Author: chicagoinquirer

by Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS -Algerian authorities declared President Abdulmadjid Tebboune the overwhelming winner of Saturday’s election on Sunday, but a rival candidate alleged irregularities in the count and fewer than half of registered voters cast ballots. Official preliminary results gave Tebboune 95% of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off, with Abdelaali Hassani Cherif getting 3% and Youcef Aouchiche 2%. Turnout was 48%. Tebboune, backed by the military, was facing only nominal opposition from Hassani Cherif, a moderate Islamist, and Aouchiche, a moderate secularist, both running with the blessing of Algeria’s powerful establishment. Hassani Cherif’s campaign said polling…

CHICAGO – Global investors ploughed money into equity funds in the week to Aug. 21, encouraged by expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September and easing concerns about the U.S. economy. According to LSEG data, investors snapped up $15.73 billion worth of global equity funds during the week, marking their largest weekly net purchase since July 17. Expectations of Fed rate cuts soared as the latest meeting minutes revealed that a majority of policymakers support a September interest rate cut if the data aligns with expectations. Investors are now poised for Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s upcoming remarks on…

by Nandita Bose PITTSBURGH – U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz will tour several battleground states after her highly anticipated Tuesday debate with Republican former President Donald Trump, her campaign said on Sunday. With less than 60 days until the Nov. 5 presidential election, Vice President Harris will kick off the tour in North Carolina on Thursday and travel to Pennsylvania on Friday. Walz will travel to Michigan and Wisconsin. Polling averages show a tight race in the handful of states that could swing to Republicans or Democrats and will likely determine the election.…

CHICAGO – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris are effectively tied heading into the final weeks of the election, according to a national poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College. Trump is up one percentage point, 48%-47%, over Harris, according to the survey released on Sunday, a difference that is well within the survey’s three-point margin of error, meaning a win for either candidate in the Nov. 5 election is well within reach. While the Trump campaign endured a relatively rocky stretch in the weeks after Democratic President Joe Biden…

by Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON – U.S. employment increased less than expected in August, but a drop in the jobless rate to 4.2% suggested the labor market was not falling off the cliff to warrant a half-point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve this month. The closely watched employment report from the Labor Department on Friday also showed solid wage growth last month, which should help to support consumer spending and keep the economy out of recession for now. Nonetheless, labor market momentum has slowed, with 86,000 fewer jobs added in June and July than previously reported. The report led…

By Tim Reid and James Oliphant VALDOSTA, Georgia -Vivian Childs, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, schooled a roomful of Republicans on how to win over Black voters in the battleground state of Georgia. Focus on Trump’s economic policies, on illegal immigration and inflation, the Black Baptist minister told the gathered group of volunteers and campaign staff at the former president’s newly opened office in the rural city of Valdosta last month. Tell voters what Trump has done for them and that he will bring the change America needs, she exhorted. “We are the party of hope,” she said. “We…

NAIROBI/ELDORET, Kenya -Moureen Atieno Omolo was unable to sleep for days after hearing about the deadly attack on Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, whose former boyfriend doused her in petrol and set her ablaze on Sunday. Every time the now 36-year-old Kenyan closed her eyes, memories of her own nightmarish marriage came flooding back. Cheptegei, 33, who competed in her first Olympic Games in Paris last month, is the third elite sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021. Her death has cast a fresh spotlight on domestic violence in the East African nation. “Rebecca’s death brings into focus the…

CAIRO – Prominent Egyptian archaeologist and former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass has launched a petition for the return to Egypt of the pharaonic bust of Queen Nefertiti from the Neues Museum in Berlin. Nefertiti’s famous painted limestone bust was uncovered at Tell el-Amarna, around 300 km (185 miles) south of Cairo, in 1912 by a German archaeological mission, which shipped it to Berlin the following year. Amarna was the short-lived capital of Nefertiti’s husband, the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten, who reigned until about 1335 B.C. Akhenaten, called the heretic king, was notorious for promoting the worship of the god Aten…

By Nandita Bose PITTSBURGH – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said on Saturday endorsements of her by Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz, a former U.S. Representative, were “courageous” for putting country ahead of political party. Harris was in Pittsburgh preparing for the Sept. 10 debate against her Republican rival Donald Trump, with whom she is locked in a tight race for the Nov. 5 vote. “I’m honored to have their endorsement,” said Harris at Penzeys Spices in the Strip District, on a break from debate preparation where she greeted patrons and bought spices. She said…

by Duncan Miriri and Laurie Chen NAIROBI/BEIJING – China stopped short of providing the debt relief sought by many African countries this week, but pledged 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion) over three years in credit lines and investments. The Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) launched in 2000 took on an enhanced role after the 2013 inception of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to recreate the ancient Silk Road for the world’s second largest economy and biggest bilateral lender to Africa. “China is moving back on to the front foot in terms of overseas deployment of…