Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain...
Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) yesterday held a procession in Kaduna to mark the death of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad. The leader of the group, also called Shiites, Aliyu Tirmizi, addressed the members along Nnamdi Azikiwe Way, Kaduna. He said: “Imam Hussain was killed by the Army of Yazid bn Mu’awiya on the 10th day of Muharram at the plains of Karbala, now in the present day Iraq, along with his household and followers about 1400 years ago.” He said the annual Ashura mourning of the death of the late Imam was part of the Islamic religious activities worldwide. The Shiites also demanded the release of their leader, Ibraheem El-Zakzaki, who is being detained by the Federal Governmen, despite court orders for his freedom. According to him: “Despite efforts by the government to infringe upon our rights to freedom of religion and worship, we have commemorated the remembrance of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, who was killed in Karbala by ...