Musings From Abroad

Italy concerned over adult actor detained in Egypt

Published

1 month ago

November 24, 2024

Officials in Italy, where sentiments are still high over the unresolved murder of student Giulio Regeni, who was detained and died in Egypt eight years ago, are becoming concerned over the arrest of an Italian-Egyptian pornographic performer in Cairo.

According to reports in Italian publications, Elanain Sherif, 44, also known by his stage name Sheri Taliani, was snatched up at Cairo airport on Nov. 9 and brought to prison without providing an official reason, his attorney said on Friday.

Although he had not been notified by Egyptian officials, Sherif’s attorney, Alessandro Russo, told Reuters that the detention could have been due to the country’s ban on the online publication of pornography.

A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Egyptian foreign ministry.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani stated that the situation was being monitored “with the utmost attention” by the government and the Italian embassy in Cairo.

The lawyer added that Sherif has not been heard from since he was moved from a jail in Cairo to another prison in Alexandria a few days after his detention. His mother was the last person known to see him the day after he was taken into custody.

Although Sherif was born in Egypt, he currently resides in Italy and is dual-national.

According to Russo, he was attempting to get in touch with an Egyptian attorney that Sherif’s mother had assigned to represent him in Egypt.

“From Italy, we can only try to verify that Elanain Sherif is being treated well, the Egyptian lawyer will take care of the case over there,” he said.

“It’s clear that we are thinking with concern about the cases of Giulio Regeni and Patrick Zaki.”

Four Egyptian security guards have been accused by Italy with the 2016 abduction and murder of Regeni, a postgraduate student at Cambridge University in Britain.

Italian prosecutors claim that Egyptian authorities imprisoned him because they believed he was a British spy, while Egypt originally claimed he had died in a sex attack or a car accident before blaming the murder on a band of criminals

In 2020, upon returning home to Egypt, Zaki, an Egyptian scholar who had been studying in Italy, was detained. He received a pardon from the Egyptian president last year, only one day after being sentenced to three years in prison for disseminating false information.

Musings From Abroad

World Bank doubts Ethiopia-IMF debt assessment

Published

22 hours ago

December 24, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Some officials of the World Bank have questioned if the study supporting Ethiopia’s debt restructuring may be “faulty” after criticising an evaluation of the country’s finances done with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

World Bank consultant, Brian Pinto, and its head economist, Indermit Gill, evaluated the July Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), which was created by the IMF and employees of the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries, in an internal document seen by Reuters.

According to the authors, Ethiopia is experiencing a short-term cash shortage rather than a long-term solvency problem, which is a source of conflict between the government and holders of its $1 billion international bond that is in default, based on the DSA.

“We found that the bondholders have interpreted the DSA correctly, but the DSA itself may be faulty,” Pinto and Gill wrote in the paper from earlier this month. “The disagreements about Ethiopia’s debt sustainability will be repeated as other countries become debt distressed.”

A World Bank representative responded to a question regarding the paper by saying, “We generally don’t comment on internal deliberations between the World Bank and the IMF or any of our partner institutions.”

As part of the most recent review of the Fund’s loan program, Ethiopian State Finance Minister Eyob Tekalign told Reuters that the DSA had just been reviewed by IMF and World Bank teams and that the status had not changed significantly.

Without providing further details, an IMF representative acknowledged that its officials travelled to Ethiopia in November for the second review of the Fund’s loan program and added that every review incorporates an update to the DSA. Regarding the memo, the spokeswoman remained silent.

A request for comment from Pinto and Gill was not answered. There has been a tense confrontation between Ethiopian officials and bondholders.

The main point of contention is whether, as bondholders contend, Ethiopia is experiencing a liquidity shortage that may be resolved by rescheduling debt or if it is experiencing longer-term financial issues that necessitate haircuts, or debt write-downs.

According to the DSA, certain statistics on exports indicated pressures on both liquidity and solvency.

It was reported in October that the DSA indicated a solvency problem and that writedowns were inevitable. Investors have criticised a government proposal that suggests an 18% haircut in addition to rejecting the evaluation.

Musings From Abroad

Swiss company Mercuria partners Zambia’s IDC in new metals trading firm

Published

4 days ago

December 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to a statement released by Swiss commodities trader, Mercuria, on Thursday, it has established a metals trading arm with Zambia, the second-largest producer of copper in Africa.

The trading unit is jointly owned by Mercuria and an arm of Zambia’s Industrial Development Company (IDC), and its purpose is to allow Zambia to engage directly in the minerals trading market.

The joint venture “envisages the establishment of a vehicle to market and trade Zambian copper by mutual leverage,” according to a statement from Cornwell Muleya, the CEO of IDC.

The southern African nation wants to increase copper output to roughly 3 million metric tonnes within the next ten years, and in 2023, it produced roughly 698,000 tonnes of copper, down from 763,000 metric tonnes the year before.

In June, the Zambian government announced that it would establish a minerals trading unit.

Investors including First Quantum Minerals and Barrick Gold are ramping up production, with output set to receive a further boost once Vedanta Resources’ Konkola Copper Mines restart activity.

“Our joint venture with IDC marks a significant milestone for Zambia as it positions itself more strategically in the global minerals market,” Kostas Bintas, Mercuria’s global head of metals and minerals, said in the statement.