Category: International News

Ghana and Morocco have reached a significant agreement to implement a visa waiver for all categories of travelers from both nations.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, expressed optimism about the development and indicated that the agreement will soon be submitted to Parliament for formal ratification.

“We have both additionally pledged to deepen collaboration in agribusiness, tourism, and security,” he said after discussions with the Moroccan Ambassador to Ghana, Her Excellency Imane Ouaadil.

Describing the meeting as “productive and assuring,” Mr. Ablakwa noted that the Moroccan Ambassador had also addressed concerns regarding the safety of Africans in Morocco.

He emphasized that contrary to widely circulated social media videos alleging the massacre of approximately 700 Africans, the Moroccan government has assured that Ghanaians and all Africans living in the country are safe.

The Trump administration is considering issuing sweeping travel restrictions for the citizens of dozens of countries as part of a new ban.

This is according to sources familiar with the matter and an internal memo seen by Reuters.

A U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity cautioned there could be changes on the list and that it was yet to be approved by the administration, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

For now, Ghana does not feature on the list but as revealed by the source, there could be changes to the list even before it receives final approval and authorization.

Below is a list of countries being considered for the potential ban:

The memo lists a total of 41 countries divided into three separate groups.

Full visa suspension:

Afghanistan

Cuba

Iran

Libya

North Korea

Somalia

Sudan

Syria

Venezuela

Yemen

Partial visa suspension (tourist, student and some other visas affected):

Eritrea

Haiti

Laos

Myanmar

South Sudan

Countries recommended for a partial suspension if they do not address deficiencies:

Angola

Antigua and Barbuda

Belarus

Benin

Bhutan

Burkina Faso

Cabo Verde

Cambodia

Cameroon

Chad

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Dominica

Equatorial Guinea

Gambia

Liberia

Malawi

Mauritania

Pakistan

Republic of the Congo

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Sao Tome and Principe

Sierra Leone

East Timor

Turkmenistan

Vanuatu

Dangote Refinery has announced a temporary suspension of petroleum product sales in naira, citing the need to align its sales currency with its crude oil procurement obligations, which are currently denominated in U.S. dollars.

The dispute with Dangote refinery stems from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s naira-for-crude policy requiring local refiners to purchase crude oil in naira instead of dollars, an initiative aimed at stabilizing foreign exchange reserves.

While the deal was in effect, the refinery sold Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to Nigerian marketers in naira because it purchased crude in the local currency under its agreement with NNPC.

However, with the deal set to expire this month, The Cable reports that the refinery has announced plans to halt the loading of petroleum products for the Nigerian market, as negotiations to renew the naira-for-crude arrangement have not made significant progress.

Following the expiration of the initial naira-for-crude deal, Business Insider Africa earlier reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited confirmed ongoing negotiations for a new agreement with Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

NNPC’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, stated that the initial agreement was structured as a six-month contract, set to expire in March 2025.

Analysts warn that Dangote’s reluctance to supply the Nigerian market could exacerbate fuel scarcity

This development comes amid concerns that Nigerians may face another hike in petrol prices after reports emerged that NNPC has halted its naira-for-crude deal with Dangote and other local refineries.

Impact on Dangote Refinery

The Dangote Refinery, which has a production capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, is a critical player in Nigeria’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in petroleum products.

However, the unresolved naira-for-crude arrangement has created uncertainties regarding crude supply, potentially delaying the refinery’s full operations and limiting its ability to distribute petrol domestically.

Analysts warn that Dangote’s reluctance to supply the Nigerian market could exacerbate fuel scarcity and increase dependence on imported refined products, undermining the country’s energy security goals.

With the deal now coming to an end, there are fears that if local refineries, including Dangote, are forced to source crude in dollars, production costs could rise significantly.

This shift could put additional pressure on the naira and ultimately lead to an increase in petrol pump prices.

The situation further highlights the broader challenges in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, including foreign exchange volatility and regulatory uncertainties, which continue to impact investment and operational efficiency.

If the deadlock persists, the Nigerian government may have to negotiate new terms to ensure that the Dangote Refinery remains a reliable source of petroleum products for the local market.

Dozens of passengers on a bus in Ethiopia have been abducted by armed men in the country’s largest region, Oromia, as they were travelling from the capital, Addis Ababa.

Details are only just emerging of the kidnappings, which took place earlier this week.

The incident happened in Ali Doro, which is near an area where around 100 university students were similarly abducted as they were heading home from their campus last July.

Survivors and local authorities blamed those abductions on the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), a rebel group that operates in the area. The group denied involvement at the time.

Referring to this week’s incident, the OLA has said it had received reports of the abductions and that it was “conducting an investigation”.

According to one report by a local media organization, the passengers were heading to Debre Markos, a town in the country’s Amhara region, when they were attacked by the armed men, who exchanged fire with local security forces.

Another report said several buses were attacked, during which at least one person died. The number of abductees could be as high as 50, according to this report.

The government has not yet said anything about the kidnappings, and the BBC’s attempts to get an official response have been unsuccessful.

Abductions of civilians – including passengers – have become increasingly common in the area. Armed groups here have in the past demanded ransoms for the release of the people they hold.

The OLA says it is fighting for the self-determination of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo.

It has been classified as a terrorist organization by the federal parliament and operates in various areas in Oromia, including the district where Ali Doro is located.

Adjaye Associates has reported a pre-tax loss of £720,000, a significant decline from the £2.5 million profit recorded in its previous trading period.

Published on Monday, March 17 at Companies House, the accounts for the year ending December 31, 2023, reveal that David Adjaye’s firm saw a turnover drop of more than £3 million, falling from £20.4 million in 2022 to £17.1 million in 2023.

The company attributed part of its loss to a one-off exceptional item of £1.46 million, described as a “provision against withholding tax debtors.”

The firm’s workload in Asia dropped sharply from £4.8 million to £891,500, while income from the Middle East declined slightly from £14.1 million to £13 million. However, revenue increased in Africa (£261,000 to £1.4 million), the UK (£684,000 to £984,000), and the Americas (£398,000 to £641,000).

The financial period covered by the accounts coincides with the publication of sexual misconduct allegations against David Adjaye by the Financial Times—claims he has consistently denied.

During the same year, the firm implemented redundancies, reducing its London workforce, which stood at 110 employees at the time. By 2023, the total staff count had dropped to 85, with turnover per employee declining from £213,000 in 2022 to £202,000 in 2023.

Despite the reported loss, the company paid out a dividend of £1.89 million.

In the strategic report accompanying the figures, company director David Adjaye wrote:

“2023 was a commercially challenging year for the construction industry at large and this is reflected in our financial reporting for the period.

“Our position as one of the most diverse practices in the world, recognised for the representation we bring to architecture and for the quality and social impact of our work, together with our ability to be agile with resourcing, is a resilient basis from which to recover from a temporary downturn.”

The report, which describes the studio as having “built a robust reputation for both its built portfolio and intellectual and cross-cultural endeavors,” noted that Adjaye Associates continues to secure projects across the UK, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa.

The firm has also won new commissions, including a major art project in Saudi Arabia and a large-scale residential development in France.

After nine months in space, Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have finally arrived back on Earth.

Their SpaceX capsule made a fast and fiery re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere, before four parachutes opened to take them to a gentle splashdown off the coast of Florida.

A pod of dolphins circled the craft.

After a recovery ship lifted it out of the water, the astronauts beamed and waved as they were helped out of the hatch, along with fellow crew members astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

“The crew’s doing great,” Steve Stich, manager, Nasa’s Commercial Crew Program, said at a news conference.

It brings to an end a mission that was supposed to last for just eight days.

It was dramatically extended after the spacecraft Butch and Suni had used to travel to the International Space Station suffered technical problems.

“It is awesome to have crew 9 home, just a beautiful landing,” said Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, Nasa’s Space Operations Mission Directorate.

Thanking the astronauts for their resilience and flexibility, he said SpaceX had been a “great partner”.

The journey home took 17 hours.

The astronauts were helped on to a stretcher, which is standard practice after spending so long in the weightless environment.

They will be checked over by a medical team, and then reunited with their families.

“The big thing will be seeing friends and family and the people who they were expecting to spend Christmas with,” said Helen Sharman, Britain’s first astronaut.

“All of those family celebrations, the birthdays and the other events that they thought they were going to be part of – now, suddenly they can perhaps catch up on a bit of lost time.”

The saga of Butch and Suni began in June 2024.

They were taking part in the first crewed test flight of the Starliner spacecraft, developed by aerospace company Boeing.

But the capsule suffered several technical problems during its journey to the space station, and it was deemed too risky to take the astronauts home.

Starliner returned safely to Earth empty in early September, but it meant the pair needed a new ride for their return.

So Nasa opted for the next scheduled flight: a SpaceX capsule that arrived at the ISS in late September.

It flew with two astronauts instead of four, leaving two seats spare for Butch and Suni’s return.

The only catch was this had a planned six-month mission, extending the astronauts stay until now.

The Nasa pair embraced their longer-than-expected stay in space.

They carried out an array of experiments on board the orbiting lab and conducted spacewalks, with Suni breaking the record for the woman who spent the most hours outside of the space station. And at Christmas, the team dressed in Santa hats and reindeer antlers – sending a festive message for a Christmas that they had originally planned to spend at home.

And despite the astronauts being described as “stranded” they never really were.

Throughout their mission there have always been spacecraft attached to the space station to get them – and the rest of those onboard – home if there was an emergency.

Now the astronauts have arrived home, they will soon be taken to the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, where they will be checked over by medical experts.

Long-duration missions in space take a toll on the body, astronauts lose bone density and suffer muscle loss. Blood circulation is also affected, and fluid shifts can also impact eyesight.

It can take a long time for the body to return to normal, so the pair will be given an extensive exercise regime as their bodies re-adapt to living with gravity.

British astronaut Tim Peake said it could take a while to re-adjust.

“Your body feels great, it feels like a holiday,” he told the BBC.

“Your heart is having an easy time, your muscles and bones are having an easy time. You’re floating around the space station in this wonderful zero gravity environment.

“But you must keep up the exercise regime. Because you’re staying fit in space, not for space itself, but for when you return back to the punishing gravity environment of Earth. Those first two or three days back on Earth can be really punishing.”

In interviews while onboard, Butch and Suni have said they were well prepared for their longer than expected stay – but there were things they were looking forward to when they got home.

Speaking to CBS last month, Suni Williams said: “I’m looking forward to seeing my family, my dogs and jumping in the ocean. That will be really nice – to be back on Earth and feel Earth.”

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame have held direct talks for the first time since Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized two major cities in eastern DRC.

In a joint statement issued with Qatar, whose emir mediated the talks in Doha, the countries called for an “immediate ceasefire” in eastern DRC.

“The Heads of State then agreed on the need to continue the discussions initiated in Doha in order to establish solid foundations for lasting peace,” the statement said.

The DRC has accused Rwanda of sending weapons and troops to support the M23 rebels, which Rwanda has denied.

The talks came after M23 representatives pulled out of a planned meeting with the DRC government in Angola on Tuesday, after the European Union imposed sanctions on some of the group’s senior members, including leader Bertrand Bisimwa.

In a statement, M23 said the sanctions “seriously compromise direct dialogue and prevent any advance”.

The EU also sanctioned three Rwandan military commanders and the country’s mining agency chief over support for the M23 fighters.

The conflict in eastern DRC escalated in January when the rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by Bukavu in February.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich eastern DRC near the border with Rwanda. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 Rwandan troops, according to United Nations experts.

Nearly all Voice of America (VOA) staff members have been placed on leave after United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order gutting the government-run news agency.

On Friday night, Trump ordered his administration to reduce several agencies to the minimum required by law under an order titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy”.

The decision affected the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), housing Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia, and Radio Marti, which broadcasts Spanish-language news in Cuba.

The press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders slammed the decision, saying it “threatens press freedom worldwide and negates 80 years of American history in supporting a free flow of information”.

The decision to gut the government-run, pro-democracy news agency comes as Republicans have accused publicly funded media outlets of being biased against conservatives.

In a statement, the White House said Trump’s executive orders “will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda” before listing criticisms of VOA, including allegations of left-wing bias.

On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a US Senate candidate whom Trump named a senior adviser to the agency, wrote on X that employees should check their emails.

US President Donald Trump’s escalating trade tariffs will hit world growth and raise inflation, the OECD has predicted in its latest forecast.

Canada and Mexico are forecast to see the biggest impact as they have had the harshest tariffs imposed on them, but US growth is also expected to be hit.

The OECD has more than halved its growth outlook for Canada for this year and next, while it expects Mexico to be pushed into a recession.

Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports. The US has also imposed 25% tariffs on other imports from Mexico and Canada – with some exemptions – and a 20% levy on Chinese goods.

In response, Canada and the EU have both announced retaliatory tariffs.

The Paris-based OECD said the higher trade barriers and “increased geopolitical and policy uncertainty” were hitting investment and household spending.

In the OECD’s latest forecast:

Canada’s economy is predicted to grow by just 0.7% this year and in 2026, compared with the previous forecast of 2% for both years
Mexico is now forecast to contract by 1.3% this year and shrink a further 0.6% next year, instead of growing by 1.2% and 1.6% as previously expected
Growth in the US has also been downgraded, with growth of 2.2% expected this year and 1.6% in 2025, down from previous forecasts of 2.4% and 2.1%
Despite the US imposing tariffs on China, the OECD has increased its growth forecast for the country slightly to 4.8%.
The OECD said the developing trade war was set to push up inflation, which will mean interest rates are likely to remain higher for longer.

“Significant risks remain,” it warned. “Further fragmentation of the global economy is a key concern.

“Higher and broader increases in trade barriers would hit growth around the world and add to inflation”.

The OECD said that for the world economy, growth would slow from 3.2% in 2024 to 3.1% in 2025, largely as a result of the trade tensions.

It also said it expected inflation – the rate of price increases – to continue to slow, though not as much as previously anticipated.

The organisation is predicting inflation of 3.8% this year across 20 of the world’s largest economies, compared with the 3.5% it had previously forecast.

Bar chart showing how the change in growth projections for 2025 have been downgraded for the world economy, the US, UK, Canada and Mexico. Last week, Elon Musk’s electric car firm Tesla warned that it, and other US exporters, could be harmed by the trade battle.

In a letter to the US trade representative, the firm said US exporters were “exposed to disproportionate impacts” if other countries retaliated to Trump’s tariffs.

The OECD cut its growth forecast for the UK’s economy to 1.4% in 2025, from its previous forecast of 1.7%, and to 1.2% in 2026, down from 1.3%.

However, the forecast is more optimistic than the Bank of England, which earlier this month cut its UK growth forecast for 2025 to 0.75%.

Former National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Member of Parliament (MP) for Akuapem North Constituency in the Eastern Region of Ghana, Sammi Awuku, has been appointed as the Vice President of SME Global in Charge of Africa.

In his appointment letter dated March 10, 2025 and signed by Lilia Heitz, Secretary General of the SME Global of the International Democracy Union, it reads in part “On behalf of the Executive Office of SME Global, I am pleased to formally confirm your appointment as Vice-President of SME Global of the IDU.

“We are confident that your contributions will be instrumental in driving our mission forward and fostering impactful initiatives. We appreciate your willingness to take on this responsibility and look forward to working together to strengthen the SME landscape globally. Once again, congratulations, and welcome to SME Global.” SME Global is the Trade and Economic arm of the IDU and an influential, center-right network dedicated to the advancement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups worldwide.

The organization brings together policymakers from the International Democracy Union (IDU) member parties, along with business leaders from across the globe. It provides a platform for networking, collaboration, and policy advocacy, championing low taxation, economic responsibility, and individual liberty within a socially-oriented market economy.

With a strong commitment to empowering SMEs and entrepreneurs, SME Global facilitates practical solutions to modern business challenges while ensuring that SME concerns remain central to global policy discussions. The organization plays a key role in shaping SME-friendly policies, addressing bureaucratic barriers, and fostering an environment conducive to innovation and economic growth. As Vice President for SME Global in charge of Africa, Mr Awuku will be instrumental in driving initiatives that support SMEs across the continent, advocating for regulatory reforms, and amplifying the role of small businesses in political and economic transformation.

His appointment signals a strengthened commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and ensuring that SMEs continue to thrive in an ever-evolving global business landscape.

Sammi Awuku will work closely with Board Members of SME Global including Jörgen Warborn, MEP, President, SME Global Coordinator of the International Trade Committee for European People’s Party (EPP) Group, Sweden, Randy Hoback, MP, Vice-President, SME Global Member of Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, Canada, Hon. Todd McClay, MP Vice-President, SME Global, Minister for Trade and Agriculture, New Zealand, Kevin Hollinrake, MP Vice-President, SME Global Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, United Kingdom and Germana Figueroa Casas, MP, Vice-President, SME Global Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Argentina