Day: February 3, 2025

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Cobalt Prices Sink to New Record Low Amid Chinese Production Surge

The price of cobalt, a key metal used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries, dropped to its lowest point in nearly a decade last week amid mounting concerns that Chinese companies are flooding the market. Despite persistently low prices, CMOC Group, the world's ...

CK Hutchison: The Hong Kong Firm Behind Panama Port Operators

By Holmes Chan A sprawling business empire built by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing is caught in the crossfire as the extent of Chinese influence over the Panama Canal is debated. U.S. Secretary of State ...

Trump Warns BRICS Countries May be Next in His Tariff Campaign

As Donald Trump prepared to launch a trade war against his North American neighbors on Friday, the U.S. president focused renewed attention on what could be his next target: the ten member states of the BRICS group. The president is seemingly ...

Rubio Warns Panama of Consequences About Chinese “Influence and Control” Over Canal

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a U.S. invasion and offered talks. Rubio, paying his ...

Africa, China, and Trump’s World-Spanning Gamble on Foreign Assistance

The Trump administration’s decision to halt and review U.S. foreign assistance to developing countries instantaneously turned the United States from many countries’ biggest helper into their biggest problem. In the process, he kicked off a massive experiment. The research question ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Confusing Developments in “Development”

This week I’m in Brussels, where I took part in a workshop on how the EU should shape its development strategy in response to China’s global influence.
I have joked in the past that it feels like I’ve attended this same ‘EU, Africa, and External Development Partners’ conference for ten years straight. 

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Jakarta Main Airport Scandal: 30 Immigration Officers Under Investigation for Extorting Chinese Visitors

Indonesia’s Ministry of Immigration and Correctional Affairs (Imipas) has removed 30 immigration officers from their posts and conducting investigation at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport following allegations of extortion targeting Chinese nationals. Minister of Immigration Agus Andrianto confirmed the action after receiving ...

China in the Lead as Taliban Opens Afghanistan’s Mining Sector

By Claire Gounon A miner in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan poured water over a block of jade, exposing the green stone that is part of the Taliban authorities' push to capitalize on the country's rich mineral resources. ...

Rubio Warns Panama of Consequences About Chinese “Influence and Control” Over Canal

By Shaun Tandon and Maria Isabel Sanchez U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country's leader insisted he was not afraid of a U.S. ...