xiao1h ago

Libyans grapple with fresh currency devaluation

https://sh.itjust.works/post/36276070

Libyans grapple with fresh currency devaluation - sh.itjust.works

> Tripoli (AFP) – Already worn down by years of political turmoil and economic hardships, Libyans are now facing a sharp deterioration in their purchasing power after a sudden devaluation of the Libyan dinar. > Experts have said the national currency’s exchange rate decline came as a consequence of ballooning public expenditures by the country’s rival governments in recent years. >Libya has Africa’s most abundant hydrocarbon reserves, but it is struggling to recover from years of conflict after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. >It is currently divided between a UN-recognised government in the capital Tripoli and a rival administration in the east backed by general Khalifa Haftar, with the division exacerbating the country’s economic woes. >The Libyan central bank earlier this month devalued the dinar by 13.3 percent, the second such move in five years. >The exchange rate went up to 5.56 dinars to the US dollar from 4.48 – while on the black market it jumped to 7.80 dinars to the US dollar from 6.90. >The impact was immediate, with small business owners and wholesale traders, who rely heavily on the parallel market to obtain foreign currency for imports, seeing their costs surge. >“The currency keeps going down,” said Karim Achraf, a 27-year-old engineer and father of three living in the capital, Tripoli. >“It has become hard to keep up with our needs for food, medicine, transportation, education and bills,” he said. >“We can’t trust our governments with our economy and safety.” >Despite its vast oil reserves, output remains below pre-2011 levels and the country lacks a robust industrial and agricultural sector. >It is almost entirely dependent on imported food, medical supplies and consumer goods, with oil exports its main source of revenue. >The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has expressed alarm following the sudden devaluation, urging both administrations to take “urgent measures to stabilise the national economy”. >“Swift action is essential to reduce the negative impact on the Libyan people, including rising costs of living, declining purchasing power and the erosion of public trust in state institutions and leaders,” it said in a statement. >In Tripoli, dozens of protesters recently gathered outside the central bank headquarters to voice their anger. >But while much of the criticism has been aimed at the bank, some believe it is unfairly blamed for problems stemming from political deadlock and fiscal mismanagement. >Mahmoud El-Tijani, a Libyan economist, said the central bank was “a victim of the executive branch’s failure and division”. >He said it was “forced to make the decision to protect what remained of the dinar’s strength”. >Amid falling oil revenues, the devaluation of the dinar was used as a “last-chance measure to avoid bankruptcy and external debt”, he added. >Libya’s institutions, including its central bank, have for a decade found themselves caught between the rival governments. >Until 2023, the bank was split in two, with an internationally recognised headquarters in the capital and another in the east, with each printing bills signed off by their respective governors. >Last year, the then-governor of the bank fled amid violent tensions surrounding the institution, with the United Nations stepping in to broker a deal for a new governor to be appointed. >Jalel Harchaoui, a senior fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said the central bank was “simply confronting the inevitable consequences of the political choices made by Libya’s ruling factions”. >“These enormous expenditures are highly political, arbitrary, and unsustainable,” he said. >“They are not decided by the central bank, which is a technocratic institution without the military or sociopolitical clout of Libya’s leaders.” >“Blaming the central bank is pure populism,” Harchaoui added, describing the bank as “a scapegoat”. >Anwar al-Turki, a banker in Tripoli, said the central bank was being “mistreated” by political leaders who had authorised “the highest public spending in modern Libyan history”. >He said the decision makers had little regard for “good governance, financial compliance, or anti-corruption”.

xiao1h ago

Turkish central bank raises interest rate to 46 percent

https://sh.itjust.works/post/36274344

Turkish central bank raises interest rate to 46 percent - sh.itjust.works

> Istanbul (AFP) – Turkey’s central bank hiked its key interest rate to 46 percent on Thursday after a month of protests over the arrest of Istanbul’s opposition mayor and economic uncertainty provoked by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. > That represents the first hike since March 2024, in what economists hail as a “strong signal of commitment” to a tight monetary policy stance. >The rate hike came as Turkey was roiled by street protests against the arrest and jailing last month of Istanbul’s popular mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, on graft charges he denies, which sent the Turkish lira to record lows against the dollar. >It also follows US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs that sparked growing economic uncertainty despite the relatively low 10 percent baseline tariff that Washington has applied to Turkey. >The monetary policy committee “has decided to raise the policy rate from 42.5 percent to 46 percent,” the central bank said in a statement. Risks to inflation >Nicholas Farr, emerging Europe economist at London-based Capital Economics, said the decision “is a strong signal of commitment to a tight policy stance”, in a policy note. >It also “suggests that policymakers have become more concerned about upside risks to inflation,” he said. >Turkey’s annual inflation that soared to 75 percent in May last year fell to 38.1 percent in March, its lowest level since December 2021, according to official figures released early this month. >But in April, “monthly core goods inflation is expected to rise slightly due to recent developments in financial markets,” the bank warned, saying that policymakers would closely monitor capital flows amid the current uncertainty around US trade protectionism. >Turkish authorities are officially targeting 24 percent inflation by the end of 2025. >In addition to calls for boycotts against companies close to the government, the wave of protests has led to a significant decline in the Istanbul Stock Exchange, which has lost more than 13 percent since its close on March 18. >On the day of Imamoglu’s arrest, the Turkish lira had plummeted by around 12 percent, reaching its lowest level ever. >This drastic drop was brief, but the lira has still lost more than four percent against the dollar since March 19, despite the $50 billion injection by the central bank to limit the damage. >The bank said Thursday the tight monetary stance would be maintained "until price stability is achieved via a sustained decline in inflation. >“The Committee will adjust the policy rate prudently on a meeting-by-meeting basis with a focus on the inflation outlook,” the bank said. >“Monetary policy stance will be tightened in case a significant and persistent deterioration in inflation is foreseen.”

xiao1h ago

Members of UK Jewish group say can't 'turn blind eye' to Gaza war

https://sh.itjust.works/post/36273195

Members of UK Jewish group say can't 'turn blind eye' to Gaza war - sh.itjust.works

> London (AFP) – Members of the largest organisation representing British Jews have said they can no longer “turn a blind eye” to the war in Gaza, adding “Israel’s soul is being ripped out”. > In a major break with the Board of Deputies of British Jews’ policy of supporting the Israeli leadership, 36 of its members criticised the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Gaza in an open letter published in the Financial Times. >“The inclination to avert our eyes is strong, as what is happening is unbearable, but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out,” said the letter, signed by around one in eight members of the Board of Deputies. >It is the first time since the start of the war that members of the body have publicly criticised the Israeli government. >“We cannot turn a blind eye or remain silent” about the loss of life since a two-month truce collapsed on March 18, as negotiations over the return of Israeli hostages broke down, the letter added. >“Israel’s soul is being ripped out and we, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, fear for the future of the Israel we love and have such close ties to,” added the letter. >The signatories accused the “most extremist of Israeli governments” of “openly encouraging violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.” >“We stand against the war. We acknowledge and mourn the loss of Palestinian life,” they added. >A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies told the Guardian that other members would “no doubt put more emphasis on the fundamental responsibility of Hamas for this ghastly situation.”

xiao3h ago

Somalia air strikes, combat kill dozens of jihadists: govt

https://sh.itjust.works/post/36267638

Somalia air strikes, combat kill dozens of jihadists: govt - sh.itjust.works

> Mogadishu (AFP) – Joint US-Somalia air strikes and combat killed dozens of Al-Shabaab jihadists attacking a key town and a military base and also destroyed a shipment of weapons, the Somali government said on Thursday. > Growing attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group, including one on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s convoy, are fuelling worries of a jihadist resurgence after militants were forced to retreat in recent years. >One air strike on Adan Yabaal, 220 kilometres (140 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu came as Al-Shabaab fighters raided the key town used as a base by Somali military commanders. >The operation on Wednesday night by Somali armed forces and the US Africa Command “aimed to neutralize the threat posed” by Al-Shabaab, the information ministry said in a statement posted on X. >“The targeted strike hit a site used by the militants as a gathering and hideout,” it said. “Preliminary reports indicate that 12…operatives, including senior leaders, were eliminated.” >The ministry said a second air strike hit an unflagged ship and a smaller vessel in Somali territorial waters “transporting modern weaponry” for al-Shabaab, killing all aboard. >In the southwest, Somali forces and allies killed 35 militants around Baidoa town in the early hours of Thursday, after they attempted to attack an army base there, the ministry said. >“Acting on intelligence, the forces engaged the militants resulting in the deaths of 35 members, including a foreign commander leading the group,” it said in a statement. Truck bombs >Somali government forces took control of Adan Yabaal from Al-Shabaab in December 2022 during the major offensive backed by African Union peacekeeping forces. >On Wednesday, Al-Shabaab launched a dawn raid on the town, with bombs loaded on trucks detonating before militants fought their way into the town, a military official said. >The official said the army was getting reinforcements from nearby positions to defend the town, but Al-Shabaab claimed its fighters had overrun the Somalia military and controlled Adan Yabaal. >AFP was unable to confirm those claims. >Two local residents told AFP that militants had taken Adan Yabaal. >The president had visited the town recently, with state media reporting he had met with military commanders to review the ongoing military offensive against Al-Shabaab. >Earlier this month, Al-Shabaab fired multiple mortar rounds near Mogadishu’s airport, disrupting international flights. >Halane camp – a fortified compound that houses the United Nations, aid agencies, foreign missions and the headquarters of the African Union’s Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia – was also targeted. >The group has seized key locations in Middle and Lower Shabelle, coastal regions on either side of Mogadishu. > A bomb blast that narrowly missed the convoy of President Mohamud in March underscored that Al-Shabaab again poses a risk in the capital itself. >Al-Shabaab has been fighting the government for 15 years, but the African Union-led peacekeeping force helped push the jihadists onto the defensive in 2022 and 2023.

xiao3h ago

Gaza rescuers say 37 people killed in Israeli strikes, most of them displaced

https://sh.itjust.works/post/36267563

Gaza rescuers say 37 people killed in Israeli strikes, most of them displaced - sh.itjust.works

> Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Gaza’s civil defence agency said Thursday that a series of Israeli air strikes killed at least 37 people, most of them in encampments for displaced civilians, as Israel pressed its unrelenting military offensive in the Palestinian territory. > The Israeli military did not immediately comment, but said it was looking into reports of the strikes, which came as Hamas officials said internal deliberations on the latest Israeli truce offer were nearly complete. >Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said two Israeli missiles hit several tents in the Al-Mawasi area of the southern city of Khan Yunis, resulting in at least 16 deaths, “most of them women and children, and 23 others were wounded”. >Survivors described a large explosion at the densely packed encampment that set multiple tents ablaze. >“We were sitting peacefully in the tent, under God’s protection, when we suddenly saw something red glowing – and then the tent exploded, and the surrounding tents caught fire,” Israa Abu al-Rus told AFP. >“This is supposed to be a safe area in Al-Mawasi, and the place just exploded. We fled the tent towards the sea and saw the tents burning.” >After Israel declared Al-Mawasi a safe zone in December 2023, tens of thousands of Palestinians flocked to its sand dunes along the Mediterranean coast seeking refuge from Israeli bombardment. >But the area has since been hit by repeated Israeli strikes, which have exacted a heavy civilian death toll. >Bassal said that Israeli strikes on two other encampments of displaced Gazans killed a further nine people – seven in the northern town of Beit Lahia, and a father and son near Al-Mawasi. >Separately, the civil defence agency reported two more attacks on displaced people in Jabalia – one that killed at least seven members of the Asaliya family, and another that killed three people at a school being used as a shelter. >The agency also reported two people killed by Israeli shelling in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City.

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BrikoX7h ago

Global pandemic treaty finalized, without U.S., in ‘a victory for multilateralism’

https://lemmy.zip/post/36565251

Global pandemic treaty finalized, without U.S., in ‘a victory for multilateralism’ - Lemmy.zip

> Three years in the making, the accord aims to increase equity and avoid errors of the COVID-19 pandemic Archived version: https://archive.is/20250416202036/https://www.science.org/content/article/global-pandemic-treaty-finalized-without-us-victory-multilateralism [https://archive.is/20250416202036/https://www.science.org/content/article/global-pandemic-treaty-finalized-without-us-victory-multilateralism] — Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

BrikoX7h ago

Over 6,600 tons of space junk are floating around in Earth's orbit

https://lemmy.zip/post/36565240

Over 6,600 tons of space junk are floating around in Earth's orbit - Lemmy.zip

> e’ve deployed so many satellites into space over the last few decades that we now have a massive orbital junk problem. The European Space Agency (ESA) noted in its Annual Space Environment Report that more than 6,600 tons of space junk are currently floating about in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), between 100 - 1,200 miles (160 - 2,000 km) above our planet’s surface. Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://newatlas.com/space/6-600-tons-space-junk-earth-orbit [https://archive.is/newest/https://newatlas.com/space/6-600-tons-space-junk-earth-orbit] — Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

xiao8h ago

Spanish youth keep vibrant Holy Week processions alive

https://sh.itjust.works/post/36259102

Spanish youth keep vibrant Holy Week processions alive - sh.itjust.works

> Zamora (Spain) (AFP) – Clad in a traditional white tunic and purple sash, four-year-old Thiago could barely contain his excitement before taking part as a drummer in a Spanish Easter procession thronged by thousands. > He and other members of the younger generations belie the belief that the elderly are custodians of the centuries-old rite, defying a secular trend in the historically Catholic country. >Parading with family in the northwestern city of Zamora is what most excites Thiago during Holy Week, when Catholics commemorate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in solemn processions organised by religious brotherhoods. >“As soon as we had the first grandchild in the family, the first thing we do here, rather than go to the court to register him, is sign him up to a brotherhood,” Thiago’s grandfather Jose Luis Temprano, 72, told AFP. >On Holy Tuesday, a delighted Thiago prepared to mark the rhythm of the parade with his small drum. >His other grandfather “hands out almonds, my father goes with the cross and I give out sweets” to other children, he recalled of another procession in which he participated. >Zamora is home to 16 brotherhoods which each have hundreds or thousands of members. Several have long waiting lists to join, some lasting years, said Israel Lopez, president of the city’s Holy Week board. >“People sign up because they want that moment to be able to go out” in the processions with schoolmates and relatives, he added. >As the clock struck midnight on a chilly evening, a group of teenagers stood ready when the street lights were turned off and Zamora was plunged into silence. >The young members of the Santisimo Cristo de la Buena Muerte brotherhood then slowly descended a steep cobbled street, some wearing sandals and others barefoot, bearing torches aloft in a moving spectacle of devotion. >Laura Borrego, 34, had spent hours in the street with her friends waiting for the procession to start. All live outside Zamora but never miss Holy Week in the city of 60,000 souls. >“It is a week of tradition, family, friends, being in the street all week,” said Borrego, a member of two brotherhoods who braved the elements in a thick winter coat. >Borrego and her friends had already witnessed another parade that evening in which parents walked with children or cradled babies in their arms, donning white tunics and the trademark “capirote”, a long pointy hood. >Cristina Garcia, a 44-year-old teacher dressed in a white tunic and green capirote, says she joined the Holy Tuesday procession to continue a tradition inherited from her late father. >Her two children are also taking part, thanks to “what I have been inculcating into them”, she added. >Borrego’s atheist friend Manuel Rodriguez, a 34-year-old psychologist, also cannot resist being drawn to Holy Week. >It is like visiting “Roman churches… you do not have to be exclusively religious, because you can see the (historical) value,” he told AFP. >According to a March survey by state polling body CIS, 39.2 percent of Spaniards described themselves as atheist, agnostic or non-believers, highlighting a secularising trend common to much of Europe. >Of the 54.4 percent who identified as Catholic, only 18.6 percent said they were practising. >For Manuel Jesus Roldan, a historian who has written books about Holy Week, the brotherhoods reflect society as a whole and “have no political ideology”. >“There are people from the left, the right, the centre. What’s more, we could say there are even atheist people within the religious gatherings,” he said. >In the southern city of Seville, Luis Alvarez-Ossorio said his atheist parents were stunned when he told them he wanted to enter a brotherhood to which several relatives already belong. >“They made it clear that they didn’t share my belief… but that I would have their support at all times,” he told AFP. >Holy Week embodies “a lot of emotion. I have loads of emotions at the same time, even personal reflection”, he added.