Archive for December, 2024

DRC: Apple Using ‘Conflict Minerals’

Via the BBC, a report on the DRC’s accusation that Apple is using conflict minerals in its products: The Democratic Republic of Congo has filed criminal complaints in France and Belgium against subsidiaries of the tech giant Apple, accusing it of using conflict minerals. Acting on behalf of the Congolese government, lawyers have argued that […]

Read more »



Macau Is the Casino Capital of the World. For China, That’s Not Enough.

Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how – a quarter century after the former Portuguese colony was made a Chinese territory – Macau’s economic boundaries with the mainland are being blurred: Macau, the world’s gambling capital, is becoming more intertwined with a Chinese neighbor — one person, train and building at a […]

Read more »



West Africa Bloc Offers Junta-Led States Six Months To Rethink Exit

Via Reuters, a report on ECOWAS’s efforts to persuade Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to stay within the bloc: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will have a six-month grace period after their scheduled exit from West Africa’s main political and economic group next month during which the ECOWAS bloc will try to persuade them to […]

Read more »



Power Sharing: The $1B ‘Electricity Highway’ Between Ethiopia and Kenya

Via CNN, a report on the $1 billion ‘electricity highway’ comprising 650 miles of transmission lines that allow electricity to flow between Ethiopia and Kenya: Ethiopia and Kenya both embrace renewables for their electricity production. Ethiopia produces all the power for its national grid from renewable sources, and is home to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the […]

Read more »



Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria To Build Super Coastal Highway

Via North Africa Post, a report on plans to build a super coastal highway in Africa: Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria have revived talks for a regional highway that will link the two countries, boosting the movement of people and goods. The project is being discussed at an ECOWAS summit dominated by political issues and divisions […]

Read more »



Trump, Not Turkey, Likely to Decide Somaliland’s Fate

Via Middle East – Told Slant substack, interesting analysis of Somaliland in light of the recent Turkish-brokered agreement between Somalia and Ethiopia: Somaliland Seen Critical to Containing Iranian, Chinese Expansion in the Red Sea  Turkey last week announced it brokered an understanding between Ethiopia and Somalia, in a bid to turn down the heat on an […]

Read more »


ABOUT
WILDCATS AND BLACK SHEEP
Wildcats & Black Sheep is a personal interest blog dedicated to the identification and evaluation of maverick investment opportunities arising in frontier - and, what some may consider to be, “rogue” or “black sheep” - markets around the world.

Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.