Costly margin call exposes new debt pain
A $200m margin call by JPMorgan on Angola’s $1bn loan at the height of the global sell-off of risky assets has exposed the high costs of unorthodox financing that heavily indebted African issuers have been turning to, analysts say.
Senegal, Gabon and Cameroon are among countries on the continent that have resorted to so-called off-screen deals such as private bond placements as heavy debt burdens and political uncertainty in some cases limit their access to regular markets.
Africa’s combined debt has soared to more than $1.8-trillion, according to the African Development Bank. Reuters
Humanitarian aid cut off in South Sudan
Nairobi — Fighting along the Nile River in South Sudan has prevented humanitarian aid from reaching more than 60,000 malnourished children in the northeast of the country for almost a month.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) and Unicef said they expect nutrition supplies for Upper Nile State, which has some of the highest rates of malnutrition in the country, to run out by the end of May.
“Children are already the first to suffer during emergencies. If we can't get nutrition supplies through, we are likely to see escalating malnutrition in areas already at breaking point,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the WFP’s representative in South Sudan. Reuters
Bill Gates pledges his entire fortune
Bill Gates pledged on Thursday to give away almost his entire personal wealth in the next two decades and said the world’s poorest would receive about $200bn via his foundation at a time when governments worldwide are slashing international aid.
He also hit out at Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and a key figure in President Donald Trump’s administration, accusing him of “killing the world's poorest children” with huge cuts to the US aid budget. Reuters
Royals remember mark 80th anniversary of VE Day
King Charles and heir to the throne Prince William laid wreaths in Westminster Abbey on Thursday at the culmination of the UK’s four days of commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.
The thanksgiving service in the Abbey began with a two-minute silence, which was also observed across the country, to remember Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender, which took effect on May 8, 1945. Reuters
Aukus defence pact ‘provocative’
Russia and China said the Aukus defence pact between Australia, the UK and the US was fuelling a regional arms race.
In the statement published on the Kremlin website after talks in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the two countries said they deemed the accelerated purchase of long-range missiles by allies of nuclear-armed countries within military alliances to be “provocative”. Reuters
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