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Once a model for Africa, Ghana's economy loses its shine

Rising bond yields, mounting inflation and a weakening currency have taken the shine off Ghana, a country until recently hailed as a model for African growth. An oil boom helped fuel five years of GDP growth above 8 percent making Ghana an emerging market star, a stable democracy whose population of 25 million was moving steadily into middle income status. It is now, however, paying a steep price for not coming through with a new tranche of fiscal reforms. Political consensus is stymied, the public is dismayed by rising costs and the dream of new wealth is on hold. Analysts put the immediate difficulty down to a delay in announcing reforms, saying it makes it harder for the government to meet its 2014 economic targets and has increased the chance it will eventually need a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It has also created a perception of policy drift at a time of economic trouble rather than decisive action to shore up gains made during the boom years in whic

Myanmar panel deals blow to Suu Kyi's chances of becoming president

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's hopes of becoming Myanmar's president next year have been dealt a blow when a parliamentary committee voted not to change a constitutional clause that bars her from the post, two of the panel members said on Friday. The committee tasked with recommending amendments opted to retain the section that prevents anyone married to a foreigner or with children of foreign citizenship from becoming head of state. The two sources declined to be identified and did not say why the proposal was rejected by 26 of the 31 panelists. Most experts believe the clause, 59 (f), was written into the military-drafted 2008 constitution specifically to sideline Suu Kyi, who became a global icon for her fight against military rule, most of it from house arrest. Her late husband was British, as are her two sons. "Only five of the 31 committee members voted in favor of amending the section at the closed door meeting of the committee," said a member who req

Jean-Claude Juncker: Federalist danger man or skilled fixer?

Four months ago, Jean-Claude Juncker would have struggled to have his name recognized in much of Europe. Now he could be forgiven for wishing people would shut up about him. As the top candidate of Europe's largest center-right political group, which won the European elections last month, the former prime minister of Luxembourg is in pole position to become the next president of the European Commission. While Britain's David Cameron is adamantly opposed and The Sun tabloid has described him as "The Most Dangerous Man in Europe", Juncker remains on track to secure the powerful post, which has influence over policy from telecommunications to banking and trade affecting 500 million Europeans. Cameron's opposition is based on a belief that Juncker, 59, is an "old-school federalist" wedded to the concept of "ever closer union", not a modernizer who will shake up and refocus Brussels institutions regarded in London as bloated and opaque. After

South Korea sect talks of deer and fireflies startled by police raid

South Korean on Friday police arrested the brother of a South Korean businessman linked to a ferry disaster in April in which hundreds of school children drowned, as the net appeared to tighten around the fugitive's family. But Yoo Byung-un, 73, a businessman and photographer, is still on the run, eluding one of the country's biggest and most bizarre manhunts for more than a month, centred on a huge church sect compound south of Seoul. [ID:nL4N0OT3MC] His elder brother, Yoo Byung-il, was arrested near the leafy compound in Anseong, where police are checking all passing vehicles and pedestrians. Yoo Byung-un's daughter, Yoo Som-Na, has been held in France since May 28 after Interpol called for her arrest "for fraud and embezzlement". She was denied bail on Wednesday Yoo Byung-un is wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion stemming from a web of business holdings centred on I-One-I, an investment vehicle owned by his sons that ran the ship

BNP got high-level 2006 warnings on sanctions busting: report

French bank BNP Paribas was warned in 2006 by a high-ranking U.S. Treasury official and in three reports by legal experts that it risked being penalized for breaking U.S. sanctions, according to Le Monde newspaper. _0"> Since France's biggest bank flagged the risk of a big fine in February this year, sources close to the affair have said it ignored early warnings of the risks it faced. They pointed out that the alleged offending transactions being investigated by U.S. authorities continued until 2009. The French newspaper's report, written as talks accelerate towards a possible $10 billion fine and other penalties, said Stuart Levey, then the U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, made a visit to Paris in September 2006. The paper, drawing on the findings of its own investigation, said Levey met the bank's top officials, including Baudoin Prot, who has since become chairman, in its boardroom. Levey was there not to talk about t

Egypt asks YouTube to remove video of sexual assault victim

Egypt has asked YouTube to remove a video showing a naked woman with injuries being dragged through Cairo's Tahrir Square after being sexually assaulted during celebrations for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's inauguration. _0"> Sunday night's assault took place as thousands of people enjoyed inauguration festivities, raising new worries about Egypt's commitment to fighting sexual violence. Authorities arrested seven men aged between 15 and 49 for sexually harassing women on Tahrir Square after the posting of the video, which caused an uproar in local and international media. It was not clear whether the men arrested took part in the assault shown on the video. "The Egyptian embassy in Washington DC and a number of Egyptian authorities, at the direction of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, have requested the YouTube administration to remove the video of the sexual assault victim," Sisi's spokesman said. "This came in response to her wish,

China says will never send military to oil rig spat with Vietnam

A Chinese official said on Friday that China will never send military forces to the scene of an increasingly ugly spat with Vietnam over an oil rig in the South China Sea and accused Hanoi of trying to force an international lawsuit. A senior U.S. official in Washington dismissed the Chinese statement as "patently ridiculous" and said Beijing had been using air force and navy as well as coastguard assets "to intimidate others." Scores of Vietnamese and Chinese ships, including coastguard vessels, have squared off around the rig despite a series of collisions after the Chinese platform was towed into disputed waters in early May. Vietnam has accused China of sending six warships, but Yi Xianliang, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, said that Beijing had never sent military forces. "I can tell you very clearly that from May 2 to today, including to when the (drilling) operations are comp