Yinka’s view For 25 years, the defining logic of China-Africa trade has been simple: Africa exports raw materials, China manufactures products, and Africa buys them back. In 2024, that arrangement led to a record $275 billion in trade. African countries imported $182 billion worth of Chinese goods while exporting just ...
Category: Semafor
Category Added in a WPeMatico Campaign
Platner asks for the Biden treatment from skeptical DemocratsPlatner asks for the Biden treatment from skeptical Democrats
David’s view “Every family has its own mythology,” Jill Biden wrote in her first memoir. Her second, released this week, digs through the East Wing’s rubble to rescue that mythology from the debacle of 2024. The former First Lady has some things in common right now with a Maine oyster ...
Sam Altman goes to the Hill as OpenAI preps policy frameworkSam Altman goes to the Hill as OpenAI preps policy framework
With OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Sen. Bernie Sanders set to meet on the Hill Wednesday to discuss the senator’s plan to take half the equity of AI frontier labs to fund a US sovereign wealth fund, OpenAI has been preparing its own policy framework, according to people familiar with ...
An experimental collaboration between a Guatemalan cellist and an American guitaristAn experimental collaboration between a Guatemalan cellist and an American guitarist
, by Mabe Fratti and Bill Orcutt. This experimental collaboration between a Guatemalan cellist and an American guitarist was conceived when Fratti, the cellist, praised Orcutt’s work publicly, prompting the latter to get in touch — the two worked on the album mostly in remote sessions. Between Orcutt’s electric guitar ...
Japan capitalizes on China backlash, courts Pacific island nationsJapan capitalizes on China backlash, courts Pacific island nations
Japan’s prime minister courted Pacific island nations at a summit in Tokyo aimed at keeping them out of Beijing’s orbit, underscoring an intensifying rivalry between the Asian powers. Sanae Takaichi said her government would help smaller states strengthen their “autonomy and resilience,” part of an anti-China push by Japan: It ...
Kuwait shuts airport after Iranian hitKuwait shuts airport after Iranian hit
Kuwait briefly closed its international airport on Wednesday, after Iranian drones and missiles killed one person and injured more than 60 others, and caused “significant damage” to the facilities at Terminal 1. The building had only reopened on Monday after work to repair the damage from earlier Iranian hits. Kuwait ...
Abu Dhabi doubles down on French AI with fresh dealsAbu Dhabi doubles down on French AI with fresh deals
Abu Dhabi’s MGX is doubling its investment in data centers in France, as the country emerges as the UAE’s top technology partner in the EU. The joint venture of MGX, state-owned investment bank Bpifrance, chipmaker Nvidia, and France’s AI champion Mistral announced their Campus AI expansion on the sidelines of ...
Bahrain bets on French luxury dealsBahrain bets on French luxury deals
Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat is partnering with France’s TRAIL to back an investment fund focused on arts, music, luxury, and sports deals. As part of the arrangement, the French fund will open an office in Bahrain and use it as a hub for fundraising and the expansion of its ...
Oman pours money into food security with $4.2B agriculture developmentOman pours money into food security with $4.2B agriculture development
Oman has started work on a $4.2 billion agriculture development in the Batinah region which could provide food for 25,000 people — part of wider efforts to reduce the country’s dependence on imports, according to officials quoted by AGBI. Food security is a perennial issue for Gulf countries, where the ...
US stocks increasingly rest on AI pillarUS stocks increasingly rest on AI pillar
Tech companies boosted US stocks to fresh highs on Tuesday, even as warnings bubbled up over the AI boom’s outsized grip on markets. Despite geopolitical turbulence — a rocky energy market in particular — there is “more greed than there is fear,” Goldman Sachs’ CEO said Tuesday. But outside AI, ...