Via Geopolitical Futures, a report on how corruption, delays and boondoggles are transforming the Belt and Road Initiative: Last week, the head of China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection laid out the watchdog’s main goals for this year. His report focused on eliminating corruption and unhealthy practices associated with Beijing’s gargantuan, globe-spanning infrastructure development plan, […]
Read more »Via Bloomberg, a report on Kenya’s stockmarket: Economic policy is providing foundation for stock rally All-share index has rallied 48% in dollar terms this year BlackRock Inc., the world’s biggest asset manager, sees an opportunity to invest in Kenyan stocks, which have gone from the world’s worst performers in 2023 to the best this year. […]
Read more »Courtesy of National Geographic, a sobering look at how clothing from many of the world’s favorite brands lies in discarded heaps in Chile’s Atacama Desert: The Atacama Desert in northern Chile stretches from the Pacific to the Andes across a barren expanse of red-orange rock canyons and peaks. As one of the driest deserts on Earth, it’s […]
Read more »Courtesy of The Financial Times, an article on Africa’s agricultural potential: An hour away from the medina of Marrakech and its throngs of tourists, plains of semi-desert stretch across the horizon. Here, at the Benguerir mine, huge diggers bore into the ochre earth to reach the phosphate rock beneath, a resource that could help shape […]
Read more »Courtesy of Asia Times, an article on the Funan Techo Canal which will allow Cambodia to bypass Vietnam for its international trade and pull it even tighter into Beijing’s sphere of influence: Cambodia wants to divert Southeast Asia’s Mekong River into a planned US$1.7 billion, Chinese-financed shipping canal to reach a deep-sea port at Kep […]
Read more »Via South China Morning Post, a report on China’s plans to woo belt and road partners at ‘digital silk road’ forum in April amid an increasingly divided cyberspace: The Digital Silk Road Development Forum will kick off on April 16 in Xian, capital of western Shaanxi province With China at odds with Western countries in data […]
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