India will soon overtake China to become the most populous country in the world

 

India will soon overtake China to become the most populous country in the world

China has been the world’s most populous country for a long time. But it’s soon to be overtaken by India.

Africa will be the second most populated area of the world followed by Latin America.

 

The UN projects that by 2024 India will be the world’s most populous country. What do future population trends look like around the world? 

Explore the data here:

India will soon overtake China to become the most populous country in the world:

#Tigray crisis #Ethiopia: Federal government marches towards war with #TPLF, declares 6 months state of emergency in Tigray Region

Regional governments of Oromia and Amhara regions, as well as members from the federal parliament, claim that the TPLF played a big role in the massacre over the weekend of 54 people in the western part of Ethiopia by giving arms supplies to members of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). 

Meanwhile, Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch HRW is calling for the Federal government to restore the communication network within the Tigray region.

"Ethiopians throughout the country have faced daily violence and abuses over the last year. There is no quick fix to Ethiopia's unfolding crisis, and federal and regional authorities should respond to the unraveling security situation in a manner that protects the rights of all Ethiopians. Their international partners – largely silent until now – should send this message", says Segun.

"Disrupting the communications network in the Tigray region also restricts critical reporting on the impact of events on the civilian population and people's access to information affecting their health and safety. It also undermines their right to question the government's account of events. Authorities should immediately restore access".

Ethiopia's Council of Minister has declared six months of state of emergency in Tigray after war broke out between the forces of the federal and regional governments.

https://t.co/qchQXrCLCe

The @ICIJorg & @NYTimes investigate #Angola’s #Kleptocracy

How U.S. Firms Helped Africa's Richest Woman Exploit Her Country's Wealth

Ms. dos Santos, estimated to be worth over $2 billion, claims she is a self-made woman who never benefited from state funds. But a different picture has emerged under media scrutiny in recent years: She took a cut of Angola’s wealth, often through decrees signed by her father. She acquired stakes in the country’s diamond exports, its dominant mobile phone company, two of its banks and its biggest cement maker, and partnered with the state oil giant to buy into Portugal’s largest petroleum company.

...A trove of more than 700,000 documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and shared with The New York Times, shows how a global network of consultants, lawyers, bankers and accountants helped her amass that fortune and park it abroad. Some of the world’s leading professional service firms — including the Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company and PwC — facilitated her efforts to profit from her country’s wealth while lending their legitimacy.

The empire she and her husband built stretches from Hong Kong to the United States, comprising over 400 companies and subsidiaries. It encompasses properties around the world, including a $55 million mansion in Monte Carlo, a $35 million yacht and a luxury residence in Dubai on a seahorse-shaped artificial island.

Read the whole story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/19/world/africa/isabel-dos-santos-angola.html?

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MasterFeeds

Ivory Coast Splinter Dictator Captured By French Forces, Handed Off To Rebels; Cocoa Plunges

Ivory Coast Splinter Dictator Captured By French Forces, Handed Off To Rebels; Cocoa Plunges

 zero hedge -Author: Tyler Durden

And like that, we now have one less conflict. From Reuters "French special forces have detained Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo and handed him to leaders of the rebel opposition, after French tanks forced their way into his residence, a Gbagbo adviser in France said. "Gbagbo has been arrested by French special forces in his residence and has been handed over to the rebel leaders," Toussaint Alain told Reuters." We would prefer not to visualize what happens to Gbagbo in the hands of his news captors. Importantly, considering the primary determinant in cocoa prices YTD has been the ongoing civil war in the African country, the promise of an end to hostilities sends Cocoa prices plunging, dropping the 10 metric ton contract by nearly $100 in the span of seconds.

Read more…

Openness can help lift the curse of resources

Openness can help lift the curse of resources
By George Soros
FT.com

Published: March 3 2011 22:13 | Last updated: March 3 2011 22:13

The natural resources sector has the potential to generate billions of dollars in revenues that can be used for poverty reduction and sound investment. For decades, however, management secrecy has allowed corruption to thrive in countries such as Angola, Cambodia, and Guinea. According to Nigeria's own corruption agency, up to $400bn of oil money has been stolen or wasted over the past 50 years. And in Libya, in particular, we now see a population rising against rulers whose control has been financed by the immense revenues they manage, and mismanage, in secret.

Ending this problem and letting new democracies flourish will, of course, not be easy. The resource curse undermines the investment climate, raises costs for companies, threatens energy and mineral security, and consigns millions of citizens in resource-rich countries to poverty. But evidence suggests that transparency in extractive industries can play an important role.


In 2002, I helped to launch the Publish What You Pay coalition, a global network of civil society organisations that has advocated for better management of oil, gas and mining revenues, and worked to ensure monies received are invested in schools, hospitals and poverty reduction. The coalition recruits oil companies, which then pledge to reveal what they pay to the governments and leaders of the states in which they operate, allowing them to be held accountable. In Liberia, this approach has seen moves towards new transparency standards, including openness on payments and contract terms – amazing progress in a country better known for former president Charles Taylor's macabre violence and blood diamonds.


There are further positive signs from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, an alliance to improve standards of transparency on a voluntary basis. Azerbaijan's credit rating improved in part because it played a constructive role in the initiative. This week, after the first democratically held elections in its history, Guinea rejoined the initiative too, because its leaders know that with EITI membership comes a better investment climate.


Now, governments that regulate stock markets are going one necessary and long-awaited step further, in establishing mandatory listing rules. In July 2010, the US passed the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires all oil, mining and gas companies registered in the US to report payments to foreign governments, both by country and by project. Companies as diverse as PetroChina, BHP Billiton and BP will have to comply. Similarly, Hong Kong recently improved the disclosure of its companies' payments as a condition of listing on its exchange.


The French and UK governments have also indicated support for new European oil and mining rules. EU revenue transparency legislation could build on US plans to move towards a new global transparency standard. The London Stock Exchange is one of the world's most important financial markets, hosting more than £1,000bn worth of oil, gas and mining capital. It should follow others' lead and change its rules too.


All of these measures hold great promise. Africa is the new frontier for investors in the natural resources sector, holding a 10th of the world's oil reserves, 40 per cent of its gold and significant reserves of other minerals vital for modern industrial economies. The Middle East, meanwhile, could soon develop a string of prosperous democracies. Those promoting greater transparency in the natural resources industries are helping to reinforce powerful historical forces, which will unlock transformational sums of money to improve the lives of millions of people in some of the most fragile countries in the world.

The writer is chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC and founder of the Open Society Foundations

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. 
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Read article on FT.com

Which Gold Miners Might Be Impacted by Possible Unrest in The Ivory Coast ? (Sales Commentary)

CONCLUSION: The situation in the Ivory Coast continues to simmer after recent elections.  Now the army has closed the Ivory Coast borders and is suspending foreign news organizations from reporting issues.  If tensions continue then mining operations in the country could potentially be negatively impacted.

 For reference, here are the gold miners with operations in the Ivory Coast:

Endeavour Mining (not rated. EVD CN, mkt cap C$320mm) - A development project in the Ivory Coast but producing assets are located in Burkina Faso

Cluff Gold (Market Perform, no target, CLF LN, mkt cap £150mm)- A producing mine in the Ivory Coast that accounts for approx. 25% of our NPV.  Key asset is in Burkina Faso and an exploration play in Sierra Leone

Newcrest (Outperform, A$52.50, NCM AU, mkt cap A$31.1bn) - The Ivory Coast assets are only 4% of our project NPV, but the exploration upset 

La Mancha (not rated. LMA CN, mkt cap C$368mm) - Highly levered to the Ivory Coast, with existing production from the country and many exploration targets.

Perseus (not rated. PRU AU, mkt cap A$1.3bn) -  Main development project is Tengrela in the Ivory Coast, with a feasibility expected by year-end and production possible in late-2012

Randgold (Outperform, target US$125, RRS LN, mkt cap £5.5bn) - Growth asset Tongon is in the Ivory coast and is ramping towards production by the end of the year.  The mine is 30% of our project NPV 

Please see attached map from our West Africa gold analyst, to see locations of each asset in the country.

     ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast,  Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The United Nations
has urged Ivory Coast election rivals to refrain from violence
while officials try to determine who won a presidential runoff.
     The Army sealed borders after Ivory Coast's electoral
commission announced that opposition candidate Alassane
Ouattara defeated incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, the BBC reported.
     However, the Constitutional Council said the announcement
is invalid, alleging voter fraud by Ouattara.
     The army announced it closed Ivory Coast borders. It also
said it would suspend foreign news organizations from reporting
issues.
     The election, the first presidential election in a decade,
was intended to reunify the nation, which was torn by a civil
war in 2002.
     The United Nations received reports of violence in parts
of the west and north during recent voting but said overall the
election seemed peaceful.
     "Our job is to remind them of their promises and
commitments and especially not to use violence," said U.N.
spokesman Hamadoun Toure.
     "They have to abide by electoral law, they have to keep
their promise during the campaigning that they won't use
violence to settle disputes and they also said they'd abide by
the results," Toure said.
     The Constitutional Council has one week to publish
official results of the election.
     Ivory Coast is the world's largest producer of cocoa.
    
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reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification
of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior
written consent.
All rights reserved.
--
-0- Dec/03/2010 14:49 GMT

Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC-LSE): DRC Assets Acquired, Including Kolwezi; Potential Negative to Sentiment - BMO Comment

Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC-LSE): DRC Assets Acquired, Including Kolwezi; Potential Negative to Sentiment – Negative

Rating:   Market Perform Price:     £8.66 Target:   £10.50

The acquisition of DRC copper-cobalt assets from companies associated with the Gertler Family including the exploration licence for First Quantum's Kolwezi project (currently in international arbitration) is expected to generate negative market sentiment. Further, it may open up potential future legal issues with respect to the ownership of Kolwezi, plus suffer potential ill-will from the community of global mining companies in future. ENRC has announced the acquisition of a 50.5% interest in DRC-focused Camrose Resources. The stake was purchased from Silvertide Global, Zanette and Cerida Global, all held by the Gertler Family Trust. Total consideration is US$175M, comprising US$50M in cash and US$125M in promissory notes payable in 9-24 months. Click Here For Link to Research PDF