Shanghai / AFP Chinese bank lending grew modestly month-on-month in November, official data showed on Wednesday, after being almost halved in October, the latest indication that the country’s economy may be stabilising. New loans extended by banks rose to 794.6 billion yuan ($115.1 billion) last month, compared with 651.3 billion yuan in October, said the People’s Bank of China …

  Bloomberg Central Bank of Kenya officials were allegedly at the heart of fraud at the failed Imperial Bank Ltd., described by one analyst as perhaps the industry’s largest scandal in the East African nation. Imperial Bank staff for years gave central bank officials loans and even school fees in exchange for helping to hide unauthorized debt, according to a …

  Abidjan / AFP A mother from a working-class district of Abidjan watches fearfully while the physiotherapist presses down on the thorax and abdomen of her crying, struggling baby to help him breathe. Under the health worker’s expert hands, the infant gradually expels the secretions clogging up his lungs through his nose and mouth. His mother looks astonished and the …