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President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, has won 99.15 percent of the votes from Monday’s presidential election to secure a fourth term in office.

Only about 79 percent of ballots have been counted, according to the country’s electoral commission. Authorities said 9.5 million Rwandans registered to vote. The country has a population of 14 million.

Kagame’s opponents — Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana — each received less than one percent in the provisional results. The result is the same as 2017 when Kagame swooped nearly 99 percent of the votes.

Final results are expected by July 27, although they could be announced sooner. The president thanked Rwandans for their trust, in an address at his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party headquarters in Kigali, the capital city. Kagame seized power as the head of rebels who took control of the government and ended the genocide in 1994, becoming vice-president and de facto leader from then to 2000, when he became president.

The 64-year-old is eligible to continue in office till 2034 after a constitutional amendment in 2015 changed a two-term limit. Although he has garnered international acclaim for presiding over peace and economic growth since the end of the g3nocide in Rwanda, he has also faced criticisms from rights groups and the West. But the Rwandan leader has said he is not bothered about what foreign countries think of his decision to extend his rule. On Saturday, he told journalists that his mandate comes from the people.

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Inflation has cooled and the economy may be on the way to a “soft landing,” but Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell isn’t ready to signal a victory over inflation yet.

Powell acknowledged Monday that the most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) report was the latest in a series of improving inflation readings that has boosted confidence among central bankers. Powell and his colleagues who set monetary policy have said they need confidence price pressures are easing before they move to cut their influential interest rate. 

“We’ve had now three better readings, and if you average them, that’s a pretty good pace,” Powell said during an interview at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. “The three readings in the second quarter, including the one from last week, do add somewhat to confidence.”

Powell wasn’t ready to forecast any change to the interest rate, which has been at a 23-year-high for the past 12 months. Fed officials are basing their interest-rate decisions on available economic data on a “meeting-by-meeting" basis, Powell said.

Investors expect the central bank to cut rates at its September meeting. However, while Powell didn’t forecast a timeline for rate cuts, he did make one prediction: Powell said a “soft-landing” scenario—where inflation drops without a spike in unemployment—seemed more possible.

“The hard landing scenario is certainly not the most likely, or a likely, scenario,” Powell said.

Powell attributed the labor market's strength to how overheated it was before the Fed began its fight against inflation, allowing it it to cool without significant job losses so far.

The Federal Reserve has been increasingly on alert in recent weeks as the number of job openings has stagnated and unemployment has risen. Significant jumps in unemployment could prompt the central bank to cut interest rates quicker than they would otherwise, fearing a rapidly cooling economy.,

However, Powell said the movement in the labor market is just a better balance between worker availability and job postings.

“It is essentially no tighter than in 2019, before the pandemic,” Powell said. “Remember that the labor market of 2019 was a very strong labor market.”

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The downturn in the luxury sector shows few signs of letting up.

"We are operating against a backdrop of slowing luxury demand with all key regions impacted by macroeconomic uncertainty and contributing to the sector slowdown," said Burberry (BURBY), the British maker of trench coats, on Monday.

Burberry joins its rivals in struggling to grow as consumers keep a tighter hold on their wallets. LVMH (OTC: LVMUY), the maker of Louis Vuitton handbags and other luxury goods, in April posted a first-quarter decline in sales. Gucci owner Kering (PPRUY), meanwhile, said first-half operating profit would be sharply lower as demand in China stays sluggish.

Burberry on Monday replaced its chief executive officer as it continues to struggle to win over consumers that have pulled back on spending on discretionary items amid high interest rates and as the pandemic-era shopping boom came to an end.

The economic downturn in China, under pressure from a prolonged property slump and tepid consumer demand, has been another drag on global luxury spending. Chinese luxury consumption accounted for almost a fifth of the world’s total, but have come down from 2021’s record levels, consultancy Bain and Company said.

Luxury brands are also grappling with high fixed costs, including expensive rents for their flagship stores.

Burberry on Monday said that it had replaced CEO Jonathan Akeroyd, who had been in the role for two years, with Joshua Schulman, a former CEO at Tapestry-owned (TPR) Coach, replacing him. The company said it expects to report an operating loss for the first half of this year and full-year operating profit would lag current consensus. It suspended dividend payments.

Investors are watching earnings reports broadly for signs of health of the consumer across income levels.

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34m FBI arrests, charges Nigerian tech entrepreneur Inegbedion for a whopping $1.5 million Internet fra¥d, money laundering

The Federal Bureau of Investigations has filed a 16-count criminal indictment against Kingsley Inegbedion and Efemena Igbe over Internet fraud and money-laundering allegations of $1.5 million, Peoples Gazette is reporting,

According to the FBI in the indictment filed on May 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, Messrs Inegbedion and Igbe perpetrated romance scams and business email compromise posing as legit businesses to defraud innocent American citizens between April 2020 and May 2023.

Mr Inegbedion, a network engineer who ran training programmes for aspiring tech workers in Atlanta, was known previously to law enforcement, documents said. Some of the banks include HSBC, Citi Bank, Synovus Bank, Navy Federal Credit Union Truist Bank, Associated Credit Union and Georgia’s Own Credit Union. “The sham corporate entities did not have physical premises, earn legitimate income, or pay wages to employees,” the FBI said in the indictment.

They asked victims to wire money to these accounts which appeared legit and quickly distributed the fraudulent funds into other accounts within and outside the U.S. in an attempt to conceal the fra¥d. In February 2021, $50,120 was withdrawn from Camtech’s Navy Federal account number ending with 4893. Another $60,000 was withdrawn in June 2021 from the same bank, but a different account number ended with 4854, registered under Kingtech Global Auto.

The FBI also found a purchase of $160,000 cashier’s cheque #4817 from Kingtech’s Truist account ending with 0619 in September 2022, among other fraudulent transactions At other times, the duo conspired with unknown persons who directed victims through emails and other means to pay into the fraudulent accounts. Mr Igbe already fled to Nigeria after security agents invited him for questioning before the indictment was filed leaving Mr Inegbedion to answer and defend the charges preferred by the FBI

The FBl is seeking a restitution of funds and forfeiture of property obtained through the fraud scheme to the U.S. government. “Upon conviction of the offences alleged in counts one through sixteen of this indictment, the defendants, Efemena Igbe and Kingsley Inegbedion, shall forfeit to the United States of America, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 982(a) (1), any property, real or personal, involved in such offence, and any property traceable to such property including, but not limited to, a money judgement, that is, a sum of money in United States currency representing the amount of property involved in the offence,” said the FBI statement. nstabiogy a

Shortly after the grand jury returned the indictment, Mr Inegbedion was picked up and remanded in custody.

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SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG) is cutting 400 employees from its workforce thanks to an inventory backlog and declining revenue, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing Monday.

Half the job cuts will occur in Israel, where the company is based. The company had 5,633 employees as of Dec. 31, 2023.

In a letter to employees, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Zvi Lando cited “an accumulation of excess inventory,” adding that solar installation rates are rising slower than expected in Europe. 

Comparatively, Lando expressed more optimism about North America. 

“In North America, we are beginning to see some slight growth in installation rates, and we continue to ramp up our U.S. manufacturing capacity,” Lando said. “This is a major opportunity both for SolarEdge and for our customers.”

SolarEdge stock slumped 15% to $26.90 as of 1:53 p.m. ET Monday, and is down more than 70% so far in 2024.

A chunk of that decline came late last month after SolarEdge announced that one of its customers had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and likely wouldn’t be able to pay its multimillion-dollar debt.

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Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has rocked NYSC uniform, as he gifted Lagos corpers N100,000 each during their passing-out-parade.

Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide sanwoolu was at the temporary site of the Lagos state orientation camp for Corper to inspect the orientation of the 2024 batch B stream 1 and has made some announcements today at the Lagos NYSC Camp:

1. A Sum of N5b for the construction of a new Permanent Site for Lagos NYSC Camp

2. A sum of N100,000 for each Youth Corper passing out today (to be delivered next week directly into their accounts)

3. Automatic Employment into the Lagos Public Service for the best 100 Corpers after service year (for this batch) and a 32-Seater Hyundai Bus (delivered already today)

Click to watch

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