Features

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Microsoft Corp.  plans to spend more than $100 million over five years to open its first development centers in Africa to work with local partners and governments, as well as hire engineering talent. Initial sites will be in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, and Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub. The software giant plans to hire 100 full-time developers at the two sites by the end of this year and expand to 500 by the…

LAGOS (Capital Martkets in Africa) – At least six people were killed when militiamen attacked a long-running sit-in outside Sudanese army headquarters, throwing into doubt a fresh deal between the opposition and ruling military on how to divide power in the aftermath of President Omar al-Bashir’s ouster. Gunfire rocked the protest site overnight in Khartoum, with the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors reporting the death toll and use of live ammunition. The worst sustained violence in…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Prime Minister Theresa May will meet with her cabinet Tuesday as she comes under increasing pressure to pull out of Brexit talks with the opposition Labour Party and set a date for her departure. The latest in a series of cross-party meetings aimed at ending the parliamentary deadlock over leaving the European Union broke up without substantive progress Monday evening, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Monday night’s meeting “took stock…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – President Donald Trump pushed the Federal Reserve to “match” what he said China would do to offset economic hardship being caused by tariffs as he sought to draft the U.S. central bank into his simmering trade war. “China will be pumping money into their system and probably reducing interest rates, as always, in order to make up for the business they are, and will be, losing,” the president said in…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Swedish prosecutors will reopen a probe into rape allegations against Julian Assange, potentially derailing U.S. attempts to extradite the WikiLeaks founder for hacking military computers and distributing secrets. Authorities want to question Assange over nine-year-old accusations that were shelved when he skipped bail and sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Sweden’s interest opens a legal dilemma for Britain, which is also considering his extradition to the U.S. “There…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – In the financial capital of South Africa, an informal army of collectors find their best chance of income curbside in wealthy suburbs. Luyanda Hlatshwayo wakes up at 4 a.m. in the abandoned inner-city school building with shattered windows he calls home. He stuffs a pair of worker’s gloves in his pocket and rides a warehouse trolley like a giant skateboard to a suburb of South Africa’s economic metropolis, Johannesburg:…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) –  On May 6, Kenyan authorities arrested and then released Boniface Mwangi, a Kenyan photographer and political activist, on suspicion of fomenting a “revolution” against the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta. The previous week, news reports said Mwangi participated in the “Beyond Zero Corruption” campaign in Nairobi (also dubbed the Red Vest Movement) — an initiative highlighting the poor state of Kenya’s economy, rampant corruption and entrenched impunity in the…