Foreign
Mali’s president confirms call with Putin about Niger coup
Mali’s military leader Assimi Goita said on Tuesday that he had spoken on the phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation in Niger, where a junta seized power in a coup last month.
Putin “stressed the importance of a peaceful resolution of the situation for a more stable Sahel,” Goita said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Western powers fear that Niger could go the same way as neighbouring Mali, whose leaders hired mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group to help them fight an insurgency after they overthrew the democratic government three years ago and kicked out French troops.
Putin has called for a return to constitutional order in Niger, while Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin welcomed the coup.
Support for Russia has appeared to surge in Niger since the July 26 coup, with junta supporters waving Russian flags at several rallies.
Foreign
Putin Registers As Candidate For Russia’s Next Presidential Election
Russia on Monday officially recognised Vladimir Putin as a candidate for the presidential elections in March, a vote that he is all but certain to win.
The 71-year-old has led Russia since the turn of the century, winning four presidential ballots and briefly serving as prime minister in a system where opposition has become virtually non-existent.
The Central Election Commission said it had registered Putin, who nominated himself, as well as right-wing firebrand and Putin-loyalist Leonid Slutsky as candidates for the vote.
The election will be held over a three-day period from March 15 to 17, a move that Kremlin critics have argued makes guaranteeing transparency more difficult.
Following a controversial constitutional reform in 2020, Putin could stay in power until at least 2036.
Rights groups say that previous elections have been marred by irregularities and that independent observers are likely to be barred from monitoring the vote.
While Putin is not expected to face any real competition, liberal challenger Boris Nadezhdin has passed the threshold of signatures to be registered as a candidate.
However, it is still unclear if he will be allowed to run, and the Kremlin has said it does not consider him to be a serious rival.
Foreign
Hong Kong court grants Chinese real estate giant reorganisation postponement
Hong Kong’s Supreme Court has once again granted the highly indebted Chinese real estate giant Evergrande a postponement for its reorganisation plan.
Judge Linda Chan surprisingly postponed the decision until Jan. 29, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday.
The property developer, which has liabilities estimated at more than 300 billion dollars, is threatened with liquidation.
However, creditors from abroad had taken the company to court because of its missing several payments.
Chan had already said at the previous hearing that this would be the last postponement and that she would very likely agree to liquidation if China Evergrande did not find a plan for restructuring with its creditors.
According to reports, however, the lawyers of the Hong Kong-listed group had now held out the prospect of being able to reach an agreement with the lenders in the coming weeks.
In the case of liquidation, an insolvency administrator would monetise the company and pay out the creditors.
Meanwhile, some experts were of the opinion that liquidation would return less money to creditors than a reorganisation, China Evergrande argued the same in court, according to reports.
The group had been trying to submit a restructuring plan since 2022, without success. Its founder and once China’s richest man, Hui Ka Yan, is being investigated by the Chinese authorities.
Like many other property groups, the company had been in a serious crisis for some time because it is earning significantly less on the slumping property market.
The company is finding it more difficult to obtain state support and is no longer able to service its loans.
“The Evergrande case also shows that the era of large private property developers in China is coming to an end,’’ says Max Zenglein from the Merics China Institute in Berlin.
If Chan decides to wind up China Evergrande, this could also have an impact on other companies.
“One challenge for the government will be to prevent domino effects in the economy caused by major bankruptcies,’’ says Zenglein.
-
Headline1 day ago
BDCs Reacts to Dollar Selling At ₦1,000/$1
-
News5 days ago
Police To Honour Officers Murdered In Delta, Arrest 5 Suspects
-
Headline1 day ago
Abure Re-elected As LP National Chairman, 5 Arrested By Police At Convention
-
Headline22 hours ago
Labour Party Reserves 2027 Presidential Ticket For Peter Obi
-
News5 days ago
Lagos, Delta, Ogun lead in domestic debts as at Dec 2023 (See Full List)
-
Headline4 days ago
Prepare To Receive, Distribute 6,100MW Of Electricity In 6 Months, FG To Discos
-
Headline3 days ago
Binance Chief: FG Contacts INTERPOL, Soldiers Held Over Detainee’s Escape