Iran fired air defense batteries early Friday morning as explosions could be heard near a major air base near Isfahan, raising fears of a possible Israeli strike following Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country. It remained unclear if the country was under attack, as no Iranian official directly acknowledged the possibility and Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment. However, tensions have remained high in the days since the Saturday assault on Israel amid its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and its own strikes targeting Iran in Syria. One Iranian government official and later…

The management of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) led by its Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyerr, has shed light on why students from private institutions and incarcerated individuals are excluded from the upcoming student loan fund launch. Addressing journalists at UNILAG, Sawyerr emphasized the fund's focus on aiding "indigent" students. He clarified that private institution attendees aren't deemed financially disadvantaged and stressed the fund's aim at redistributing wealth to deserving candidates, monitored via mechanisms like BVN verification. Regarding inmates pursuing education, Sawyerr cited challenges in loan recovery from individuals serving lengthy sentences. Executing a transparent selection process, NELFUND plans to…

An influential global body has forecast Russia's economy will grow faster than all of the world's advanced economies, including the US, this year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Russia to grow 3.2% this year, significantly more than the UK, France and Germany. Oil exports have "held steady" and government spending has "remained high" contributing to growth, the IMF said. Overall, it said the world economy had been "remarkably resilient" "Despite many gloomy predictions, the world avoided a recession, the banking system proved largely resilient, and major emerging market economies did not suffer sudden stops," the IMF said. The IMF…

Nigeria is burning through foreign-exchange reserves at a rate not seen in four years, raising concerns that the central bank is depleting its dollar holdings to support the naira after pledging it would allow the currency to float more freely. Liquid reserves declined 5.6% since March 18, when the naira started its rebound from record-low levels against the dollar, to $31.7 billion as of April 12, according to Bloomberg’s calculations based on the latest available datafrom the Central Bank of Nigeria. That’s the biggest decline in a similar period since April 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency…