Africa

At a big investment conference in Beijing Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced his country would pump another $60 billion into investment into Africa infrastructure. Sixty billion is a popular number in the foreign investment arena these days, it seems. Legislation working its way through Congress would combine several agencies to boost U.S. development financing […]

Modern electronics rely heavily on one thing: lithium ion batteries. With carmakers gearing up to increase electric vehicle production, the demand for lithium ion batteries doesn’t appear to be slowing down. These batteries rely on an increasingly important supply of the metal cobalt. Most cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central […]

Two cases of illegal payments and bribery came to light recently. One is against the oil services company Halliburton in Angola. The other involves a mining subsidiary of Glencore doing business in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With government heavily involved and centralizing many so-called extractive industries, drilling and mining are more prone to corruption […]

More than 2,500 people flee war-torn South Sudan every day. By the end of this year, 400,000 are expected arrive in Uganda, its neighbor to the south. Uganda is exceptionally open to these refugees, but it needs financial and logistical help as the influx has outpaced relief efforts. Click the audio player above to hear […]