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Musings From Abroad

US Treasury Secretary, Yellen vows support for Morocco’s earthquake recovery

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Following its decision to host the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meeting, the United States Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen on Tuesday said her government and the multilateral bodies would support Morocco’s earthquake rebuilding efforts.

The meeting will be held between October 9 and 15 in Marrakech, just 45 miles (72 km) from the site of the 6.8-magnitude earthquake on September 8 that killed about 3,000 people mostly in the hard-to-reach villages of the High Atlas mountains.

Yellen told reporters in Marrakech, “We stand ready to help in any way that is helpful as you go about the rebuilding process.”

She said that support for Morocco would be discussed during the IMF and World Bank meetings in Marrakech, but she did not specify what assistance would be provided.

“In the midst of all that Morocco has suffered, it really is a testament to the resilience of this community that you’re able to host a gathering as large as the international meetings of the IMF and World Bank taking place here this week,” Yellen said.

Yellen visited the Bin Youssef High School in Marrakech which welcomed students from the quake-damaged schools in the affected villages. The importance of education in Morocco, she said, was demonstrated by the “incredibly impressive” effort.

The suffering of Morocco would be on the minds of meeting attendees, “as we discuss the work of international institutions to stand ready to help Morocco and other countries that can be affected by such severe shocks,” added Yellen, who controls the predominate U.S. shareholding in both institutions.

In late September, the IMF approved a programme that was unrelated to the earthquake tragedy, a $1.3 billion loan to Morocco from its new Resilience and Sustainability Trust to assist it in coping with climate disasters and resilience. Additionally, Morocco has access to a $5 billion IMF flexible credit line.

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Musings From Abroad

Prince Harry, Meghan treated to street-style dances in Nigeria as their trip winds down

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On Sunday, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were treated to street-style dances in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, where they announced a partnership between their Archewell Foundation and the non-profit Giants of Africa, which utilizes sports to empower young people.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are making their first visit to Nigeria, where they were welcomed by the country’s chief of defence staff. The couple watched basketball practice at Ilupeju Senior Grammar School on Lagos Mainland, where Harry participated in ball-bouncing drills and shot a hoop.

“What you guys are doing here at Giants of Africa is truly amazing,” he said. “The power of sport can change lives. It brings people together and creates community and there are no barriers, which is the most important thing.”

The couple watched basketball practice at Ilupeju Senior Grammar School on Lagos Mainland, and Harry stepped on the court for some ball-bouncing drills and to shoot a hoop.

Former Toronto Raptors star Masai Ujiri, president of Giants of Africa, wished Meghan a happy Mother’s Day and said his organization was uniting communities and uplifting young people through sport, especially. Archewell Foundation and Giants of Africa will construct a basketball court in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.

“Talk about full circle again – never did I think we would be able to be here all those years later supporting the expansion of this incredible organization,” she said.
Harry and Meghan were set to round off their Lagos trip by attending a reception for a local charity. The couple live in the United States with their two children after Harry gave up working as a member of the royal family in 2020.

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Musings From Abroad

Binance accuses Nigeria of setting dangerous precedent with detention of its executives

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After its executives were invited to Nigeria and subsequently arrested as part of a crackdown on cryptocurrencies, the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, warned that the African nation was creating a dangerous precedent.

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, and two of its executives are being tried separately for tax evasion and money laundering, charges that the business is contesting.

CEO Richard Teng declared in a statement that it was time to voice opposition to the imprisonment of a US citizen and head of financial crime compliance at Binance, Tigran Gambaryan.

Former executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British Kenyan who works as a regional manager for Africa, escaped detention in Nigeria last month. While in Nigeria, Anjarwalla and Gambaryan were arrested by the country’s anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), after arriving on February 26, after which the country banned several websites that traded cryptocurrencies.

In a follow-up meeting on February 26, he stated that the authorities had declared the Binance concerns to be matters of national security and that they wanted the exchange to remove the naira from its site and disclose “granular-level” information on every Nigerian user. After that, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were taken into custody.

“To invite a company’s mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings, only to detain them, has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide,” Teng said, in his strongest comments yet since the case started in February.

“For spurious reasons,” Teng said that Gambaryan had been detained in Nigeria for almost two months. Early in March, Binance declared that it will no longer be accepting any new naira transactions.

“Our hope when we took this drastic step was that our colleagues would be released and Binance could continue to work with the Nigerian government to resolve any further concerns. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen,” said Ten.

He stated that Gambaryan ought to be permitted to return home while Binance and the Nigerian government work out any kinks. “We will continue engagement with Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on resolving potential historic tax liabilities,” he said.

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