Breakingviews: China and Africa struggle to kick debt habit.Just because beer is cheap, it doesn’t mean you should drink. Africa has for years been drunk on cheap Chinese credit, a habit that has led to waste and even sovereign default. China is now preaching sobriety, but neither Africa’s borrowers nor their lender are showing much appetite for restraint, writes Ed Cropley, former Reuters Africa bureau chief.
Oil prices rose sharply after the evacuation of two Gulf of Mexico oil platforms in preparation for a hurricane. Anadarko Petroleum said on Monday it had evacuated and shut production at two oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the approach of Gordon, which is expected to come ashore as a hurricane.
Attracting such talent from Taiwan has become a key part of an effort by China to put its booming and fast-developing semiconductor industry into overdrive and reduce the country’s dependence on overseas firms for the prized chips that power everything from smartphones to military satellites.
Amazon.com is in talks with Chile to house and mine massive amounts of data generated by the country’s giant telescopes, which could prove fertile ground for the company to develop new artificial intelligence tools.
