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JUST IN: Naira records highest depreciation against dollar amid Trump’s tariff war

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The Nigerian naira recorded its highest depreciation against the dollar this week at the official foreign exchange market amid United States of America President, Donald Trump’s tariff announcement.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s exchange data showed that it dropped to N1,552.53 per dollar on Thursday from N1,531.25 traded on Wednesday.

This means that the naira slumped by N21.28 against the dollar on Thursday compared to N1,531.25 exchanged the previous day.

This is the highest depreciation against the dollar on a single day since March 22, when the currency dropped by N18.96 weekly at the official market.

Similarly, at the black market, the naira weakened by N5 on Thursday to N1,560 per dollar from N1,555 traded on Wednesday.

The development comes despite CBN’s announcement that the country’s Net Foreign Exchange Reserve (NFER) as of the end of 2024 stood at $23.11 billion, the highest level in over three years.

The drop in the naira at both official and parallel foreign exchange markets follows Trump’s administration’s tariff announcement on Wednesday, which sparked outrage across the world.

Economic experts said Trump’s 10 percent baseline tariffs would affect US-Nigeria trade worth $10 billion.

The chief executive officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf on Thursday in a statement said Trump’s tariff would affect Nigeria’s economy because it has brought an end to the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

International

South African Court Halts Burial of Former Zambian President Mid-Ceremony

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In a dramatic turn of events, a South African court has intervened to halt the burial of a former Zambian president, president Edgar Lungu, temporarily suspending the proceedings mid-ceremony.

Lungu, who died on June 5 while seeking medical care in South Africa, was a rival of President Hakainde Hichilema, who wanted to lead a state funeral for his predecessor in Zambia.

Lungu’s family opposed the plans and blocked his body from being repatriated, saying he would not have wanted Hichilema at his funeral.

Zambia in turn filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the burial in South Africa.In a ruling delivered as Lungu’s widow and other mourners were already gathered in the church, a Gauteng region High Court judge said that, after an agreement between the parties, “respondents undertake not to proceed with the funeral or burial of the late president”.

The case will be heard on August 4, he said, in a decision that was carried by national broadcaster SABC — which also showed live images of people gathered for the service for Lungu, president from 2015 to 2021.

The adjournment “is extending the pain, the grief, that the family and the people are going through”, Zambian lawmaker Chanda Katotobwe, part of the delegation present at the memorial service, told SABC News.

The cause of the former president’s death at age 68 was not announced. He had been receiving specialised treatment in a clinic in Pretoria, his Patriotic Front party said.

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International

Cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles, including 800 EVs, sinks in the Pacific Ocean

The shipping company said that the cargo ship had sunk on June 23.

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A cargo ship that caught fire earlier this month in the Pacific Ocean has sunk, its manager has said.

MINT reports that The Morning Midas, which was left abandoned as it caught fire, was carrying about 3,000 vehicles, among which around 800 were electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles contain lithium-ion batteries, which are generally safe but can overheat and ignite if damaged.

The shipping company said that the cargo ship had sunk on June 23.

Zodiac Maritime in a statement further said that the damage caused by the fire was compounded by heavy weather, and subsequently water entered inside the vessel, causing it to sink.

Credit: MINT

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Crime

JUST IN: Russia attacks Ukraine, kill 11

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Russian missiles on Tuesday crashed into schools, hospitals and kindergartens in central Ukraine, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens more in a region coming under mounting pressure.

The attacks came as President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands to meet with allies on the sidelines of the NATO defence alliance summit.

He is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss more sanctions on Russia and arms procurement, a senior Ukrainian source told AFP.

Emergency services in the Dnipropetrovsk region, now threatened by Russian battlefield advances, published photos of rescuers helping civilians covered in blood after the attack.

“This is not a fight where it’s hard to choose a side. Standing with Ukraine means defending life,” Zelensky said after the attack.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said the strikes amounted to a “rejection of peace” from Russia, which has rejected US and Ukrainian ceasefire proposals.

“It is a matter of credibility for allies to step up pressure on Moscow,” Andriy Sybiga said.

Ukrainian police said 11 residents of Dnipro were killed and two more were left dead in the nearby town of Samar. More than 100 people were wounded, according to a statement.

Police added that an administrative building, shops, educational facilities and a children’s hospital were damaged.

– Toddler killed –

Russian forces, which invaded Ukraine just over three years ago, recently claimed to have reached the border of the central industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, to gain a foothold there for the first time of the war.

The attacks on Dnipro city, the region’s capital, came just hours after deadly overnight drone attacks.

Three people including a toddler were killed earlier in the northeastern Sumy region that borders Russia during the barrage, local officials said.Oleg Grygorov, head of the Sumy region’s military administration, said a five-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble of a destroyed house.

“The strike took the lives of people from different families. They all lived on the same street. They went to sleep in their homes but the Russian drones interrupted their sleep — forever,” he said.

One man died next to his spouse in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s western border region of Belgorod, the region’s governor said, adding that the woman survived the attack.

Another drone had targeted a residential building in Moscow overnight, wounding two people, including a pregnant woman, the local authorities said.

Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 — in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging peace talks to prolong its full-scale offensive and to seize more territory.

AFP

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