by Camillus Eboh ABUJA – Binance’s head of financial compliance was denied bail for a second time on Friday as his trial on money laundering charges started in Nigeria, with a judge ruling that the prison in which he is being held is capable of meeting his medical needs. Tigran Gambaryan, an American citizen, has been in detention in Nigeria since the end of February. He and Binance deny the charges against him. He had asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to free him on medical grounds, arguing that he needed to undergo surgery outside prison and that his…

By Amindeh Blaise Atabong YAOUNDE – Cameroon has outlawed any discussion about the health of 91-year-old President Paul Biya, a letter shared by the interior ministry said, after Biya’s prolonged absence fuelled widespread speculation he was unwell. Earlier this week, the authorities put out statements saying the president was on a private visit to Geneva and in good health, dismissing reports he had fallen ill as “pure fantasy”. In the letter to regional governors dated Oct. 9, Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji said discussing the president’s health was a matter of national security. From now on, “any debate in the…

By Ange Aboa ABIDJAN – Ivory Coast could sell a further stake in its Transcao cocoa processor to Malaysian cocoa group Guan Chong Berhad, the industry’s regulator told Reuters, as it pushes for more expertise and investment to grow the sector. On Wednesday, Guan Chong Berhad (GCB) said its Singaporean subsidiary had agreed to acquire a 25% stake in Transcao from Ivory Coast’s Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC). The head of the West African nation’s cocoa regulator told Reuters it wants to boost its interests in the growing Asian market and was open to the GCB subsidiary further increasing its…

By Camillus Eboh ABUJA – Nigeria took a major step in its quest to earn revenue from its vast gas reserves, signing a deal with joint venture partners to supply gas to a proposed $3.5 billion Brass fertilizer and petrochemical plant, an official said on Friday. Under the agreement, joint venture partners including Shell, TotalEnergies and Eni will deliver an estimated 270 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to the plant in Brass, in Nigeria’s coastal Bayelsa state. Petroleum Ministry Permanent Secretary Nicholas Agbo Ella said the Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement is a part of the Brass…

ERIE, Pennsylvania – The command center for Donald Trump’s campaign in one of the most hotly contested counties in America’s most important election battleground sits in a small room of a strip-mall office. The room in an office rented by Erie County’s Republican Party comes to life a couple times a week when the two-person staff hosts the volunteer network the campaign calls Trump Force 47. A few miles away in a bustling office in downtown Erie, paid staff and volunteers on Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign make phone calls, press new campaign buttons and organize watch parties and phone…

By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON – In 1940, the Nazis seized a Claude Monet pastel and seven other works of art from Adalbert “Bela” and Hilda Parlagi, a Jewish couple forced to flee their Vienna home after Austria was annexed into Adolf Hitler’s Germany. After the war, Bela Parlagi searched for his art to no avail until his death in 1981. His son continued the search without success until he died in 2012. But on Wednesday, more than 80 years later, Parlagi’s granddaughters Helen Lowe and Francoise Parlagi were reunited with the missing Monet after the FBI and a Britain-based…

by David Shepardson WASHINGTON -The Federal Aviation Administration said on Tuesday it issued a safety alert to airlines warning of the potential for limited or jammed rudder movement on certain Boeing 737 airplanes after a safety official urged the agency to take action. The National Transportation Safety Board on Sept. 26 issued urgent safety recommendations to Boeing and the FAA after investigating the potential for rudder issues in some 737 planes, which prompted the FAA to convene a corrective action review board. The NTSB recommendation came as they investigate a February incident involving a United Airlines flight. The safety alert…

By Niket Nishant and Manya Saini NEW YORN – Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway further cut its stake in Bank of America, a late Monday filing showed, netting the investment giant more than $10 billion since it started the share sale in July. Buffett, who began investing in the second largest U.S. lender in 2011, had a 13.1% stake worth around $45 billion as of July. The latest round of sales have reduced the stake to 10.1%. The selling spree by Buffett appears to be unnerving other BofA shareholders, at a time when the outlook for the banking industry remains murky…

by Jonathan Allen NEW YORK -New York First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright became at least the seventh senior official in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to resign as multiple federal corruption investigations have engulfed City Hall in recent weeks. Her departure on Tuesday comes nearly two weeks after Adams was indicted on charges of accepting bribes and illegal donations to his election campaigns from foreign nationals, including Turkish citizens. Adams, a former New York City police captain, has pleaded not guilty to the five counts in the indictment and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. “I am going to serve my term…

by Jason Lange WASHINGTON – Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris led Republican Donald Trump by a marginal three percentage points – 46% to 43% – as the two remain locked in a close race to win the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. The four-day poll completed on Monday showed Trump, who had trailed Harris by six points in a Sept 20-23 Reuters/Ipsos poll, was the preferred candidate for a range of economic issues and that some voters might be swayed by his claims that immigrants in the country illegally are prone to crime, assertions…