A Chinese developer of luxury apartments missed $315 million in payments to lenders on Monday, sparking fears that financial strains in the country’s outsized property sector are spreading beyond the troubled Evergrande conglomerate. Fantasia Holdings, a Shenzhen-based developer, missed repaying $206 million worth of bonds that matured Monday, the company said in a stock exchange […]
Author: umunna
Skyrocketing prices may threaten energy importing economies
The record prices of natural gas and coal, due to the supply-demand imbalances in global markets, can create additional economic risks for import-dependent economies that will have to face higher energy bills to meet increasing demand in their domestic markets. European natural gas prices surged by over 600% compared to September 2020, hitting over €100 […]
Windows 11 launches with redesigned start menu
Windows 11, the latest version of Microsoft’s computer operating system, launches worldwide on Tuesday as a free upgrade for Windows 10 users. Windows chief product officer Panos Panay, told the BBC the latest version was built to be “clean and fresh and simpler” for the user. He promised that the new operating system would not […]
Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram back after outage
Social media services Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are back up and running after an outage that lasted almost six hours, Facebook says. It blamed an internal technical issue, which not only affected Facebook’s services, but reportedly also employees’ work passes and email. The services were down from about 16:00 GMT until around 22:00 on Monday. […]
How Dangote is driving African economy- DG ACCI
The Director General of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Ms Victoria Akai, has described the Dangote Group as the Flagship and the epicenter for Africa’s industrialisation. Speaking on the sideline of the Abuja International Trade Fair that was declared opened Monday, the DG said the conglomerate has placed Nigeria on the continental […]
UN chief urges ‘quantum leap in support’ for vulnerable nations
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged greater support for vulnerable nations as they tackle the challenges of debt distress, lack of investment, unfair trade and the climate emergency. Guterres said this at the opening of the fifteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD), which took place in Bridgetown, in Barbados. […]
US to have ‘frank’ discussions with China about trade
The top United States trade negotiator said China is failing to live up to its trade commitments from last year and that Washington would soon have “frank conversations” with Beijing. In a speech Monday in Washington, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said, “China made commitments intended to benefit certain American industries, including agriculture, that we […]
Morrisons: US firm wins auction to take over supermarket chain
A US private equity group is poised to take control of the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket group. Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) has won an auction for the British supermarket Morrisons with a £7bn ($9.5bn) bid. It marks a return to the UK grocery sector for Terry Leahy, the former chief executive of Tesco, who is […]
Nigeria’s Bande bags Boston University Alumni Award in U.S.
The Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Prof. Muhammad Bande, has been conferred with the Distinguished Alumni Award by Boston University (BU), Massachusetts, United States. Bande was conferred with the award at the ’73rd Best of BU Alumni Awards’ ceremony in Boston in recognition of “his innovative performance as the 74th President of the […]
Business tycoon Bernard Tapie is dead
One of France’s most recognisable figures, the businessman, sports club owner and politician Bernard Tapie, has died at the age of 78. Tapie, who had battled stomach cancer for the past four years, died peacefully, surrounded by his family, they said in a statement. At one time he owned Adidas, Olympique Marseille and was a […]