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<p>As countries prepare for eventual COVID-19 vaccines, experts caution that falling immunization coverage could lead to outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases, could this lead to future further breakouts that could prove costly to many African economies? DR. Phionah Atuhebwe, The Regional New Vaccines Introduction Officer World Health Organisation spoke to CNBC Africa for more.</p>


COVID-19: How the pandemic has exacerbated risks of other immunisable diseases

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<p>As we continue our conversations on alternative source of funding for local governments, could commercial banks play a bigger role in bridging that gap? Emma Mugisha, Executive Director at Stanbic Bank Uganda spoke to CNBC Africa for more.</p>


How commercial banks can play a bigger role in local infrastructure financing

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<p>The gradual recovery in alcohol consumption in the third quarter of the year gave succour to Nigerian brewers badly hit by the lockdown measures to tame the outbreak of the COVID-19. Chukwuebuka Agulue, Research Analyst at Meristem Securities joins CNBC Africa&#8217;s Esther Awoniyi to unpack some earnings from Nigeria’s breweries industry.</p>


Nigerian brewers benefit from alcohol demand recovery

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<p>Nigeria’s President has approved the immediate supply of crude oil and condensate feedstock supply to the Waltersmith refinery following the commissioning of the 5,000 barrels per day modular Refinery. CNBC Afria’s Christy Cole spoke to Abdulrazaq Isa, the Chairman of the WalterSmith Group on the side lines of the commissioning.</p>


Nigeria approves crude supply to Waltersmith refinery

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<p>Nigeria has generated 4.18 trillion naira in revenue as at October this year according to the Federal Inland Revenue Service. Adeyemi Adediran, Associate Director at Andersen Tax, Nigeria joins CNBC Africa’s Esther Awoniyi to assess Nigeria’s revenue generation strategy.</p>


Assessing Nigeria’s revenue generation strategy

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<p>During the week, T-bills were oversubscribed, with the overall subscription rate coming in at 104.2 per cent down from 126.6 per cent, the previous week. Moreover, the equities market was on a downward trajectory, with both the NASI and NSE 20 declining by 0.2 per cent while NSE 25 declined by 0.8 per cent respectively. Beatrice Mwangi, Lead Researcher at Cytonn spoke to CNBC Africa for more&#8230;.</p>


Kenya market watch: T-bills oversubscribed as interest rates rise

<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LFRRq12salE" width="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>CNBC.com&#8217;s MacKenzie Sigalos brings you the day&#8217;s top business news headlines. Today was a historic day on Wall Street — the Dow crossed 30,000 for the first time on record. CNBC.com&#8217;s Pippa Stevens explains what Dow points are, why they&#8217;re important, and why 30,000 is such a significant milestone. Plus, CNBC Wealth Editor Robert Frank breaks down how Tesla&#8217;s meteoric stock performance added billions to Elon Musk&#8217;s personal fortune, making him richer than Bill Gates, at least on paper&#8230;.</p>


Dow crosses 30

Dow crosses 30,000, and Elon Musk is richer than Bill Gates: CNBC After Hours

<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W7ooWr05wnw" width="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Nissan was once regarded as one of the automotive world’s great comeback stories. A scrappy Japanese manufacturer that had earned worldwide respect under the leadership of Carlos Ghosn. But now that man is an international fugitive, and Nissan is struggling once again.</p>
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<p>Can Nissan Survive Its Rece&#8230;</p>


Can Nissan Survive Its Recent Troubles?

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<p>Over the past 18 months, Omnia executed a strategy to stabilise its financial position and renew its operations, while exploring new growth opportunities. This strategy has yielded good results, with the chemicals group reporting a 228 per cent increase in headline earnings per share. Omnia CEO, Seelan Gobalsamy joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Omnia impresses with strong results

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<p>In a unanimous vote, Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee kept all its policy parameters unchanged. The committee believes that holding rates at current levels will be beneficial and will allow the present policy measures permeate the economy while observing the trend of developments as the MPC felt its heterodox policies were showing positive results. Bismarck Rewane, the CEO, Financial Derivatives, Nnamdi Nwizu, the CO-Managing, a Partner at Comercio Partners and Gregory Kronsten, the Head of Macro and Fixed Income Research at FBNQuest joined CNBC Africa’s Esther Awoniyi for a post analysis of the decision&#8230;.</p>


Nigeria’s retains key rate at 11.5%: Post-analysis

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<p>In a unanimous vote, Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee kept all its policy parameters unchanged. The committee believes that holding rates at current levels will be beneficial and will allow the present policy measures permeate the economy while observing the trend of developments as the MPC felt heterodox policies were showing positive results&#8230;.</p>


Nigeria’s MPC retains MPR at 11.5% (Full Speech)


<div class="wp-block-image wp-image-392571 size-full"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106800863-1606139583729-GettyImages-1229626160.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-392571" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106800863-1606139583729-GettyImages-1229626160.jpg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106800863-1606139583729-GettyImages-1229626160-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>CHONGWE (ZAMBIA), Nov. 13, 2020 (Xinhua) &#8212; Zambian President Edgar Lungu delivers a speech at the launch of blueberry export to China in Chongwe, Zambia, on Nov. 13, 2020. Zambia on Friday flagged off its inaugural export of fresh blueberries to China, becoming the first country in southern Africa to enter the huge Chinese market. Xinhua/Martin Mbangweta via Getty Images</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>Zambia last week opted to bow out of a $42.5 million eurobond repayment, becoming the first African nation to default on its debt in the Covid-19 era.</p>



<p>On Wednesday, Fitch Ratings downgraded a key rating for Zambia from CC to Restricted Default. S&amp;P Global Ratings had already reduced its equivalent rating to Selective Default ahead of the expiry of a 30-day grace period and a creditor meeting on Nov. 13, citing the Zambian government’s assertion that it “will not make debt service payments.”</p>



<p>Fitch also withdrew ratings on Zambia’s two remaining eurobonds, on the assumption that either missed repayments or a new restructuring plan would also see these fall into default. Eurobonds are debt instruments denominated in a currency other than that of the issuer.</p>



<p>The country’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/26/africa-could-be-about-to-see-its-first-post-covid-default-.html">debt profile has been spiraling</a>&nbsp;in recent years owing to issues predating the pandemic, leaving creditors wrangling over who should take losses on loans.</p>



<p>Zambia is Africa’s second-largest copper producer, and as copper prices have plummeted over the past three years, servicing repayments on its estimated $11 billion debt pile has become increasingly difficult.</p>



<p>The country last issued a eurobond in 2015, before its debt starting spiraling out of control, with many of the country’s infrastructure projects financed by Chinese loans as part of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/21/chinas-2-billion-ghana-deal-fears-over-debt-influence-environment.html">Beijing’s sweeping Belt &amp; Road initiative</a>.</p>



<p>As such, eurobond investors had sought greater clarity from the government over Zambia’s Chinese debt obligations, concerned that further debt financing will be used to pay off China before themselves.</p>



<p>All eyes are now on a potential International Monetary Fund bailout package, and NKC African Economics Senior Financial Economist Irmgard Erasmus said the IMF would play a crucial role in any negotiations.</p>



<p>“We believe an orderly process towards a bond swap agreement will require the mediating role of the IMF in its capacity as policy linchpin, which in turn rests upon the assumption that the Fund will support Zambia under a formal Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme,” Erasmus wrote in a note Thursday.</p>



<p>“The absence of this linchpin risks a prolonged, acrimonious restructuring process which will be accompanied by a protracted growth shock.”</p>



<p>An IMF delegation is scheduled to travel to Zambia early next month, but Erasmus suggested the fund was likely to demand greater progress on Zambia’s liability management before offering a formal bailout program.</p>



<h2 class="ArticleBody-subtitle wp-block-heading" id="h-no-easy-way-out"><a id="headline0"></a>‘No easy way out’</h2>



<p>Robert Besseling, executive director of risk consultancy EXX Africa, said there was no guarantee that Zambia would be able to quickly restructure its eurobonds or other debt instruments.</p>



<p>“There’s no easy way out here really. I mean Zambia needs to continue to balance the priorities of international bonds versus commercial credits, versus Chinese project finance loans and World Bank, AfDB (African Development Bank) loans and see which ones are the most important,” Besseling told CNBC via telephone from Johannesburg Friday.</p>



<p>Besseling also noted that Zambia had made a repayment on a World Bank loan two days before defaulting on the eurobond, indicating where the government’s priorities lie. He suggested that Chinese commercial and international bonds would likely fall to the bottom of the pecking order and experience a series of defaults from Zambia.</p>



<p>“You’ll see that the repayments on the development finance institutions’ loans, like the World Bank and the AfDB, are likely to be continued, because this all needs to be taken into the political context of elections next year,” he said.</p>



<p>“The World Bank is providing huge development funding which is important for the government to continue because that has an actual impact on people’s lives and will be an electoral advantage for them.”</p>



<p>Zambians will head to the polls in August 2021, with President Edgar Lungu seeking a third term and expected face stiff competition from the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND).</p>



<p>Besseling projected a “gradual, managed lead up” to the elections, with the government prioritizing paying back development financing loans. But he added that Lungu’s ruling Patriotic Front would likely reach out to the IMF should it win re-election, at a time when the more “unpalatable” conditions that will likely be imposed by the Fund are seen as a worthwhile sacrifice to shore up the economy.</p>



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Zambia becomes Africa’s first coronavirus-era default: What happens now?

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<p>Ethiopia’s army plans to surround the rebel-held capital of Tigray region with tanks and may use artillery on the city to try to end a nearly three-week war, a military spokesman said on Sunday, urging civilians to save themselves.</p>
<p>The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which is refusing to surrender its rule of the northern region, said its forces were digging trenches and standing firm.<br />
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal troops have taken a string of towns during aerial bombardments and ground fighting, and are now aiming for Mekelle, a highland city of about 500,000 people where the rebels are based.</p>
<p>The war has killed hundreds, possibly thousands, sent more than 30,000 refugees into neighbouring Sudan, and seen rockets fired by rebels into neighboring Amhara region and across the border into the nation of Eritrea.</p>
<p>Countries around Africa and Europe have urged a truce, but Abiy has so far rebuffed that.</p>
<p>“The next phases are the decisive part of the operation, which is to encircle Mekelle using tanks,” military spokesman Colonel Dejene Tsegaye told Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation.</p>
<p>“We want to send a message to the public in Mekelle to save yourselves from any artillery attacks and free yourselves from the junta &#8230; After that, there will be no mercy.”</p>
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<h2 class="ArticleBody-subtitle"><a id="headline0"></a>‘Waves after waves’</h2>
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<p>TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael told Reuters by text message that his forces were resisting a push from south of Mekelle while also fighting near the northern town of Adigrat after it had fallen to federal troops.</p>
<p>“Encircling Mekelle is their plan but yet they couldn’t,” he said. “On south front, they couldn’t move an inch for more than one week. They (are) sending waves after waves but to no avail.” Reuters could not verify the latest statements on the war.</p>
<p>Claims by all sides are hard to verify because phone and internet communication has been down since fighting began on Nov. 4.</p>
<p>Abiy accuses the Tigrayan leaders of revolting against central authority and attacking federal troops in the town of Dansha on Nov. 4. The rebels say his government has marginalised and persecuted Tigrayans since taking office two years ago.</p>
<p>The prime minister drew plaudits for opening up Ethiopia’s closed economy and repressive political system after taking office. He won a Nobel Peace Prize last year for a peace agreement with Eritrea.</p>
<p>International rights groups say his government has carried out mass arrests after outbreaks of violence and detained journalists this year. The Nobel Peace Prize committee urged peace after his offensive against the Tigrayan leaders began.</p>
<p>Redwan Hussein, spokesman for the government’s task force on Tigray, said there was still time for the TPLF leadership to surrender. “The government will take maximum restraint not to cause major risks for civilians,” he added.</p>
<p>He said that while many Tigrayan special forces and militia fighters had surrendered or scattered around Adigrat, resistance was stronger on the southern front, where rebels have dug up roads, destroyed bridges and booby-trapped roads with explosives. He said government troops had taken high ground there and were moving forward.</p>
<p>Aid agencies fear a humanitarian disaster in a region where hundreds of thousands relied on food aid and were displaced even before fighting began.</p>
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‘Save yourselves,’ Ethiopia tells Tigrayans as it moves on rebel-held capital

<p>As the world nears the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic, many workers say that their mental health is at risk.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diverse-employees-are-struggling-the-most-during-covid-19-heres-how-companies-can-respond" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new report</a>, McKinsey surveyed 1,100 executives and 2,656 employees across 11 countries to see how the pandemic is impacting workers. They found that while 96% of companies globally have made changes to their HR policies and increased employee resources, only 1 in 6 employees report feeling supported and 62% of employees globally “consider mental health issues a top challenge.”</p>
<p>An even larger share of women, 67%, said that mental health was their biggest coronavirus-related challenge.</p>
<p>Other common challenges expressed by workers included feeling disconnected, a lack of opportunity for growth and coordinating child care.</p>
<p><div id="attachment_392390" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-392390" class="wp-image-392390 size-full" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106798832-1605711871855-McKinsey_employee_challenges.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="457" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106798832-1605711871855-McKinsey_employee_challenges.jpg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106798832-1605711871855-McKinsey_employee_challenges-300x185.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><p id="caption-attachment-392390" class="wp-caption-text">Source: McKinsey</p></div></p>
<p>“As you look globally at the effect of Covid-19 has had across groups, there’s a lot of similarities around the world. Globally, the biggest concerns are mental and physical health,” says <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/kweilin-ellingrud" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kweilin Ellingrud</a>, McKinsey’s lead author of the report. “But then some particular groups and some places have been disproportionately affected. For example, in India, Brazil and China, 75% to 90% of respondents cite workplace health and safety and mental health as challenges in the contact of Covid-19, compared with 50% to 60% of those in the United States, the United Kingdom and France.”</p>
<p>Workers from backgrounds that are not the majority in their country and workers in emerging economies reported facing the greatest challenges from the pandemic.</p>
<p><div id="attachment_392391" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-392391" class="wp-image-392391 size-full" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106798833-1605711958160-McKinsey_accute_challenges.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="465" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106798833-1605711958160-McKinsey_accute_challenges.jpg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106798833-1605711958160-McKinsey_accute_challenges-300x189.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><p id="caption-attachment-392391" class="wp-caption-text">Source: McKinsey</p></div></p>
<p>Ellingrud says the data reflects a “fork in the road” for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.<br />
“If we do nothing in terms of being more strategic about how we support our most at-risk employees around the world from these effects, we will, in fact, move two steps back,” she says. “Historically, there has been slow and steady progress towards equity and equality over the years, but we are now at risk of losing quite a bit of ground across employees who are most affected unless we have a concerted effort to support those struggling most.”</p>
<p>McKinsey’s report gives actionable advice for how employers might execute these efforts.</p>
<p>“LGBTQ+ employees, and POC in particular, cited concerns with workload increases, and more workers expect this to be a challenge in the next six months,” it reads. “Addressing this may require companies to rethink expectations on worker productivity and performance, expand benefits like paid time off, and support employees in establishing boundaries between work and home life.”</p>
<p>And Ellingrud says she has been encouraged by early data that suggest employers are embracing the challenge — 40% reported increased funding for DEI efforts.</p>
<p>“The bar is rising,” she says.</p>


mental-health-3337026_1920

McKinsey report: 62% of workers worldwide consider mental health ‘a top challenge’

<p><div id="attachment_392210" style="width: 2058px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-392210" class="size-full wp-image-392210" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1229611954-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1366" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1229611954-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1229611954-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1229611954-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1229611954-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1229611954-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1229611954-1110x740.jpg 1110w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><p id="caption-attachment-392210" class="wp-caption-text">BRAZIL &#8211; 2020/11/13: In this photo illustration a medical syringe is seen with Johnson and Johnson company logo displayed on a screen in the background. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)</p></div></p>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Johnson &amp; Johnson launched a new large-scale late-stage trial on Monday to test a two-dose regimen of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine and evaluate potential incremental benefits for the duration of protection with a second dose.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">The U.S. drugmaker plans to enrol up to 30,000 participants for the study and run it in parallel with a one-dose trial with as many as 60,000 volunteers that began in September.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">The UK arm of the study is aiming to recruit 6,000 participants and the rest will join from other countries with a high incidence of COVID-19 cases such as the United States, Belgium, Colombia, France, Germany, the Philippines, South Africa and Spain, it said.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">They will be given a first dose of either a placebo or the experimental shot, currently called Ad26COV2, followed by a second dose or placebo 57 days later, said Saul Faust, a professor of paediatric immunology and infectious diseases who is co-leading the trial at University Hospital Southampton.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">The trial follows positive interim results from the company’s ongoing early to mid stage clinical study that showed a single dose of its vaccine candidate induced a robust immune response and was generally well-tolerated.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">“The study will assess efficacy of the investigational vaccine after both the first and second dose to evaluate protection against the virus and potential incremental benefits for duration of protection with a second dose,” J&amp;J said in a statement.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">Rival drugmakers Pfizer and BioNtech said last week that their potential COVID-19 shot showed more than 90% efficacy in interim data from a late-stage trial, boosting hopes that vaccines against the pandemic disease may be ready for use soon.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">While the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine uses a new technology known as messenger RNA, J&amp;J’s uses a cold virus to deliver genetic material from the coronavirus into the body to prompt an immune response.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">The platform, called AdVac, is also used in an Ebola vaccine that was approved earlier this year.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">“It’s really important that we pursue trials of many different vaccines from many different manufacturers and be able then to ensure the supply both to the UK and global population,” Faust told reporters at a briefing.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">Recruitment into the study will complete in March 2021 and the trial will last for 12 months.</p>


In this photo illustration a medical syringe is seen with

J&J starts two-dose trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate

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<p><div id="attachment_392178" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-392178" class="size-full wp-image-392178" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106796249-1605280505512-GettyImages-1229489751.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="416" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106796249-1605280505512-GettyImages-1229489751.jpg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/106796249-1605280505512-GettyImages-1229489751-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><p id="caption-attachment-392178" class="wp-caption-text">“The Spirit of the Rose,” a rare purple-pink diamond mined in Russia, was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for nearly $27 million. A picture taken at a press preview on November 6, 2020.<br />Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images</p></div></p>
<p>The largest purple-pink diamond ever to be auctioned has been sold in Geneva, Switzerland for 24,393,000 Swiss francs ($26,700,871).</p>
<p>The purple-pink diamond, called “The Spirit of the Rose,” was sold to an anonymous buyer, bidding over the phone at the Sotheby’s auction on Tuesday.  It weighs 14.8 carats but was cut from a larger rough diamond that weighed 27.8 carats, which was discovered in Yakutia, northeast Russia in 2017.</p>
<p>The rough diamond was said to be the largest pink crystal to have ever been mined in Russia and was named “Nijinksy” after the legendary Russian-Polish ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. “The Spirit of the Rose” was the name given to the cut diamond, after the last ballet Nijinsky performed on stage.</p>
<p>It took a year for Russian cutting masters to form the end diamond, giving it an oval shape to ensure it would be the maximum size.</p>
<p>Pink diamonds were first discovered in India in the 17th century and their color is thought to be the result of a distortion in the “crystal lattice,” or its atomic arrangement. This is “created by intense heat and great pressure after the stone’s formation in the earth,” according to an explanation on <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/the-spirit-of-the-rose/superb-and-magnificent-fancy-vivid-purple-pink" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sotheby’s website</a>.</p>
<p>“This distortion displaces many carbon atoms from their normal positions and alters the qualities of light reflected by the diamond — resulting in us observing the stone as pink,” the auction house explained.</p>
<p>Pink diamonds differ from other colored diamonds as there are no chemical trace elements present in its formation. For example, the presence of nitrogen forms yellow diamonds, while boron creates blue diamonds.</p>
<p>Only 1% of pink diamonds are said to be larger than 10 carats and just 4% are graded “fancy vivid.”</p>
<p>The “CTF Pink Star,” weighing 59.6 carats, holds the current record for the price paid for a pink diamond at auction, at $71.2 million, which was sold in Hong Kong in April 2017.</p>
<p>“The Grand Table,” which was shown to a French merchant and adventurer in India in the 17th century, is considered to be largest pink diamond recorded to date, at over 200 carats.</p>
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Largest purple-pink diamond ever to be auctioned sells for nearly $27 million

<p>Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris leveled strongly worded criticism at Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week, accusing the leader of making a “very big mess” in the Middle East.</p>
<p>“We have Mr. Erdogan’s new ambitions to become the new Ottoman emperor of the region,” he told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble on Tuesday, referring to the former empire that dominated much of the Middle East and Europe until the early 20th Century. “He has his hands full in Syria, in Libya, in Iraq and now in Armenia and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/02/armenia-and-azerbaijan-clash-over-disputed-nagorno-karabakh-region.html">Nagorno-Karabakh.”</a></p>
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<p>Erdogan over the summer <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security-turkey-egypt-idUSKCN24I1MN" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">criticized Egypt</a> for supporting forces in Libya that are opposed to the government in Tripoli, which is supported by Turkey in the ongoing civil war there.</p>
<p>Asked for comment, Turkey’s foreign ministry referred CNBC to the nearest Turkish embassy. Murat Lütem, Turkey’s ambassador to Singapore, said in response to Sawiris’ criticisms that “Turkish foreign policy is directed at preserving and building peace and stability and protecting our national interests in line with international law. President Erdoğan leads our Nation accordingly and claims to the contrary are baseless.”</p>
<p>Sawiris said that Erdogan “is causing a very big mess in the region, in addition to what he’s doing with <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/18/turkey-greece-clash-over-oil-and-gas-in-the-eastern-mediterranean.html">explorations in the Mediterranean</a> and trying to steal the Greek oil and gas.”</p>
<p>Turkey and Greece are at loggerheads over competing claims to energy reserves in contested Eastern Mediterranean waters. Turkey’s foreign ministry said in August that it will not back down from defending its “rights” in the region.</p>
<h2 class="ArticleBody-subtitle"><a id="headline0"></a>President-elect Biden</h2>
<p>Sawiris, the chairman and CEO of Orascom Investment Holding, added that the United States has “practically vanished” from the region, while Russia, Turkey and Iran have become more involved in local conflicts. “That is not good for the sake of the Middle East,” he said.</p>
<p>Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/09/us-is-cutting-troops-in-iraq-to-3000-this-month-commander-of-us-central-command-says.html">reduced the number of troops in the region</a> but brokered important deals such as the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/13/trump-uae-and-israel-to-normalize-relations-west-bank-annexations-on-pause.html">normalization of ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.</a> Sawiris said he sees the Trump administration as <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/09/egyptian-billionaire-naguib-sawiris-on-a-biden-presidency.html">“totally biased” in favor of Israel.</a></p>
<p>Those comments came in response to a question about what President-elect <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/joe-biden/">Joe Biden</a> means for Turkey.</p>
<p>“I’m actually more optimistic because you can say anything about Biden … but one thing is for sure, he has more experience than <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/eric-trump/">Donald Trump</a> in world affairs,” he said, adding that Biden is “well aware of all the ins and outs of the Middle East.”</p>
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COVID-19: How the pandemic has exacerbated risks of other immunisable diseases

How commercial banks can play a bigger role in local infrastructure financing

Nigerian brewers benefit from alcohol demand recovery

Nigeria approves crude supply to Waltersmith refinery

Assessing Nigeria’s revenue generation strategy

Kenya market watch: T-bills oversubscribed as interest rates rise

Dow crosses 30,000, and Elon Musk is richer than Bill Gates: CNBC After Hours

Can Nissan Survive Its Recent Troubles?

Omnia impresses with strong results

Nigeria’s retains key rate at 11.5%: Post-analysis

Nigeria’s MPC retains MPR at 11.5% (Full Speech)

Zambia becomes Africa’s first coronavirus-era default: What happens now?

‘Save yourselves,’ Ethiopia tells Tigrayans as it moves on rebel-held capital

McKinsey report: 62% of workers worldwide consider mental health ‘a top challenge’

J&J starts two-dose trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate

Largest purple-pink diamond ever to be auctioned sells for nearly $27 million

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris says Turkey’s Erdogan wants to be ‘new Ottoman emperor’

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