Most Recent Posts

Ganta is the Liberian city that never sleeps. That's what local businessman Prince Haward says of the town of 40,000, one of the country's largest cities and a crossroads for travelers in the southeastern region: "Ganta is a non-sleeping city ... a business-oriented city."

It's also a city that has seen its share of tragedy. The scruffy town is located in Liberia's eastern Nimba County, where the country's brutal civil war started in late 1989. Many buildings were destroyed during the conflict and remain gutted; others are still pocked by artillery and mortar fire from the war. And there's been little investment in the gritty city since the conflict ended more than a decade ago. Potholes nearly swallow up vehicles.

i i

Just off of Ganta's main street, 18-year-old ready-peeled orange seller Bebe Gono says she's struggling. "We are trying to find the little we can afford," she says. John W. Poole/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption John W. Poole/NPR

Just off of Ganta's main street, 18-year-old ready-peeled orange seller Bebe Gono says she's struggling. "We are trying to find the little we can afford," she says.

John W. Poole/NPR

So even before Ebola, Ganta was struggling. And now the virus is taking a toll.

For many people, there's very little business right now. Ebola is the reason: The border with neighboring Guinea was closed in July to prevent possible spread of the virus.

Just a hundred yards from the St. John's river bridge crossing, young men play whist under the shade of a mango tree. They used to be money changers. A very unhappy Prince Dolo says the outbreak put an abrupt end to their livelihoods: "I have nothing to do. Border is closed. And I'm vulnerable and unemployed. I'm not happy. Without the border, Ganta is just dead."

Just off Ganta's rutted, red-dust main street, 18-year-old ready-peeled orange seller Bebe Gono says she's struggling, just like the city. "We are trying to find the little we can afford."

Comparing Liberia's civil war with Ebola in her town, Gono says both have been difficult: "Ganta has suffered a lot. We've lost a lot of people to the war and we've also lost a lot of people to Ebola. As compared with the war, Ebola is worse."

Gono never went to school and can't read or write. But true to the entrepreneurial spirit of her town, she has dreams of a better life. If she had a little money, she'd like to open a business in the city that never sleeps.

Hide caption

The border closing has cost many people their jobs. A group of now-unemployed men still gather at the border each day to play whist.

Previous Next

John W. Poole/NPR

Hide caption

Prince Haward owns the Alvino hotel in Ganta. Even before Ebola, gritty Ganta was struggling. Yet he says it remains a major crossroads. "People from the southeastern region, they must transit in Ganta. People from Monrovia, they must transit in Ganta ... Ganta is a non-sleeping city. ... This is what Ganta is known for — a business oriented city

Previous Next

John Poole/NPR

Hide caption

The main street in Ganta, Liberia at dusk.

Previous Next

John W. Poole/NPR

1 of 3

View slideshow i

ebola

Mali says it freed four militants with links to al-Qaida in exchange for securing the release earlier this week of French hostage Serge Lazarevic.

The African country's justice minister, Mohamed Ali Bathily, speaking to France24, said that the deal for Lazarevic, who was seized by Islamist militants three years ago, involved the swap.

"Yes, we did it and we have done it for Malians before, too," the justice minister said.

"Mali cannot deny that it freed them because it is a fact," he said. "Everyone knows, it serves no purpose to hide it, but Mali did it under a precise framework."

France has refused to confirm the quid-pro-quo swap, although Paris has been known to pay ransoms in the past.

The BBC reports:

"Two members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) who allegedly took part in Mr Lazarevic's abduction have previously been named as having been released - Malians Mohamed Aly Ag Wadoussene and Haiba Ag Acherif.

"The Malian Human Rights Association told the BBC's Alex Duval Smith in Bamako it had learned that a further two militants, Tunisian national Oussama Ben Gouzzi and Habib Ould Mahouloud, from Western Sahara, were released last week."

The justice minister said a similar deal had been done to free about 30 of its nationals who were captured in the northern city of Kidal, a stronghold of Tuareg separatists, according to Reuters.

France24 says:

"Lazarevic was snatched by armed men in Mali on November 24, 2011, while on a business trip with fellow Frenchman Philippe Verdon in a kidnapping claimed by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

"Verdon, who suffered from an ulcer and tachycardia – an abnormally fast heartbeat – was found shot dead last year, and those close to his family suggested he had been executed because he was weak."

french hostage

Terrorism

Al-Qaida

Meeting in a rare Saturday session, the Senate is debating a $1.1 trillion package that would increase military and scale back financial and environmental regulations.

As The Washington Post notes: "While mostly liberal resistance had kept the bill's fate in doubt in the House, conservative opposition in the Senate is now the focal point. On the right, the resistance was led by those who wanted to use the bill to confront President Obama on his executive actions on immigration."

And, The New York Times says:

"Partisan maneuvering on Friday disrupted what both Democratic and Republican leaders had expected to be a relatively smooth path toward final passage, a late-night twist that is emblematic of the dysfunction plaguing the 113th Congress.

"Though the spending deal is still almost sure to pass, the Senate did not reach an agreement late Friday. Lawmakers are scheduled to being taking votes on nominations Saturday and work through the weekend to address unfinished business."

The government's current spending authority runs out at midnight Saturday, though it's expected that the Senate to extend that deadline until midnight Thursday to give them more time to wrangle over the budget bill.

One of the main sticking points comes from conservative senators led by Ted Cruz of Texas, who are pushing an amendment to cut off funds to the Department of Homeland security for carrying out President Obama's executive action to relax deportations. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has blocked the measure.

federal spending

It's been a rough ride for the Russian economy and it keeps getting worse. Low oil prices helped push the ruble to another record low on Friday. This spate of bad economic news is probably just accelerating an existing trend: Russia's purchase of gold at an astounding rate.

Russia's central bank bought more than 130 tons of gold this year. Last year, it bought about 75 tons. Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at the brokerage firm, RJ O'Brien, says Russia has shifted even more assets into gold because it has had a particularly bad year.

"Western sanctions, coupled with the fall in oil recently, has caused a lot of turmoil in their markets, their stock markets as well as in their currency markets," he says.

Haberkorn says he's not surprised Russia is buying lots of the precious metal. He says gold has been a currency for over 5,000 years, it's always been a vehicle to store wealth throughout history.

"Whether it be a central bank or an individual investor, they always like it, it's always a good feeling to have part of your assets backed up in gold," he says.

Related NPR Stories

Parallels

For World's Oil Exporters, Falling Prices Have A Domino Effect

Parallels

Russian Pop Stars Pay A Price For Speaking Out On Ukraine

Joshua Aizenman, professor of economics and international relations at the University of Southern California says with its economy suffering, and the cost of imports skyrocketing, Moscow needs to be seen doing something.

Parallels

Russia Heads Toward Recession, With No Relief In Sight

Parallels

As Oil Prices Fall, Who Wins And Who Loses?

"It makes perfect sense politically for Russia to horde and accumulate more gold," he says. "And equally importantly, it makes sense to advertise this to the population that ... leaders are aware of the need to take care of the reserves and the like."

Central Banks Snap Up Gold

China, India, and many other emerging economies have also been snapping up gold lately, says Ashish Bhatia, a director at the World Gold Council. He says this is a big sea change in gold market. Bhatia says up until a few years ago, central banks were selling their gold assets.

"And what we're seeing is unprecedented in that central banks are now buying somewhere between 300 and 500 tons per year," he says.

The gold price soared a few years back and hit an all-time high of more than $1,800 an ounce in 2011. It's come down since then and is now trading around $1,200 an ounce.

Professor Aizenman says gold is seen as a safe haven, giving countries a degree of autonomy during times of turbulence in the world economy. Aizenman co-authored a report looking at the patterns of central banks buying and selling gold.

"We noted, for example, that there seemed to a positive correlation between ... the wish to signal your political might and the accumulation of gold," he says.

Bhatia, with the World Gold Council, says there are other factors at play. He says the central banks of Russia, China and many other countries are sitting on vast piles of foreign reserves, primarily U.S. dollars and bonds and Euros. Bhatia says central banks began parking their reserves in gold a few years ago as a way to diversify their assets.

"It has no credit risk, unlike the sovereign debt of countries, it has ample liquidity so you can get in and out of the asset very easily, and there's large availability of gold," he says.

Bahtia says the trend in buying gold will likely continue. He says Russia knocked China from its perch as 6th largest holder of gold in the world. Russia now has more than 1,100 tons, about 10 percent of its total assets are now in gold. By comparison, the U.S., still the world's largest holder of gold by a wide margin, has more than 8,000 tons.

China

Russia