Tag: Africa

Congo’s President Has Been Re-Elected. His Climate Policy Will Have Global Significance.
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Congo’s President Has Been Re-Elected. His Climate Policy Will Have Global Significance.

Dec. 31, 2023 11:51 am ETCongolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Sunday was declared the winner of this month’s national election, handing him a pivotal role in global efforts to combat climate change thanks to his country’s vast forests and rich mineral reserves. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission said the 60-year-old Tshisekedi won a second five-year term with 73% of the vote in the Dec. 20 presidential election, well outpacing his challengers. But the election was fraught with delays: Many polling stations didn’t get voting materials on time, which led the commission to extend the vote by an extra day. The vote also came amid a hunger crisis and the worst fighting in years in Congo’s war-torn east.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 8...
Why Every Western Automaker Is Visiting This Remote Part of South Africa
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Why Every Western Automaker Is Visiting This Remote Part of South Africa

Updated Dec. 30, 2023 12:11 am ETListen to article(2 minutes)MBOMBELA, South Africa—A half-century-old company on the outskirts of South Africa’s Kruger National Park has found itself in a fortuitous spot as Western automakers push to move their electric-vehicle supply chains away from China.Manganese Metal Co., based in the sleepy town of Mbombela, is the largest of just a handful of refiners of battery-grade manganese located outside China. Used mostly for making steel, manganese is increasingly replacing more expensive and harder-to-source minerals such as cobalt and nickel in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars, smartphones and laptops.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Israel Expands Operations in Southern Gaza Amid Worsening Humanitarian Crisis
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Israel Expands Operations in Southern Gaza Amid Worsening Humanitarian Crisis

Israeli forces expanded their military operations in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, intensifying efforts to kill Hamas’s top leadership, as aid agencies said the areas to which Israel has directed Palestinians to evacuate were increasingly overcrowded and short on resources.A Hamas political delegation was headed to Cairo on Friday to discuss a deal proposed by Egypt to end the war, a plan which neither side has agreed to so far, Egyptian officials said. Israel said negotiations on the deal, which would free hostages held by Hamas, were under way.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Hapag-Lloyd to Continue Avoiding Red Sea Despite U.S.-Led Naval Deployment
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Hapag-Lloyd to Continue Avoiding Red Sea Despite U.S.-Led Naval Deployment

German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd said it will continue to avoid the Red Sea because it considers the area is still too dangerous despite the U.S. and allies deploying naval ships to deter further strikes by Houthi militants.“We continuously assess the situation and plan a next review on Friday,” a spokesperson of the German shipping giant said Wednesday. It will continue to reroute its ships via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Iran-Backed Forces Widen Their Attacks on Commercial Shipping
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Iran-Backed Forces Widen Their Attacks on Commercial Shipping

Updated Dec. 25, 2023 2:29 pm ETEscalating Iran-backed attacks against global commercial shipping in the Red Sea have heightened pressure on the Biden administration as officials scramble to protect trade while trying to avoid a direct confrontation with Tehran.The U.S. Navy said late Saturday that two more vessels had been attacked that day by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, bringing the number of commercial ships attacked near a crucial passageway between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East to 15.  The Pentagon said earlier in the day that a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was struck by a drone launched directly from Iran, a claim Tehran denied.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Israeli War Cabinet Set to Consider Egyptian Proposal to End War in Gaza
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Israeli War Cabinet Set to Consider Egyptian Proposal to End War in Gaza

Updated Dec. 25, 2023 11:26 am ETIsrael’s war cabinet plans to meet on Monday night to discuss a three-step plan put forward by Egypt for ending the war in Gaza, Israeli officials said.The Egyptian proposal, a copy of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, is the most comprehensive peace proposal to be put forward to the two parties in the 11-week-old Gaza war.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Platinum Miners Face Demand Downturn as EV Transition Revs Up
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Platinum Miners Face Demand Downturn as EV Transition Revs Up

Miners of platinum metals are likely to face plummeting demand in the coming years, victim to the automotive industry’s transition to battery-electric vehicles.A decline in demand could happen as soon as 2025-26, Citi analysts say in a research note, forecasting “a structural demand downturn in a scale and speed hardly seen across the commodity markets.”Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
China Turns the Tables on Wall Street
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China Turns the Tables on Wall Street

Updated Dec. 13, 2023 12:53 am ETChina is upending how the international financial system handles debt crises in the developing world. Wall Street isn’t happy.Large bond fund managers cried foul last month when China blocked their deal to salvage investments in defaulted Zambian debt. The smackdown came just weeks after Chinese officials brokered a private debt restructuring with Sri Lanka, outmaneuvering Western governments that were trying to do the same.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
The Epicenter of Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Is This Border Town
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The Epicenter of Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Is This Border Town

Listen to article(2 minutes)Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing Israeli strikes have tripled the population of Rafah, turning this small southern Gaza city on the Egyptian border into a flashpoint in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Families displaced from points north by Israel’s war against Hamas have packed schools and other shelters beyond capacity, and pushed rents for small apartments from $100 before the war up to nearly $5,000. New arrivals in Rafah have few options beyond camping in parks and empty lots, using salvaged materials for shelter or sleeping in the elements as winter sets in. The United Nations warns that Rafah could soon host half of the Gaza Strip’s roughly 2.2 million people. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 8...