In the shadowy world of Malawi’s fuel procurement, a fierce battle is unfolding—one that pits the nation’s highest office against a determined power broker in a fight for control over billions in fuel revenue. At the heart of this conflict is Colleen Zamba, the embattled Secretary to the President and Cabinet, whose smear campaign against President Lazarus Chakwera has become a full-blown media war. Her motive? To protect her alleged involvement in fuel cartels that have reportedly siphoned off over K60 billion from the nation’s coffers. Sources within the corridors of power say that the roots of Zamba’s campaign stretch back to a pivotal moment: President Chakwera’s decision to sideline her from any involvement in the country’s fuel procurement process. The decision was made last month when Chakwera announced the formation of a new Taskforce on Fuel Procurement, designed to tackle the ongoing fuel crisis that has left Malawians grappling with shortages, high prices, and corrupt dealings in the fuel supply chain. With Chakwera’s move, Zamba—once a central figure in the procurement process—was effectively removed from the decision-making table, an act that has sent shockwaves through the corridors of power. But rather than retreat quietly, Zamba has launched a ruthless counteroffensive, one that involves strategic media manipulation, covert influence over journalists, and carefully planted disinformation. Her goal? To tarnish the reputation of the President, discredit the new taskforce, and, in her own words, “expose” what she claims is a flawed and illegal system that bypasses proper protocols. In a bid to end the rampant corruption in fuel procurement, President Chakwera appointed Energy Minister Ibrahim Matola as the Cabinet-level coordinator, with Henry Kachaje, chairperson of the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA), acting as the technical coordinator. The taskforce also includes figures such as Reverend Zac Kawalala, a Pentecostal cleric with a reputation for honesty, and Hellen Buluma, the former CEO of the National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA), who had previously implicated Zamba in shady fuel deals. With these figures at the helm, the taskforce has already signed agreements with fuel suppliers in Kenya, Abu Dhabi, and the UAE, shifting the country toward government-to-government fuel supply agreements that cut out the middlemen, including those allegedly connected to Zamba’s operations. This direct approach is designed to save Malawi from the massive financial losses it has suffered in recent years, with experts predicting that it will lead to better fuel availability and lower prices by December. But Zamba, whose influence over the country’s fuel procurement had been long established, is determined to maintain her grip on the lucrative business. And she has begun her battle by targeting the individuals leading the charge for change. A key source close to the taskforce revealed the extent of Zamba’s campaign, which operates like a well-oiled machine, drawing on her vast network of contacts and influence. According to the source, Zamba is using a combination of bribery, manipulation, and media control to undermine the taskforce and cast doubt on its integrity. “She is paying senior journalists and editors at leading media outlets to run negative stories about the taskforce,” the source disclosed. “These stories are not based on fact, but on rumors and innuendos that paint the taskforce as corrupt, illegal, and bypassing protocols. She is also talking to influencers on social media, telling them that the taskforce’s work is not legitimate. The aim is to disorient the public and create a sense of chaos around the taskforce.” Indeed, over the past few weeks, negative stories about the taskforce have flooded the media, with reports claiming that the team is overstepping its mandate, that its members are unqualified, or that the government-to-government agreements with foreign suppliers are part of a secret deal to funnel money to “unscrupulous individuals.” These narratives, though lacking concrete evidence, have been picked up by various outlets, fueling skepticism among the public. One particularly damaging smear claimed that the inclusion of Reverend Kawalala in the taskforce was nothing more than a ploy to hide the President’s true intentions, implying that Chakwera was using the cleric to shield the taskforce from scrutiny. Another report suggested that the new procurement model would lead to widespread fuel shortages rather than solving the crisis. These stories are also designed to cause friction between Chakwera and his key allies within the taskforce, such as Minister Matola and Prince Kapondamgaga, the President’s Chief of Staff. Zamba’s strategy, according to insiders, is to divide and conquer by sowing discord among those closest to the President. For Zamba, the stakes are high. The fuel procurement process is a highly profitable industry, and her alleged ties to various fuel cartels have raised questions about her financial interests in maintaining the status quo. The claims of shoddy deals, inflated prices, and kickbacks in the past fuel procurement arrangements have made Zamba a controversial figure. According to one source, Zamba has been accused of manipulating contracts and siphoning off state funds through a network of intermediaries who controlled the flow of fuel imports. “It’s no secret that Zamba has made millions from fuel deals over the years,” said a senior government official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Her network is vast, and it’s well-known that she’s used her position to secure lucrative commissions and kickbacks. The taskforce is a direct threat to that power.” Zamba’s supporters, however, argue that her removal from the procurement process is politically motivated. They claim that Chakwera’s decision to form the taskforce was not based on a desire for reform, but on personal vendettas and a power struggle within the ruling party. Chakwera’s Stance: Standing Firm Despite the onslaught, President Chakwera has remained resolute in his support for the taskforce. Sources at State House suggest that Chakwera is determined to see the reforms through, confident that figures like Hellen Buluma, Ibrahim Matola, and Reverend Kawalala have the experience and integrity to break the stranglehold of corruption in Malawi’s fuel industry. “Zamba’s attacks will not deter us,” said a senior official within the taskforce. “We have a clear mandate from the President to overhaul the fuel procurement system and ensure transparency. The taskforce is working hard, and we will deliver results. The media campaign is simply a distraction.” As December approaches and the new fuel procurement model takes effect, Malawians will be watching closely. Will Zamba’s smear campaign succeed in destabilizing the taskforce and halting the much-needed reforms, or will the President’s bold move to clean up the fuel sector finally bear fruit? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain: the battle for control over Malawi’s fuel industry is far from over. 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Pachira Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NVIDIA Co. ( NASDAQ:NVDA – Free Report ) by 21.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,166 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,093 shares during the quarter. NVIDIA makes up about 0.6% of Pachira Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Pachira Investments Inc.’s holdings in NVIDIA were worth $749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hamilton Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of NVIDIA by 0.3% in the first quarter. Hamilton Wealth LLC now owns 3,142 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $2,839,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. grew its stake in NVIDIA by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. now owns 1,596 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $1,442,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NVIDIA by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC now owns 486 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group raised its position in shares of NVIDIA by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,795 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $1,622,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of NVIDIA by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 1,208 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $1,092,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.27% of the company’s stock. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research analysts recently commented on NVDA shares. Craig Hallum increased their target price on NVIDIA from $125.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on NVIDIA from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. William Blair assumed coverage on NVIDIA in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of NVIDIA from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.15. NVIDIA Stock Down 3.2 % NVDA stock opened at $141.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 3.79 and a current ratio of 4.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $134.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.28. NVIDIA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.01 and a fifty-two week high of $152.89. NVIDIA ( NASDAQ:NVDA – Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The computer hardware maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $35.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.15 billion. NVIDIA had a return on equity of 114.83% and a net margin of 55.69%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 93.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that NVIDIA Co. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. NVIDIA Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.03%. NVIDIA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1.57%. NVIDIA announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the computer hardware maker to purchase up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued. Insider Buying and Selling In other news, Director Tench Coxe sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.27, for a total value of $119,270,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,852,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $698,025,289.60. The trade was a 14.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website . Also, CEO Jen Hsun Huang sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total value of $12,639,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 75,895,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,994,108,405.88. This trade represents a 0.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold 2,156,270 shares of company stock valued at $254,784,327 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.23% of the company’s stock. NVIDIA Company Profile ( Free Report ) NVIDIA Corporation provides graphics and compute and networking solutions in the United States, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and internationally. The Graphics segment offers GeForce GPUs for gaming and PCs, the GeForce NOW game streaming service and related infrastructure, and solutions for gaming platforms; Quadro/NVIDIA RTX GPUs for enterprise workstation graphics; virtual GPU or vGPU software for cloud-based visual and virtual computing; automotive platforms for infotainment systems; and Omniverse software for building and operating metaverse and 3D internet applications. Read More Five stocks we like better than NVIDIA How to Calculate Return on Investment (ROI) Vertiv’s Cool Tech Makes Its Stock Red-Hot How Can Retail Investors Trade the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)? MarketBeat Week in Review – 11/18 – 11/22 Investing In Preferred Stock vs. Common Stock 2 Finance Stocks With Competitive Advantages You Can’t Ignore Receive News & Ratings for NVIDIA Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for NVIDIA and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .The Latest: Matt Gaetz withdraws his name from consideration as Trump’s attorney generalMichael Penix Jr.’s success shouldn’t save Terry Fontenot’s jobInjured cornerback Riley Moss could return to Denver's lineup at Cincinnati
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After his team's 102-89 home win on Wednesday night over Purdue Fort Wayne, Penn State coach Mike Rhoades challenged his team's fan base to show up and make more noise. "Sweat with us," he said at one point. At 5-0, the Nittany Lions haven't had to sweat much to get off to a fast start. They might not have to expend much perspiration to make it 6-0 on Monday when they meet Fordham in a semifinal matchup at the Sunshine Slam tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla. Penn State hasn't played a strong schedule so far, but the team has been impressive. It's averaging 98.2 points per game and 13.8 steals per game, both of which ranked second in Division I through Saturday's play. The Nittany Lions were seventh per kenpom.com in turnover rate, forcing 25.3 per 100 possessions. Point guard Ace Baldwin Jr. is leading the charge, scoring 16.4 points and dishing out 7.8 assists while chipping in 2.6 steals. Zach Hicks has nearly doubled his scoring average from 8.4 last season to 15.8 this season, while Northern Illinois transfer Yanic Konan Niederhauser has beefed up the interior, tallying 12.2 points and 7.2 rebounds. Meanwhile, Fordham (3-3) is coming off a 73-71 home loss Friday night against Drexel in New York. The Rams blew a seven-point lead early in the second half and missed a chance to force overtime when leading scorer Jackie Johnson III missed a layup as time expired. Johnson, a UNLV transfer, is averaging 19 points per game and is making nearly 48 percent of his shots as one of three Rams with double-figure scoring averages. Jahmere Tripp scores at an 11.0 clip while Japhet Medor is contributed 10.5, but Fordham is struggling to make shots, canning only 41.5 percent from the field. The Rams were picked for a 14th-place finish in the Atlantic 10 despite returning more scoring than any team in the league except for VCU. Third-year coach Keith Urgo thinks his team can defy low external expectations. "We're experienced and I think we're poised to have a tremendous year," he said. --Field Level Media
The Combined Operations, Services, Maintenance, and Infrastructure Contract is a cost-plus-incentive-fee, firm-fixed-price, and indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract that has a value of approximately $822.7 million . The performance period begins July 1, 2025 , and extends eight years and three months, with a 15-month base period, followed by a one-year option period and three two-year option periods. Under the contract, Nova Space Solutions will be responsible for contract management, logistics, safety, health and environmental compliance, engineering and manufacturing support services, site services, facility operations and maintenance services, and environmental services and program management. NASA's Stennis Space Center is the nation's largest propulsion test site, with infrastructure to support projects ranging from component and subscale testing to large engine hot fires. Researchers from NASA, other government agencies, and private industry use NASA Stennis test facilities for technology and propulsion research and developmental projects. NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, managed by the agency's Marshall Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama , is the nation's premier site for manufacturing and assembly of large-scale space structures and systems. For information about NASA and other agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-awards-operations-services-maintenance-and-infrastructure-contract-302325313.html SOURCE NASAQatar weather: Misty to foggy until midweek