather, he was the handpicked successor of
José Eduardo dos Santos, who had run the country since 1979, and whose
cronies controlled much of the economy. His daughter, Isabel, ran the
national oil company, Sonangol, by far the country’s biggest source of
hard currency. His son, José Filomeno, ran the $5bn sovereign wealth
fund. Even in retirement, Mr dos Santos kept his role as leader of the
ruling party. Everyone assumed that he would wield power behind the
scenes.
Yet since being sworn in, the soft-spoken Mr Lourenço has unleashed
change that seemed unthinkable a year ago. As well as trying to revive
an economy battered by low oil prices (which have rebounded), he has
mounted a spirited anti-corruption campaign. He is also steadily
prising the fingers of the dos Santos clan from the levers of power.
“We don’t know whether he is a real reformist,” says Carlos Rosado de
Carvalho of Expansão, a business newspaper. “We don’t know him well
enough.”
There are some hopeful signs. Mr Lourenço vows to make Angola less
nightmarish for investors. Currently the World Bank rates it a harder
place to do business than Syria. Mr Lourenço has unpegged Angola’s
currency, the kwanza, from the dollar, prompting it to fall by 27%
since January. And he has made the country more enticing to foreign
investors by lifting a law that had required them to have local
partners who owned about a third of their business. He is also trying
to break up state monopolies, which exist mostly to waste
petrodollars, and has asked the IMF for advice.
He certainly needs it. Angola’s government is drowning in debt, which
is about 65% of GDP (see chart) and rising. Manuel Alves da Rocha, an
economist at the Catholic University of Angola, reckons the cost of
servicing public borrowing has increased five-and-a-half times since
2014.
At Luanda’s glitzy hotels the talk is of Brazil, where a former
president now sits in a cell. “We need a kind of lava jato—several
ones,” says Francisco Viana, an MPLA member and head of the
Confederation of Angolan Business Associations, referring to a huge
investigation into corruption at Brazil’s state-owned oil company that
netted numerous politicians. However, Mr dos Santos granted himself
immunity from prosecution before stepping down. And after decades of
horrific civil war, few want to risk inflaming tensions. Yet Angola is
a young country, and memories of the war—as well as patience—are
fading fast.
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Abiy tests the military @africa_conf Africa |
The Prime Minister's first cabinet rewards allies and begins to take
on the securocrats' power in politics and the economy
Building on an assertive start, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has revealed
more about his leadership style with an aggressive set of federal
government appointments. Although hardly unexpected, the moves
strengthen his hand and that of the party he chairs, the Oromo
People's Democratic Organisation (OPDO), within the four-party ruling
coalition, the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF).
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Ethiopia, Djibouti May Swap Stakes in Airlines, Ports Africa |
Ethiopia and Djibouti agreed to swap stakes in strategic public
enterprises including airlines, ports and telecommunications
companies, as the Horn of Africa neighbors pursue deeper economic
integration.
The deal would include exchanges of shares in Ethiopian Airlines
Enterprise, Africa’s biggest carrier by revenue, Djiboutian Finance
Minister Ilyas Dawaleh said in an interview. Shareholdings in
companies such as the Doraleh Container Terminal and in a new oil
terminal, Ethiopian Telecommunications Corp. and Djibouti Telecom SA
will also be swapped, he said.
While the deal has been politically “endorsed,” the two countries will
form a committee to work out the details, Dawaleh said by phone April
30. Ethiopian Information Minister Ahmed Shide confirmed the agreement
in a text message.
The pact came as Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, made his
first foreign visit at the weekend to Djibouti, the tiny state located
where the Indian Ocean meets the Red Sea and that’s become a strategic
hub for the U.S. and China. Landlocked Ethiopia -- which the
International Monetary Fund ranks as the fastest-growing economy on
the continent -- is trying to boost its export-oriented manufacturing,
making it reliant on neighboring nations with ports.
Dawaleh said Abiy told Djiboutian officials that both countries should
start referring to their state-owned enterprises as belonging to all,
rather than one nation.
Abiy said in a statement on his Facebook page that officials from both
countries “underlined the importance of working towards the
realization of complete economic integration of the two economies.” He
didn’t elaborate.
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Can Ethiopia and Eritrea make peace? via @TheEconomist Africa |
“LIKE Sarajevo, 1914,” said the late Ethiopian prime minister, Meles
Zenawi, of the first gunshots fired on May 6th 1998. “An accident
waiting to happen.” Neither he nor his counterpart in neighbouring
Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki, imagined that a light skirmish at Badme, a
border village of which few had heard, could spiral into full-scale
war. But two years later about 80,000 lives had been lost and more
than half a million people forced from their homes.
No land changed hands. Two decades on, Ethiopia still occupies the
disputed territories, including Badme, having refused to accept the
findings of a UN boundary commission. But the conflict’s miserable
legacy persists. Thousands of troops still patrol the frontier.
Centuries of trade and intermarriage abruptly ceased. Ethiopia lost
access to Eritrea’s ports. Eritrea lost its biggest trading partner
and retreated into isolationism. It has been on a war footing ever
since.
But any rapprochement would almost certainly require withdrawal from
Badme. This would be hard to sell in parts of Ethiopia. And Abiy would
need something in return, such as access to Eritrea’s ports, which
Isaias has never shown much interest in offering. Moreover, the threat
from Ethiopia allows him to keep smothering democracy at home and
maintaining a huge army. “Making peace would be the end of him,” says
an Eritrean refugee who recently arrived in Addis Ababa. “Why would
he?”
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Fear stalks the economy @africa_conf Africa |
President Magufuli's crackdown is hampering economic development plans
and intimidating civil servants and companies alike
Tanzania is in the midst of its ambitious second Five-Year Development
Plan, a programme to rebuild and improve infrastructure while
jump-starting industrial manufacturing with special economic zones and
export-processing zones around the major coastal cities.
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World Bank grants Kenya $1 bln loan for infrastructure projects @ReutersAfrica Kenyan Economy |
Most of the money will be spent in the counties of Garissa, Isiolo,
Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir, and West
Pokot which fall below national averages on development indicators,
the World Bank said in a statement.
“These infrastructure investments are laying the ground for additional
operations that will enable sustainable livelihoods with targeted
support to farmers and pastoralists in the region and expanded support
to the most vulnerable households through regular cash transfers,” the
Bank said.
The funding will go to six projects including an off-grid energy
access initiative worth $150 million that the World Bank says will
provide electricity to 1.2 million people and contribute 96 megawatts
to the national grid.
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.@CICInsurance takes hit from lenders' collapse @StandardKenya Kenyan Economy |
The chief executive officer, Tom Gitogo, said Imperial Bank had Sh560
million in CIC’s deposits.
The insurer also had Sh1.2 billion in Chase Bank but managed to
withdrawals some money. According to Mr Gitogo, CIC had invested Sh155
million into a five-year bond that the bank had floated to raise
equity. In the case of Imperial Bank, we have made provisions in our
current books covering the entire Sh560 million. Bond maturity “As for
Chase Bank, the bond was to mature by 2022. We are doing what we call
amortisation of the bond by making periodic provisions for it, which
will be made fully by the year 2022, when the bond reaches its
maturity. For now, out of the Sh155 million, we have made provisions
worth Sh45 million,” he added.
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.@CICInsurance share price data here -16.96% 2018 Kenyan Economy |
Par Value:
Closing Price: 4.65
Total Shares Issued: 2615538528.00
Market Capitalization: 12,162,254,155
EPS: 0.18
PE: 25.833
CIC is the leading provider of micro insurance and other financial services
CIC Insurance Group Limited FY 2017 Results through 31st December 2017
vs. 31st December 2016
FY Gross earned premiums 14.336192b vs. 11.814012b +21.349%
FY Reinsurance ceded [2.241195b] vs. [1.782711b] +25.718%
FY Net earned premiums 12.094997b vs. 10.031301b +20.573%
FY Fees and commissions income 1.023407b vs. 649.682m +57.524%
FY Investment income 1.543581b vs. 1.301671b +18.585%
FY FX gain 233.904m vs. 525.321m -55.474%
FY Total income 15.600262b vs. 13.017360b +19.842%
FY Claims and policyholders benefits expense [7.856468b] vs.
[6.469473b] +21.439%
FY Commissions expense [2.122470b] vs. [1.538723b] +37.937%
FY Operating and other expenses [4.914736b] vs. [4.606009b] +6.703%
FY Total expenses [15.081152b] vs. [12.911684b] +16.802%
FY PBT 519.156m vs. 114.388m +353.855%
FY Profit for the year 478.473m vs. 188.185m +154.257%
EPS 0.18 vs. 0.07 +157.143%
Dividend per share 0.12 vs. 0.105 +14.286%
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