Month: October 2023
China restricts exports of graphite
America’s latest volley, which restricts the types of chips that can be sold to China, had been anticipated for weeks. Its original controls curtailed sales to Chinese entities of the cutting edge chips used in the development of artificial intelligence. This included the a100 chip made by Nvidia, a Californian chipmaker. The Chinese government was
The long-term bet on metaverse
In the year since it has been rehabilitated. Meta’s core business engaging 3.1bn people a day on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and selling advertisers access to their attention is back to rude health. On October 25th the company reported revenues of $34.1bn in the third quarter, up by 23% year on year. That was the
America global role in wars
Two hulking us Navy aircraft-carriers have been sent to support Israel. Their task is to deter Hizbullah and its sponsor Iran from opening a second front across the Lebanese border. The carriers are a 200,000-tonne declaration of American power at a time when much of the world believes that American power is in decline. On
The plan to encircle Hamas
The Israel Defence Forces (idf) had indeed entered Gaza from two points: around Beit Hanoun, a town in the north, and Bureij, near the narrow midpoint of the 45km-long strip. Relentless air strikes and artillery had provided cover for dozens of tanks and other armoured vehicles carrying infantry and combat-engineering troops. As night fell over
Israel’s battle for Gaza
The first war aim is to destroy Hamas. Over the past three weeks that has come to mean eradicating the group’s military infrastructure and killing its leadership and as many of its foot soldiers as possible. Because Hamas undertook a mass-attack to kill Jews, Israelis can no longer tolerate the old stand-off in which Hamas
African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) programme
Agoa is scheduled to expire in two years after its validity was extended to 2025. At the Johannesburg forum, participants from both the US and Africa will discuss challenges and assess what is and isn’t working to make Agoa more impactful. Members of the US Congress and Cabinet ministers from Africa will meet next week
FTX founder acknowledges mistake
FTX founder and former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried testified in his own defense at his fraud trial on Friday, acknowledging he made mistakes but denying he defrauded anyone or took customer funds.The crypto-currency exchange founder acknowledged that “a lot of people got hurt” when his FTX exchange collapsed. He admitted making “a number of small mistakes
Trained dolphins against Ukraine
Dolphin pens were originally found during the summer around Sevastopol, a major port in the Crimean Peninsula that has been under Russian control since 2014. The occupied Sevastopol Naval Base is home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and, during the Soviet era, housed an aquarium to train dolphins for military objectives. This shows that
Ukraine war stalemate
The Western alliance’s military aid is the only lifeline for Ukrainian efforts to continue the war. If the United States drops out, it is hardly conceivable that Europe can fill the gap or is even willing to do so. Economies across Europe have struggled mightily in recent years, even those in leading countries such as
European Union to tax Russia assets for Ukraine
The assets have been frozen since February last year when Western allies introduced a raft of sanctions to cripple Russia’s ability to finance the war against Ukraine, most notably by blocking the Central Bank’s access to its foreign-exchange reserves.These deposits are worth €211 billion across EU territory, with over €180 billion reportedly held by Euroclear,