ABUJA: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday quashed a rumor stemming from his ill health that he had died and been replaced by a lookalike impostor from Sudan, his spokesman said.
“It’s real me, I assure you. I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong,” Buhari said as he met with the Nigerian diaspora in Poland, where he is attending the UN COP24 climate summit in Katowice.
He was answering a question from the audience about repeated claims — spread via tweets, Facebook posts and YouTube videos — that the leader of Africa’s most populous nation was an imposter called “Jubril.”
“A lot of people hoped that I died during my ill health. Some even reached out to the Vice President to consider them to be his deputy because they assumed I was dead,” Buhari said, according to a statement signed by his spokesman Garba Shehu.
He referred to those who started the rumor as “ignorant” and “irreligious.”
Buhari, who is seeking re-election next year, spent a large part of 2017 in London for treatment for a serious illness, which has never been revealed to the public.
A lack of specific information about the illness, along with Buhari’s gaunt features and a reduction in public appearances have fed speculation about his well-being.
Claims about the president’s identity emerged a month after Buhari returned from another lengthy medical trip to London.
Those pushing the rumor were known critics of the president and his government.
Nigerian president denies rumors surrounding his ill health
Nigerian president denies rumors surrounding his ill health
- Buhari, who is seeking re-election next year, spent a large part of 2017 in London for treatment for a serious illness, which has never been revealed to the public
Dollar, stocks muted as investors watch progress in US-China trade talks
- US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said talks in London going well, Trump puts a positive spin on discussions
- World stocks, as reflected by MSCI All-Country World index traded near record highs, dollar steadied against range of currencies
BOSTON/LONDON: Global stocks and the dollar held steady on Tuesday as trade talks between the United States and China continued into a second day, giving investors some reason to believe tensions between the world's two largest economies may be easing.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said discussions between the two sides in London were going well, while President Donald Trump on Monday put a positive spin on the talks.
Any progress in the negotiations is likely to provide relief to markets given that Trump's often-shifting tariff announcements and swings in Sino-US ties have undermined the two economies, disrupted supply chains and threatened to hobble global growth.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.06%, to 42,788, the S&P 500 added 0.16%, to 6,015, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.12%, to 19,616.
World stocks, as reflected by the MSCI All-Country World index traded near record highs, while the dollar steadied against a range of currencies.
"While market participants are clearly taking a glass half-full view of the outlook, both on trade policy and more broadly, we don’t think that should be interpreted as a view that tariffs will be fully unwound," said Jonas Goltermann, deputy chief markets economist at Capital Economics.
Goltermann anticipates US duties on Chinese goods to settle at around 40%, while most analysts have said that the universal 10% levy on imports into the United States is here to stay.
In Europe, the STOXX 600 edged higher, constrained by UBS, whose shares dropped 5.5% as investors worried about the impact of new government proposals to force the Swiss bank to hold $26 billion in extra capital.
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said policymakers were looking at measures to promote domestic ownership of Japanese government bonds, a day after Reuters reported that Japan is considering buying back some super-long government bonds issued in the past at low interest rates.
Japanese government 30-year yields were virtually flat at 2.92%, having retreated from late May's record high of 3.18%.
OPEC plus oil output is rising as members unwind their cuts.
The yen strengthened throughout the day, leaving the dollar roughly unchanged on the day around 144.5 yen, while the euro also turned positive, up 0.2% at $1.144. The pound dropped 0.2% to $1.35 after weak UK employment data.
QUALITY NOT SIZE
Trump's fluid trade policies and worries over Washington's growing debt pile have dented investor confidence in US assets, in turn undermining the dollar, which has already fallen more than 8% this year.
"It's not that the Americans are blowing up their fiscal situation because the deficit is going to remain more or less stable. But the quality of the deficit has degenerated," Samy Chaar, an economist at Lombard Odier, said.
"If you invest, and spend on productive investments, you'll get macro payoffs, because you're going to develop an industry, you're going to strengthen your economy, you're going to create jobs, you have a payoff. If you spend by basically reducing revenues because you cut taxes on people who don't need the money, they won't be consuming more, or investing more, so the macro payoff is more limited," he said.
US Treasuries were yielding around 4.44%, down 4 basis points on the day.
Data on US consumer inflation for May due out on Wednesday could show the impact of tariffs on goods prices.
The producer price index report will be released a day later.
"May's US CPI and PPI data will be scrutinized for signs of lingering inflationary pressures," said Convera's FX and macro strategist Kevin Ford.
"If core CPI remains elevated, expectations for rate cuts could be pushed beyond the June 18 FOMC meeting."
Traders expect the Federal Reserve to leave rates unchanged at its policy meeting next week. Just 44 bps worth of easing have been priced in by December.
In commodity markets, oil prices rose on the back of optimism that the US-China talks could ease trade tensions and improve demand for energy, pushing Brent crude up 0.4% to $67.30 a barrel. Spot gold rose 0.5% to $3,344 an ounce.
More than 94K individuals worked in organizing this year’s Hajj
- People were involved in serving pilgrims in various fields and organizational locations in Makkah and Madinah
- The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah conducted over 70,000 field inspections during Hajj, examining pilgrims’ accommodation
RIYADH: Over 94,000 people participated in organizing the Hajj season in Saudi Arabia, where 1.4 million Muslims performed the pilgrimage in early June.
The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah reported on Tuesday that individuals served pilgrims in various fields and organizational locations in Makkah and Madinah as part of the ministry’s efforts in running the Hajj.
The ministry said its Compliance Center conducted over 70,000 field inspections during Hajj, examining pilgrim accommodation, camps, central kitchens, and operational facilities.
The Nusuk Care initiative offered over 845,000 direct services, including health, psychological, and language support, it added. Over 3,000 volunteers supported government efforts during the Hajj season, serving pilgrims at over 107 contact points and distributed across six tracks.
The ministry said these field indicators demonstrate the level of planning, precision, and investment in human resources and technology, which is aligned with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
World Bank slashes global growth forecast as trade tensions bite
- Advanced economies' growth forecast lowered, poor countries face prolonged recovery
- Global inflation expected to reach 2.9% in 2025, above pre-COVID levels
WASHINGTON: The World Bank on Tuesday slashed its global growth forecast for 2025 by 0.4 percentage point to 2.3 percent, saying that higher tariffs and heightened uncertainty posed a “significant headwind” for nearly all economies.
In its twice-yearly Global Economic Prospects report, the bank lowered its forecasts for nearly 70 percent of all economies — including the United States, China and Europe, as well as six emerging market regions — from the levels it projected just six months ago before US President Donald Trump took office.
Trump has upended global trade with a series of on-again, off-again tariff hikes that have increased the effective US tariff rate from below 3 percent to the mid-teens — its highest level in almost a century — and triggered retaliation by China and other countries.
The World Bank is the latest body to cut its growth forecast as a result of Trump’s erratic trade policies, although US officials insist the negative consequences will be offset by a surge in investment and still-to-be approved tax cuts.
The bank stopped short of forecasting a recession, but said global economic growth this year would be its weakest outside of a recession since 2008. By 2027, global gross domestic product growth was expected to average just 2.5 percent, the slowest pace of any decade since the 1960s.
The report forecast that global trade would grow by 1.8 percent in 2025, down from 3.4 percent in 2024 and roughly a third of its 5.9 percent level in the 2000s. The forecast is based on tariffs in effect as of late May, including a 10 percent US tariff on imports from most countries. It excludes increases announced by Trump in April and then postponed until July 9 to allow for negotiations.
The bank said global inflation was expected to reach 2.9 percent in 2025, remaining above pre-COVID levels, given tariff increases and tight labor markets.
“Risks to the global outlook remain tilted decidedly to the downside,” the bank wrote. It said its models showed that a further 10-percentage point increase in average US tariffs, on top of the 10 percent rate already implemented, and proportional retaliation by other countries, could shave another 0.5 percentage point off the outlook for 2025.
Such an escalation in trade barriers would result “in global trade seizing up in the second half of this year ... accompanied by a widespread collapse in confidence, surging uncertainty and turmoil in financial markets,” the report said.
Nonetheless, it said the risk of a global recession was less than 10 percent.
’FOG ON A RUNWAY’
Top officials from the United States and China are meeting in London this week to try to defuse a trade dispute that has widened from tariffs to restrictions over rare earth minerals, threatening a global supply chain shock and slower growth.
“Uncertainty remains a powerful drag, like fog on a runway. It slows investment and clouds the outlook,” World Bank Deputy Chief Economist Ayhan Kose told Reuters in an interview.
But he said there were signs of increased dialogue on trade that could help dispel uncertainty, and supply chains were adapting to a new global trade map, not collapsing. Global trade growth could see a modest rebound in 2026 to 2.4 percent, and developments in artificial intelligence could also boost growth, he said.
“We think that eventually the uncertainty will decline,” he said. “Once the type of fog we have lifts, the trade engine may start running again, but at a slower pace.”
Kose said while things could get worse, trade was continuing and China, India and others were still delivering robust growth. Many countries were also discussing new trade partnerships that could pay dividends later, he said.
US GROWTH FORECAST CUT SHARPLY
The World Bank said the global outlook had “deteriorated substantially” since January, mainly due to advanced economies, now seen growing by just 1.2 percent, down half a point, after expanding 1.7 percent in 2024.
The US forecast was slashed by 0.9 percentage point from its January forecast to 1.4 percent, and the 2026 outlook was lowered by 0.4 percentage point to 1.6 percent. Rising trade barriers, “record-high uncertainty” and a spike in financial market volatility were expected to weigh on private consumption, trade and investment, it said.
Growth estimates in the euro area were cut by 0.3 percentage point to 0.7 percent and in Japan by 0.5 percentage point to 0.7 percent.
It said emerging markets and developing economies were expected to grow by 3.8 percent in 2025 versus 4.1 percent in January’s forecast.
Poor countries would suffer the most, the report said. By 2027 developing economies’ per capita GDP would be 6 percent below pre-pandemic levels, and it could take these countries — minus China — two decades to recoup the economic losses of the 2020s.
Mexico, heavily dependent on trade with the US, saw its growth forecast cut by 1.3 percentage points to 0.2 percent in 2025.
The World Bank left its forecast for China unchanged at 4.5 percent from January, saying Beijing still had monetary and fiscal space to support its economy and stimulate growth.
Goodbye Lenin? Russians flock to see Bolshevik leader’s tomb before it closes for repairs
- Famous mausoleum set to close for two years
- Large lines of Russians form to see Lenin’s body
MOSCOW: Russians are flocking to catch what some fear could be a final glimpse of the embalmed body of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin before his tomb on Moscow’s Red Square, long a place of pilgrimage for communists, closes for repairs until 2027.
The mausoleum, which houses a waxy-looking Lenin replete in a three-piece suit inside what is purportedly a bullet-proof, blast-proof glass case, is due to be structurally overhauled after an inspection uncovered problems.
Once a popular attraction for Western tourists and still a favorite for Russians visiting the capital from the regions, the red and black granite structure is expected to close in the coming weeks, with repair work set to last until June 2027.
Officials say that the body of Lenin, who died in 1924 after helping to establish the world’s first socialist state, is not going anywhere and that the central hall where he lies in state will not be touched.
But news of the temporary closure has seen long lines form to get into the mausoleum, with some visitors fearing it could be their last chance to see Lenin.
“From a historical point of view, I want to witness his being in a mausoleum because I think Lenin will be buried at some point, maybe in the future or near future,” said Tatyana Tolstik, a historian from Ulyanovsk, the city on the Volga where Lenin was born.
A young woman called Snezhana, who did not give her surname, said she wanted to “dive into the past” because she was also unsure how long it would be possible to visit the mausoleum.
The Communist Party, which ruled the country from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, is fiercely opposed to the removal of Lenin’s body, and Gennady Zyuganov, the party’s veteran leader, has said President Vladimir Putin has assured him it will not happen on his watch.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied plans to permanently close the mausoleum.
Singapore-flagged ship carrying toxic oil explodes off Indian coast
- 18 members of the vessel’s crew rescued, while 4 remain missing
- Alert for Kerala coast as containers drift between Kozhikode and Kochi
NEW DELHI: India’s Coast Guard and Navy were struggling on Tuesday to extinguish a fire on a Singapore-flagged cargo ship that exploded in the Arabian Sea, triggering an alarm over its load of 100 tonnes of bunker oil.
The MV Wan Hai 503, en route to Mumbai from Sri Lanka, reported an internal container explosion on Monday, which triggered a major fire on board as the vessel approached the coast of the southern state of Kerala.
The Indian Coast Guard said the situation was “critical” as its ships engaged in an overnight operation to douse the flames and rescue 22 members of the vessel’s crew.
Four crew remain missing. Two of them are from Thailand, one from Indonesia and one from Myanmar, according to Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority, which sent a team to assist the Indian rescuers.
Containers falling from the ship were reported drifting between Kerala’s Kozhikode and Kochi, triggering an alert by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services over a potential spill of what it identified as 100 tonnes of bunker oil.
Bunker oil is a thick, heavy and viscous fuel used to power large ships, especially cargo vessels and tankers. It is one of the dirtiest and most polluting fuels.
It contains sulfur, heavy metals and carcinogens. If spilled, it is difficult to clean up and may persist for months or years in the marine environment, suffocating coral reefs and killing fish and seabirds.
“Caution is advised about a few containers beaching between Kozhikode and Kochi,” the INCOIS said in a notification, adding that there was an “estimated 70-80 percent probability” that the containers that went overboard from the MV Wan Hai 503 might drift south-southeastwards from the accident location for the next three days.
The incident took place just two weeks after a Liberian-flagged vessel carrying hazardous cargo sank off Kerala’s coast.
The vessel went down with cargo containing calcium carbide and more than 84 metric tonnes of diesel, and 367 metric tonnes of furnace oil.
Diesel and furnace oil are both classified as marine pollutants that are toxic to marine life and can contaminate coastal ecosystems.
