Julia Simon

A foreign currency shortage has Egyptians turning to informal dollar exchanges to keep businesses going.

Oil was discovered in the Turkana region of northwest Kenya one year ago. Now local people fear they will be displaced and won't get a fair share of any future oil profits.

The growth of Kenya's increasingly-affluent middle class has brought a consumer explosion. Now there's mounting international interest in mining that data to improve businesses' profitability.

Egypt's army has economic interests ranging from construction to tourism. Getting it to focus just on soldiering may not be easy.

Freelance reporter Julia Simon describes her 12-hour detention in Egypt while reporting a story for Marketplace.

Many plan to vote for a the party associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, whose charity efforts are well known to Egypt's poor. But some worry the Brotherhood may not make the economy a priority if it's chosen to form the next government.

Egyptians began voting today in the first phase of parliamentary elections. The country's economy has hit a hard patch, but not quite come to a halt.