Features

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The White House budget office violated federal law when it withheld about $214 million appropriated by Congress to the Defense Department for security aid to Ukraine, an independent congressional watchdog agency concluded. “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday. The Office of Management…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – As he signed an initial trade deal with China on Wednesday, President Donald Trump promised further negotiations to tackle some of U.S. companies’ most long-standing complaints would begin “very, very shortly” and that tariffs on some $360 billion in imports from China would remain in place as leverage. What he didn’t say is that almost no one thinks those negotiations aimed at getting China to rein in its vast web of…

TRIPOLI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Russia and Turkey attempted to broker a truce in Libya. It didn’t go as planned. Khalifa Haftar was expecting the Kremlin red carpet. Instead, he was cooped up in a Russian Foreign Ministry reception building hoping for an audience with Vladimir Putin. In the end, the Libyan military commander lost patience and stormed out. Hours later, he left Moscow in his Dassault Falcon corporate jet bound for the Jordanian capital,…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – President Donald Trump is poised to sign a deal with China on Wednesday that leaves significant tariffs in place and for the first time would punish Beijing if it fails to deliver on pledges related to its currency, intellectual property, and the trade balance. But the question set to dog Trump the moment the ink dries is whether the pact will rewire the relationship between the world’s biggest…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Prosus NV hasn’t lost its appetite for food delivery, even after the e-commerce giant was defeated in a grueling $8 billion bidding war for U.K. firm Just Eat Plc. Takeaway.com NV last week declared victory in the battle for Just Eat, saying investors holding 80.4% of the shares had formally backed its all-stock bid and rejected a cash offer from Prosus. But the Naspers Ltd.- the controlled company has alternative targets…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Woolworths Holdings Ltd. appointed Roy Bagattini from Levi Strauss & Co. as chief executive officer to replace Ian Moir, who will step down after nine years at the helm of the South African retailer. Bagattini, 56, will start next month, the Cape Town-based company said in a statement on Tuesday. He is the head of the Americas region of the U.S. jeans maker, where he has worked since 2013. Before that, the South African held senior roles…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Two people were killed Monday as protesters clashed with security forces across the West African nation during demonstrations against proposed changes to Guinea’s constitution that may allow President Alpha Conde to extend his 10-year rule. Conde, 81, is likely to try to stay in power after his second — and legally last — term ends in October. Last month, he unveiled a proposed new constitution that’s to replace a 2010 version…