IMF: 76% of CBN loans to farmers unpaid

Kenya's President, William Ruto, announced that the country will not acquire loans to pay civil servants, even as union groups threatened to go on strike due to unpaid March salaries. According to Ruto, the salary delays are due to the country's substantial public debt, with some loans becoming due this month.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has praised the Shanghai-based New Development Bank (NDB) on his trip to China, saying it "frees emerging countries from submission to traditional financial institutions".

Due to its intensive agriculture, the Netherlands has the highest nitrogen emissions in Europe. As a result, Dutch forests and rivers are among the most polluted in the world. EU environmental standards dictate that the Dutch government must reduce the presence of this chemical element in the soil.

The West African nation has been under financial strain stemming from the rolling impact of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and a range of other global economic trends.

In the Spanish countryside, farmland is being turned into space for solar panels and wind farms. Spain's government wants to produce at least 74 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030, an increase of 16 percent in five years. To meet those targets, the country is opting for giant solar farms, particularly in the southern Andalusia region. That's angering farmers – some of whom are having their land expropriated – and even some ecologists. Our correspondents report.

Inside Stuff with Martins Oloja this week examines the 'The Student Loan'. Beyond the student loan. The Nigerian University system needs more than the student loan.

Agriculture in France is not immune to the digital revolution. More and more farmers are using IT tools to carry out their administrative and technical tasks. But some go much further: from fully robotic milking of cows, to connected cameras, to data gathering and even a digital fruit and vegetable market. FRANCE 24 went to meet some of these farmers for whom technology represents the future of their livelihood.

The deal would provide much needed relief to Pakistan, which has been on the verge of default. The IMF board has yet to confirm the agreement.

The agreement should just be viewed as a "stopgap" that gives Pakistan time and some resources needed to pull its economy back from the verge of default, say experts.

Drought is forcing thousands of rural Iraqis migrate to cities for work, bringing with them their own cultural ideas. This has caused community conflicts, sometimes even violence, in big cities like Baghdad and Basra.

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Despite all government did to throw spanners in the works, including court injunctions and long-drawn negotiation meetings, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) will today, proceed with its planned protest against recent fuel price hike, tuition fees hike in public schools and withheld salaries of lecturers and workers in universities.