Africa continues to face the world’s largest electricity access gap with a shortfall in investment “the central constraint,” the latest Africa Sustainable Development Report said. Access to electricity increased from approximately 46% in 2015 to about 53% in 2023, yet nearly 600 million people remain without power. Urban electrification rates ...
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Bessent expands threat of secondary sanctions on IranBessent expands threat of secondary sanctions on Iran
The News Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday threatened a wider range of secondary sanctions on countries that do business with Iran, stopping short of imposing them as the Trump administration continues its battle against inflation. “We are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy that behavior,” Bessent told reporters at ...
Maine Democrat Jackson goes positive in statewide adMaine Democrat Jackson goes positive in statewide ad
Troy Jackson is taking the positive route as Republicans sink money into negative ads in Maine. In a new ad running statewide and shared first with Semafor, the Democratic Senate nominee appears alongside his mom, who talks about his upbringing by teenage parents. “We struggled a lot. He didn’t use ...
Norman could add to Trump’s primary losing streakNorman could add to Trump’s primary losing streak
South Carolina Republicans could nominate Rep. Ralph Norman on Tuesday for Senate, denying Sen. Darline Graham six more years in the seat held by her late brother. Graham campaigned with President Donald Trump in Myrtle Beach on Friday, and promised to vote to Lindsey Graham’s right. “On illegal immigration, I’m ...
Trump’s FDA pick faces MAHA resistanceTrump’s FDA pick faces MAHA resistance
President Donald Trump’s nomination of Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration spurred pushback from some Make America Healthy Again advocates, setting up a fight between the administration and part of the base that helped propel Trump to his second term. Turning Point USA’s Alex Clark, a leading ...
More Americans are smoking pot, poll findsMore Americans are smoking pot, poll finds
Marijuana use in the US is at a record high, while cigarette smoking sits at a record low, according to new polling from Gallup. Seventeen percent of American adults say they smoke marijuana, tied with the high notched in 2023. That’s a big shift from 2013, the year Gallup started ...
Rivals cautiously optimistic as regulator tackles Diageo’s Kenya dominanceRivals cautiously optimistic as regulator tackles Diageo’s Kenya dominance
The News Kenyan brewers see an antitrust decision to impose conditions on Asahi Group’s $2.3 billion acquisition of Diageo’s East African Breweries as a potential opening to reshape market dynamics in their favor. The Competition Authority of Kenya recently set a number of conditions on the deal to assuage longstanding ...
New York Times tests out AI-generated search summariesNew York Times tests out AI-generated search summaries
The Scoop The New York Times has begun testing its first generative AI tool for readers, a step the publication hopes will improve its troubled search feature but which has also alarmed some of the paper’s journalists. In recent weeks, the paper has quietly rolled out a new search page ...
China prepares for ‘Economic D-Day’China prepares for ‘Economic D-Day’
China hosted Iran’s deputy foreign minister for talks last week related to the US-Iran war, Beijing announced Sunday, disclosing the previously unreported meeting one day before Washington is expected to unveil “the toughest sanctions in history” against Tehran. The Trump administration has warned of an “Economic D-Day” for Iran and ...
Bessent’s bond market move draws fire from investorsBessent’s bond market move draws fire from investors
Investors and analysts poured scorn on US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s doubling of long-term bond purchases last week, which provided temporary relief but faces structural economic headwinds that are driving yields higher. The buybacks are a “band-aid on a bullet hole,” a Nomura strategist told the Financial Times, while ING ...