Author: chicagoinquirer

MOSCOW – The BRICS group will generate most of the global economic growth in the coming years thanks to its size and relatively fast growth compared with that of developed Western nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. Putin hopes to build up BRICS – which has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as well as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – as a powerful counterweight to the West in global politics and trade. The Kremlin leader is due to host a BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan on Oct.…

by Camillus Eboh ABUJA – A Nigerian court on Friday adjourned the trial of detained Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan after it was stalled because he could not appear in court due to illness. Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and head of financial crime compliance at Binance, has been in detention in Nigeria since late February and has been charged with laundering more than $35 million. Gambaryan and Binance deny the charges. Federal High Court judge Emeka Nwite in the capital Abuja postponed the trial to Oct. 25 to allow him get medical attention. Judge Nwite denied Gambaryan bail a second-time last…

LONDON – The NFL has continued its push into international markets this year with regular season games in Brazil and London and one set for Germany next month but on Thursday said it has no near-term plans to hold a Super Bowl outside the United States. The host cities for the next four Super Bowl games have already been selected and NFL Executive Vice President Peter O’Reilly said there was no current focus on bringing the league’s biggest annual event outside U.S. borders. “That’s not necessarily something we are focused on in the near term,” O’Reilly told reporters on a…

CHICAGO – The Chicago White Sox are exploring avenues for a possible sale of the franchise, according to multiple reports, after just completing a 121-loss season that was the worst in the modern era. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is “open” to finding a buyer for the club and one group showing considerable interest is being led by former major league pitcher Dave Stewart. A club spokesperson declined to comment on a potential sale. Reinsdorf, who reportedly owns a 19 percent stake in the White Sox, has been the club’s principal owner since 1981, when the franchise…

By Camillus Eboh ABUJA – Nigeria launched a new malaria vaccine on Thursday that will be freely administered to recipients, its health minister said, marking a significant milestone in its fight against the deadly disease. The launch makes the country one of the first in the world to back the new R21 vaccine, developed by scientists at Oxford University and made by the Serum Institute of India and Novavax. The vaccine was provisionally approved by Nigeria’s medicines regulator in April last year. Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said Nigeria had received 846,200 doses of the vaccine, procured in partnership with…

By Phil Stewart BRUSSELS – Ten years to the day after the formal launch of the U.S.-led operation against the Islamic State, the United States and its NATO allies gathered in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the future of a mission facing increasing headwinds. Niger kicked out the U.S. military from its counter-terrorism base in West Africa this summer. Afghanistan has been largely off-limits since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover. And Iraq wants the Pentagon to start reducing its personnel and end coalition operations there. At the same time, American officials warn the global threat from Islamic State is growing in…

By David Lawder WASHINGTON – World Bank President Ajay Banga said on Thursday that bilateral creditors need to provide more debt forgiveness to poor debt-distressed countries, and that the development lender was working on ways to ease service costs to improve development outcomes. Banga, speaking to reporters ahead of World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings next week, said the bank has already answered calls for its share of debt relief in restructurings by providing billions of dollars in additional grants and deeply discounted loans to debtor countries. Some $16 billion to $17 billion has gone to Zambia, Chad,…

ABUJA – Nigeria is beginning to reap the benefits of significant policy reforms following a near fiscal crisis in 2020, but must stay the course, the World Bank said on Thursday. President Bola Tinubu has instituted reforms including ending a decades-old petrol subsidy and devaluing the currency to try to boost output, which has been sluggish for about a decade. World Bank lead economist for Nigeria Alex Sienaert said that Nigeria’s fiscal deficit has reduced from 6.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first half of last year to 4.4% in the first half of this year, with the…

by Daniel Wiessner WASHINGTON – Nebraska’s top state court on Wednesday upheld a state law allowing felons who have completed their sentences to vote, enabling thousands more people to cast ballots in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election. The Nebraska Supreme Court rejected claims by Secretary of State Robert Evnen, a Republican, that the law passed in April violated the state constitution and ordered him to implement it immediately. Two Nebraskans with felony records, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, had sued Evnen after he announced in July he was directing election officials to refuse to register felons to…

by Phil Stewart and Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON – In his final months in office, President Joe Biden is signaling new willingness to use U.S. military assistance to Israel as both a carrot and a stick to influence its high-stakes confrontation with Iran and Iran-backed militant groups. But while the approach increases Washington’s involvement in Israeli decision-making just weeks before the US presidential election, it is unclear whether it will help achieve Biden’s goals, including preventing a broader regional conflict and getting Israel to address the increasingly dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, experts say. Biden’s administration announced on Sunday it would…