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. A Japanese financial services group is set to launch the first bank-backed digital currency exchange. SBI announced today that it is establishing a new company, dubbed SBI Virtual Currencies Co., Ltd., that will provide exchange services for as-yet-undisclosed digital currencies. The venture is being funded with 300m yen (roughly $2.8m USD at press time) in new capital, according to the firm. While the launch date was not disclosed, SBI said it would officially form the company next month and will provide future updates as to the specific kinds of services the exchange will offer. The new company will be headquartered in Tokyo. According to translated statements, the company said that it was moving to capture a “new value asset management opportunity”. SBI also cited positive regulatory conditions in Japan as a driving factor behind the decision to launch an exchange. The plan represents what is perhaps SBI’s most aggressive move in the digital currency and bloc...

Ethiopian Airlines, the largest airline in Africa, is pleased to announce a special family fare this season. .   .Guests need to purchase three adult fare tickets at the available fare and the fourth passenger accompanying them will pay only the applicable airport taxes.  The fourth passenger can be an adult or a child and all must travel together. This offer is valid for return travel on economy class from Muscat to Dar Es Salaam, Zanzibar, Nairobi, Mombasa, Khartoum, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Tickets can be purchased up to October 29; travelling can be done till December 31. Ethiopian Airlines currently offers affordable special fares for travel from Muscat to all online African destinations. It also offers exciting short holiday breaks in Ethiopia as well as Safari packages to Kenya and Tanzania.   During recent times, many Omani residents, locals & expatriates, have been visiting Addis, Ethiopia and other African destinations. Addis Delight is a thr...

Troops of Operation Base 2 have thwarted an attempted hijack of a vessel in the restive Niger Delta and separately arrested five pipeline vandals, a spokesman said on Sunday. “Troops of Operation Base 2 repelled a hijack of a vessel (MT VAJARA) by heavily armed bandits in Ramos River, around Agge area of Delta state,” Lieutenant Commander Thomas Otuji said in a statement. He said the pirates were repelled after a fierce exchange of fire with government troops. Otuji also said five people were arrested on October 17 and 18 near oil wellheads around the port city of Warri. “Five suspected vandals were arrested and they confessed to their plan to vandalise the wellheads,” he said, adding that two boats were recovered during the operation. He said the military was committed to making the entire Niger Delta and the waterways safe for oil firms, vessels and their crew. He said the military recently responded to distress calls by some travellers who were attacked...

China is calling for a global currency to replace the dominant dollar, showing a growing assertiveness on revamping the world economy ahead of next week's London summit on the financial crisis. The surprise proposal by Beijing's central bank governor reflects unease about its vast holdings of U.S. government bonds and adds to Chinese pressure to overhaul a global financial system dominated by the dollar and Western governments. Both the United States and the European Union brushed off the idea. The world economic crisis shows the "inherent vulnerabilities and systemic risks in the existing international monetary system," Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan said in an essay released Monday by the bank. He recommended creating a currency made up of a basket of global currencies and controlled by the International Monetary Fund and said it would help "to achieve the objective of safeguarding global economic and financial stability." Zhou did not mention the dollar by name. ...

Indications have emerged that the authorities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have stopped issuing visas to Nigerians, following the stabbing of a police officer by a group of six boys. The incident which took place in Deira, the hub of business in Dubai, resulted in the massive arrest of blacks irrespective of their nationalities. The officer was said to have died immediately from the injuries he sustained from the incident. A source who in the region during the incident, warned Nigerians to careful in order to avoid arrest. "Those of you have relatives in Dubai should be warned. The atmosphere is so hot especially for those without permit," he said.

After three years of construction, Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa-Djibouti electric railway was on the 5th of October finally set into full swing at its inaugural ceremony. The multibillion dollar investment has breathed life and excitement into Ethiopia and Africa as a whole as it glows with the radiance of a prospectively multi beneficial enterprise. Ethiopia, Djibouti and Africa stand to benefit a lot from the launching of this railway, which was constructed by Ethiopians in conjunction with Chinese. The 4 billion dollar railway was built partly by the China Railway Group in association with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, and boasts an incredible length of 752,7 km with a designed speed of 120 km/h when it is lugging freight and 160 km/h if it is serving as a passenger carrier. Built with a dependency on local labour and foreign expertise, the rail is the first of its kind in Africa and has put Ethiopia on the map turning it from a landlocked country to an offic...

LILONGWE (Maravi Post)–Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN), which was formed in 2000, in its bid to spearhead health activism, has urged Government to find alternative source of energy in order to fully wipe blackouts which are affecting health services in the country. MEHN Executive Director, George Jobe appealed to Government to complete Kammwamba project with speed in order to help hospitals which are undergoing difficult time especially during at theatre department. “imagine someone is undergoing operation at the theatre or is on the life support machine and power goes off, it means those people will die because not every hospital has a standby generator.” said Jobe. Jobe said that is why as a network they have been calling for adequate budgetary support to Ministry of health in line with Abujah Declaration of 15 Percent.   Jobe said currently, Malawi is on 10 Percent which is not enough. Jobe said electricity is very important in running the daily hosp...