Moody's just smacked Liquid Intelligent Technologies with another credit downgrade to Caa2, which basically means the ratings agency thinks this massive African telecom company might struggle to pay back $620 million coming due next year. The kicker is that their Zimbabwean operation appears to be the only thing keeping the whole group afloat financially, but Liquid refused to answer any real questions about their debt situation or future spending plans.
Staff cuts have already hit their Kenya branch, and senior executives have been bailing out while the parent company scrambles to refinance loans. Moody's straight up said that if you remove Zimbabwe's profits from the equation, the rest of the group can't even cover loan interest...
Gambia Ports Authority put out a tender looking for a dredging outfit to dig out the Banjul access channel from 9.3 meters down to at least 11 meters, which would let bigger ships roll through. This marks the first time the port has ever tried something like this, and the authority says deeper waters will boost capacity for handling more trade volume.
The move comes after some confusion in local coverage about who handles what, and GPA made it clear that the channel work falls on them under the Port Concession Agreement rather than on the concessionaire Albayrak. Officials framed the project as part of their push to upgrade port infrastructure and make vessel navigation safer overall.
Jacob Francis Sarr kicked off the Taranga Youth Foundation at a church in Kololi, basically trying to tackle mental health problems and give Gambian kids better options than risking their lives on boats to Europe. The guy got emotional about watching young people back home getting crushed by drugs and hopelessness, and he wants to build a youth center called The Volt where teenagers can actually talk about their feelings, learn tech skills, and get mentorship, plus hot meals.
Migration activist Ebrima Drammeh dropped some rough numbers about hundreds of Gambians currently floating around the Mediterranean with no one knowing where they are, and he mentioned that almost 2,000 people tried the journey in late November alone, with 24...
Goodluck Jonathan says Guinea-Bissau's president basically faked a military takeover to stop the election results from getting announced. The former Nigerian leader was monitoring the vote with the West African Elders Forum, and he thinks Umaro Sissoco Embaló staged the whole thing because the president himself broke the coup news before any soldiers even spoke up. Jonathan pointed out that real military coups don't let overthrown leaders do media interviews while supposedly under arrest.
Election results from all nine regions were ready to drop when Embaló suddenly claimed he got detained, but Jonathan says nobody actually got arrested. He wants ECOWAS and the African Union to force the release of the vote tallies since international...
A prosecutor in Ziguinchor wants a sex worker locked up for two years, fined five million CFA francs, and deported after accusations she knowingly spread HIV. The case blew up on social media, and crowds packed the courthouse to watch the foreign national face charges. Defense lawyers tried getting her out on provisional release to some kind of specialized care spot, but the court shot that down after prosecutors claimed the whole situation was causing nonstop chaos.
A nurse caught up in the same mess also had to show up in court, and the prosecutor asked for a six-month suspended sentence. Healthcare workers rallied outside to back their coworker and call out what they see as bogus accusations. The judge pushed the verdict date out a...
Four dancers from Flex Fuzion Dance Academy made Gambia look good at the World Federation of Acrobatic and Dance Sports World Cup in Moscow. Mariama Camara, Kaddijatou Baldeh, Sanjaku Kamara, and Daniel Taylor competed against teams from 30 countries, and they grabbed sixth place globally with two trophies. Gambia ended up as the top African country, beating out Senegal.
Coach Yasai Joof led the squad, and CEO Ndey Fatou Jabang thanked the Russian Consul and other supporters for making the trip happen. The academy has been around since 2017, training over 1,000 young people in performing arts, and this win marks a pretty big deal for Gambian dance on the world stage.
Benjamin Mkapa Hospital rolled into Singida with heart specialists to screen and treat cardiac issues in both kids and grown-ups, and people showed up in droves. Acting Assistant Director Rayhan Mbisso said the five-day camp brought cardiologists who can handle patients across age groups, while Dr David Mwasota from the regional hospital mentioned turnout was massive right from the start.
The Dodoma-based facility also started doing facet injections and epidural blocks for chronic back pain, making it the second place in Tanzania and the first in the central zone to offer this non-surgical treatment. Dr Maxgama Ndosi explained that patients get spinal injections that knock out pain completely, and they can head home the same day...
Russia's nuclear outfit Rosatom just got the green light to 3D-print parts for their RITM-200 reactor, and they cranked out a terminal box for pump gear as their first piece. This whole thing apparently draws on six decades of nuclear ship experience mixed with fancy modern design software and supercomputers. The prototypes passed all the tests, and the regulators signed off on the manufacturing method.
According to their chief technologist, Yuri Vytnov, this opens doors for printing all kinds of marine reactor equipment down the line. Director Ilya Kavelashvili from Rosatom's fuel division hyped up how additive tech lets them optimize part geometry while cutting weight and costs. They used a domestically built Ilist-L+ printer that...
Zanzibar's president, Hussein Ali Mwinyi, told a Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council delegation that the islands are hunting for more business partners, especially in blue economy and tourism projects. These two sectors pull in about 30 percent of the GDP, and Mwinyi thinks there's still tons of room for outside money to flow in.
The president hyped up the Mangapwani Integrated Port as a prime spot with opportunities in shipping, oil and gas, and general trade. Lord Swire, who chairs the council, said his group is down to work with Zanzibar on economic development stuff.
The government wants to keep building up investment infrastructure to make the place more attractive for international business deals.
