Financial insights
South Africa hails ‘turning point’ as debt set to peak
South Africa’s government says the country may be approaching a fiscal turning point as national debt is projected to peak...
Indian equities open mixed as investors monitor inflation and global cues
India’s stock markets opened Friday with mixed movements as investors assessed global signals alongside domestic economic indicators. Early trading in...
Singapore market opens steady as regional trade outlook supports sentiment
Singapore’s stock market opened Friday on a stable footing as investors weighed regional economic signals and continued strength in global...
On this day
On this day in 1933: The Reichstag building in Berlin caught fire
In the evening of 27 February 1933, flames engulfed Germany’s parliament building in Berlin, an event that would rapidly reshape...
Africa
What Africa’s banks can steal from China’s playbook
In 1994, a relatively modest development lender was launched in Beijing with $4.3bn in capital. Within two decades, it had...
What the US Supreme Court–Trump tariff feud means for Kenya
A landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States has reignited trade tensions after it blocked President Donald...
Iran vs US
Iran-US nuclear deal ‘within reach’ as third round of talks begin in Geneva
Geneva — Iran and the United States have reopened indirect nuclear negotiations amid cautious optimism that a diplomatic deal could...
US politics
Hillary Clinton says she answered every question in Epstein testimony and confirms Republican asked about UFOs and Pizzagate
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she answered every question during testimony connected to the investigations surrounding Jeffrey...
MSTRpay
MSTRPay accelerates Central Africa strategy with Cameroon Agent appointment
MSTRPay has appointed Mr Nguekeu Temomo Emmanuel as a non-exclusive country agent for Cameroon, reinforcing its structured market development and...
Ukraine
Orbán casts Ukraine as Hungary’s main threat as election fight tightens
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is intensifying an anti-Ukraine message in the run-up to April’s parliamentary election, seeking to mobilise...
How CIA and MI6 uncovered Putin’s war plans — and why warnings were doubted
In the months before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, US and British intelligence agencies concluded that Vladimir...
AI
Nokia and AWS pilot AI automation for real-time 5G network slicing
Telecommunications company Nokia and cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) have launched a pilot project aimed at using artificial...
Banking
The real cost of cutting costs in digital banking
As banks race to reduce operational expenses and compete with fintech challengers, cost-cutting strategies in digital banking are increasingly under...
Is traditional banking dead? The branch fights back
For more than a decade, analysts have forecast the extinction of the traditional bank branch, arguing that digital channels would...
Climate & Energy
‘A devastating force’: How Mediterranean storms became serial tragedies
A succession of violent storms has battered the Mediterranean basin this year, prompting scientists to describe an ‘atmospheric machine-gun’ pattern...
Blockchain
Bitcoin tops $69.5K as equities rebound on strong earnings
Bitcoin climbed above $69,500 on Thursday, extending gains as global equity markets rebounded and robust corporate earnings data fuelled renewed...
Business of the week
From call centre to tech titan: GoTo’s meteoric rise reshapes Indonesia’s digital economy
GoTo — the technology powerhouse born from a humble ride-hailing service — has evolved into one of Indonesia’s most influential...
Hidden financial giants
US-Iran nuclear talks end without deal as tensions and war fears intensify
Diplomatic efforts to revive negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme ended without an agreement this week, as talks between the United...
Iran-US nuclear deal ‘within reach’ as third round of talks begin in Geneva
Geneva — Iran and the United States have reopened indirect nuclear negotiations amid cautious optimism that a diplomatic deal could...
Hidden giants: The Rabiu family and Nigeria’s quiet financial powerhouse
While Africa’s billionaire class is often associated with headline names and high-profile conglomerates, one family has built a vast financial-industrial...
Hidden Giants in Finance: Euronet and the invisible rails moving US$200bn a year
Every day, trillions of digital signals move quietly between banks, wallets, ATMs, and payment apps — and behind much of...
America’s quietly powerful Pritzker dynasty
Few families shape global capital as discreetly as the Pritzkers. Best known publicly for building the hotel empire behind Hyatt...
Europe’s hidden financial giant: the foundation behind IKEA
Behind one of the world’s most recognisable retail brands sits a little-known Dutch foundation that quietly controls assets worth tens...
Newshub long read
Crowns and controversies: two centuries of scandal inside Britain’s royal family
For more than 200 years, the British monarchy has balanced ceremony with crisis, projecting stability while repeatedly confronting scandal —...