
<p><strong>South Africans have responded to the implications of the budget speech while experts have noted the balance between fiscal consolidation and economic growth, though risks remain.</strong></p>



<p>South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivered the country’s 2025 Budget Speech on March 12; and strong reactions followed the minister’s announcement of the 0.5% increase to Value Added Tax (VAT) for the current financial year.</p>



<p>Wealth management firm, Citadel’s Chief Economist, Maarten Ackerman, said that the VAT increase of 0.5% in 2025 and another 0.5% in 2026 reflects the government’s urgent revenue needs, balanced against the political negotiations it is locked in with the other political parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU).</p>



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This budget speech really has me thinking , how quickly this economy shift impacts my startup business &amp; proof that we need to PLAN <br><br>Business owners how are you holding on ? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FNBBudgetSpeech2025?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FNBBudgetSpeech2025</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Budget2025?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Budget2025</a> <a href="https://t.co/fX27siJhNc">pic.twitter.com/fX27siJhNc</a></p>&mdash; MaSediane (@lehlohonolosed) <a href="https://twitter.com/lehlohonolosed/status/1899822407986131228?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>“Higher taxes could further constrain consumer spending and economic activity. Treasury’s decision not to adjust income tax brackets for inflation will also add to financial strain on households,” Ackerman added.</p>



<p>In a statement by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), it said it was deeply concerned by the VAT announcement. The registered non-profit civil action stated that this is a regressive tax that will hit South Africans across all income levels, particularly low- and middle-income households, and is unacceptable.</p>



<p>“Treasury has opted for the easy option of a VAT hike rather than taking bold steps to cut waste, address inefficiencies, and tackle corruption. A VAT hike may be easy to collect, but it disproportionately impacts the poor. Government must focus on cutting waste and ending corruption before reaching into citizens’ pockets,” said OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage.</p>



<p>Thomas Lobban, Director of Ibex Consulting, a division of Latita Africa, said that the budget speech is bad news for taxpayers especially when looking at the VAT increase. </p>



<p>“While this move was anticipated, what has come as a shock is the decision to keep personal income tax brackets unchanged for the third consecutive year,” he said.</p>



<p>“With no adjustments for inflation, individual taxpayers will effectively pay more tax in real terms, leading to diminished purchasing power across the board.”</p>



<p>Politicians also noted their concern over the budget speech with the African Transformation Movement’s (ATM) Vuyolwethu Zungula emphasizing that the problem is that government refuses to go after big corporates who are making money in South Africa.</p>



<p>“This does not strike the middle ground,” Zungula told the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).</p>



<p>“Because the real impact will be when it comes to the poor. The poor now already have to be content with an increase in electricity prices, and fuel prices and we already have high interest rates.”</p>



<p>ActionSA’s Athol Trollip added that the economy is already struggling and this is mostly due to corruption. The political party said on X that they firmly reject the proposed 1% increase in VAT– 0.5% this year and 0.5% next year–as well as the hidden tax increase caused by the failure to adjust personal income tax brackets for inflation.</p>



<p>“The economy can’t grow, the minister himself said it’s been staggering for 10 years,” Trollip told reporters after the budget speech. &nbsp;“And because of that we have more and more people on social relief grants and that’s why the budget can’t balance.”</p>



<p>“While there are positive elements in the budget,” Ackerman said, “such as plans for greater public and private infrastructure spending, attempts to stabilize debt, and a seeming willingness to appease opposition partners in the Government of National Unity (GNU) as South Africa’s democracy matures – several underlying risks could derail the government’s projections, especially if execution on ambitious plans to achieve 1.8% gross domestic product (GDP) growth, falters.”</p>


South Africa’s Fractious Coalition Faces Second Budget Reckoning

Citizens And Politicians React To SA 2025 Budget


<p><strong>Will Trump’s tariffs and his assault on the federal government lead to a deeper crash, or even a recession? Market experts advise long-term investors and 401(k) holders to sit tight.</strong></p>



<p>W<strong>hile the last</strong>&nbsp;three weeks have been punishing for the stock market, veteran wealth managers are sounding a similar refrain for long-term investors: don’t panic.</p>



<p>It can be difficult advice to heed when alarming headlines are regularly flooding the news. Two days after the S&amp;P 500 index hit its all-time high on February 19, hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen made a prescient prediction that he wouldn’t be surprised to see a “significant correction” in the stock market, calling tariffs an additional tax. On Tuesday this week, JPMorgan economists raised their recession risk forecast for this year to 40% from 30%. The S&amp;P 500 is down 9% from its high and seems destined to fall further.</p>



<p>But history suggests changes in sentiment often happen much faster than investors expect. Just last year, when stocks fell 8.5% over three weeks in July and August, those losses were erased within a month. The same is true of the S&amp;P 500’s last 10% correction, which took place from July to October 2023.</p>



<p>In fact, Dave Donabedian, co-chief investment officer of CIBC Private Wealth U.S., which manages $84 billion in assets, says his firm researched “true crises” far more consequential than the current self-inflicted declines fueled by tariffs—shocks to the system like outbreaks of war or the onset of Covid-19.</p>



<p>“What you find is that about two-thirds of the time, the S&amp;P 500 has recovered all that it lost after the shock in a month,” says Donabedian. “The punch line is don’t do knee-jerk selling, and we’ve certainly had some of those conversations in the last week or so.”</p>



<p>The primary culprit for the current stock market swoon is the uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on imports from China, Canada and Mexico. Trump initially announced the tariffs over the weekend prior to February 3, but when the market opened that day down 2%, he changed course and granted Mexico and Canada a temporary 30-day reprieve following concessions they made to secure their borders with the U.S. Stocks quickly rebounded.</p>



<p>That pause expired with Trump allowing the tariffs to take effect on March 4, but he soon carved out exemptions for some goods subject to a trade agreement he signed during his first term. Since then, investors have become increasingly dismayed at Trump’s uncharacteristic indifference to the stock market—last Thursday, he told reporters he’s “not even looking at the market.” This week, he walked back a threat to hike tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports to 50%, but added a 25% charge on those metals shipped from any foreign country, leading to retaliatory tariffs imposed by the European Union on U.S. imports. The whipsawing is only adding to investors’ uneasiness.</p>



<p>“We knew tariffs were negative for economies, but it’s less the impact of the tariffs themselves than the uncertainty of the policy,” says Adrian Helfert, chief investment officer for alternative and multi-asset portfolios at Westwood. “Small and mid-sized businesses need to know what to expect so they can plan their capital expenditures. Uncertainty leads to businesses that are nervous to plan for a future that they don’t know.”</p>



<p>More clarity shouldn’t be particularly hard to provide, and while Donabedian contends it would be “foolish” to make a short-term prediction about whether the next piece of news is better or worse for investors, the perceived risk of the tariffs could peak within the next couple of months. “Our view is still that we get a year of slow growth, but not a recession,” he says.</p>



<p>And there’s reason for optimism elsewhere in the economy. Inflation eased to 2.8% in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday, slightly lower than consensus expectations, which improved hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year. The S&amp;P 500 crawled 0.5% higher yesterday, resisting the downward trend and signaling that a broader rebound could be on tap if the tariff issue gets resolved.</p>



<p>The top-performing S&amp;P sector Wednesday was information technology, which gained 1.6% despite being one of the index’s largest laggards of the year, illustrating how quickly trends can reverse. Selling off parts of portfolios that look precarious could backfire if news changes quickly.</p>



<p>“For your average retail investor, the temptation is to say ‘I&#8217;ve got to do something’ during times like this, when the reality is, if you&#8217;re a long term investor, often your best decision is to stay out of your own way,” says Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. “Unfortunately in this country, we&#8217;ve got far more people that aren&#8217;t saving enough or investing enough in preparation for their retirement than those that are over-saving or over-investing.”</p>



<p>Some strategists even see this as a time to buy into parts of the market that have underperformed if investors do have extra cash. The Russell 2000 index tracking small-cap stocks is down 17% from its post-election high and has hardly budged since the end of 2020, while large caps have enjoyed stronger gains for the last two years.</p>



<p>“If somebody were all in on the S&amp;P 500, I might counsel a little more diversification there, to maybe look at some things in the small- and mid-cap space or look at international, which has finally started to outperform the U.S.,” says Donabedian. Since Trump took office in January, Chinese stocks as measured by MSCI China are up 22%, and MSCI Europe has gained 9%. The S&amp;P 500 is down nearly 7% over the same period. Says Donabedian, “It’s an opportunity to pick some spots in the equity markets that have underperformed for a number of years.”</p>



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Markets Continue Volatile Week As President Trump Changes Tariffs

Calming Advice For A Chaotic Stock Market


<p><strong>Minister Enoch Godongwana says the decision to increase Value Added Tax (VAT) “was not made lightly” as proposal also includes no inflationary adjustments for personal income tax brackets.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivered the country’s 2025 Budget Speech on Wednesday, March 12, following the initial postponement of the speech in February.</p>



<p>According to reports at the time, there was a dispute amongst the members of the Government of National Unity (GNU) over a proposed two percentage point VAT increase, which would have put further pressure on consumers.</p>



<p>In the newly-tabled budget, government has proposed to increase the VAT rate by half a percentage point in 2025/26; and by another half a percentage point the following year.</p>



<p>Government has also proposed no inflationary adjustments to personal income tax brackets, rebates and medical tax credits.&nbsp;</p>



<p>According to the minister, these measures are expected to raise R28 billion ($1.5 billion) in additional revenue in the 2025/2026 financial year and R14.5 billion ($791.5 million) in 2026/2027.</p>



<p>“This decision was not made lightly. No Minister of Finance is ever happy to increase taxes. We are aware of the fact that a lower overall burden of tax can help to increase investment and job creation and also unlock household spending power,” Godongwana said in his speech.</p>



<p>“We have, however, had to balance this knowledge against the very real, and pressing, service delivery needs that are vital to our developmental goals and which cannot be further postponed.”</p>



<p>He goes on to explain that government weighed up the policy trade-offs, and touches on increases to corporate and personal income tax, as well as taking on additional debt but states that these measures were not feasible.</p>



<p>“VAT is a tax that affects everyone. By opting for a marginal increase to VAT, its distributional effect and impact were cautiously considered. The increase is also the most effective way to avoid further spending cuts and to enable us extend the social wage.”</p>



<p>Other notable points in the speech include the proposed expansion of the list of VAT zero-rated food items, no increase in the fuel levy for another year and the provision of social grant increases that are above inflation.</p>



<p>Speaking on the 2025 Budget, Lullu Krugel, PwC South Africa’s Chief Economist, said, in a statement, that, “Expanding the list of VAT zero-rated products has long been called for by private business and civil society as a way of supporting the financial situation of low-income households”.</p>



<p>“Today’s announcement to expand the basket of goods to include more meat and other products that are widely consumed in the lower expenditure deciles is welcomed with open arms in light of the impending VAT increases. It is now incumbent upon the producers and retail sector to ensure that these adjustments are passed onto the consumer.”</p>



<p>With an overall impression, Althea Soobyah, National Head of Tax, Forvis Mazars in South Africa, said, “One of the biggest issues with the budget every year is that South Africa is not investing in growth-enhancing initiatives with a significant proportion of the budget going to paying off debt and social grants”.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“South Africa urgently needs to look at other ways to increase revenue other than relying on the tax base.  At some point it will reach a saturation point. Growth enhancing structural reforms which support small and medium sized businesses will help to address unemployment and grow the tax base. One of the ways to increase the tax base is to grow the employment rate,” she adds in the statement.</p>


VAT Up By 0.5 Percentage Point As South Africa’s Finance Minister Tables 2025 Budget


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Even the world’s richest man has bad days, as Elon Musk faced a litany of headaches to start the week Monday—including the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/03/10/x-outage-thousands-report-issues-with-elon-musks-platform/">crash</a>&nbsp;of his social media site, an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/03/10/tesla-stocks-election-rally-is-all-gone-erasing-91-gain/">11-figure drop</a>&nbsp;in his net worth as his primary venture Tesla faced brutal losses, while an awkward TV interview only gave critics more fodder.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-timeline">Timeline</h2>



<p>March 10, 8:54 a.m. EDTMusk’s Monday gets off to an immediate bad start as users on his X platform&nbsp;<a href="https://downdetector.com/status/twitter/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">begin</a>&nbsp;to report widespread outages, with Musk later&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/03/10/x-outage-thousands-report-issues-with-elon-musks-platform/">attributing</a>&nbsp;the crash to a “massive cyberattack” from “a large, coordinated group and/or a country” and noting the problem emanated from “IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area” (cybersecurity expert Cliff Steinhauer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/03/10/x-outage-thousands-report-issues-with-elon-musks-platform/">told</a>&nbsp;Forbes it was likely too early to determine the root of the issue).</p>



<p>March 10, 9:42 a.m.Musk shockingly&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1899093526190698784" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">calls</a>&nbsp;veteran and retired astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a “traitor” after Kelly posted support for Ukraine following a visit to the country,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/SenDuckworth/status/1899206544907981264" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">leading&nbsp;</a><a href="https://x.com/SenRubenGallego/status/1899206416641970357" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">a slew</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1899206461462352342" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">of Democrats—</a>including Kelly’s wife&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/GabbyGiffords/status/1899172428032463302" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Gabby Giffords</a>—and even one House Republican, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., to criticize him, with Bacon&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/mkraju/status/1899248385233690883" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">telling</a>&nbsp;CNN Musk’s accusation was “not right” and “reflects bad on the White House” (on Musk’s own platform, his “traitor” comment received only 15,000 Likes by Tuesday morning compared to over 230,000 likes for&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/SenMarkKelly/status/1899155561171558505" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Kelly’s response</a>).</p>



<p>March 10, 3:45 p.m.Left-leaning watchdog organization Media Matters, a longtime Musk target,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/03/10/nx-s1-5323844/media-matters-elon-musk-new-lawsuit" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">sues</a>&nbsp;X for bringing lawsuits against it in foreign countries as part of &#8220;a vendetta-driven campaign of libel tourism,” the suit alleged.</p>



<p>March 10, 4 p.m.<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/03/10/tesla-stocks-election-rally-is-all-gone-erasing-91-gain/">Tesla</a>, the primary source of Musk’s wealth, ends Monday trading down more than 15%, its worst daily loss since September, as the electric vehicle maker became the most notable loser of the Wall Street losses tied to shaky investor sentiment amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs—Tesla stock closed more than 10% lower than it did prior to Trump’s election, wiping out what was once a more than 90% rally, and shares declined over 50% in less than three months.</p>



<p>March 10, 4:30 p.m.Musk sits down with Fox Business’ “Kudlow” and does little to assuage Tesla investor angst,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/03/10/elon-musk-says-hes-running-his-companies-with-great-difficulty-as-tesla-shares-plummet/">saying</a>—in a halting way that went viral on social media— that he’s juggling his Department of Government Efficiency role with his positions at Tesla and his other companies “with great difficulty” and invokes Monty Python, adding to “always look on the bright side of life.&#8221;</p>



<p>March 10, 4:56 p.m.Responding to a thread on Monday being the seventh-worst day in Tesla stock’s 15-year history, Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1899202765781450951" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">writes</a>, “It will be fine long-term.”</p>



<p>March 10, 10:13 p.m.A federal judge&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/03/11/federal-judge-rules-doge-must-disclose-records-about-its-operation-to-comply-with-federal-transparency-law/">rules</a>&nbsp;against DOGE for operating with “unprecedented power” and “unusual secrecy,” ordering Musk’s agency to comply with public record requests and increase its transparency.</p>



<p>March 10, 10:18 p.m.Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1899283682851975342" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">replies</a>&nbsp;the “antibody reaction is strong” to a post suggesting Musk “will be blamed for everything,” including the “incoming&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/03/08/are-we-suddenly-close-to-a-recession-heres-what-the-data-actually-shows/">recession</a>.”</p>



<p>March 11, 12:14 a.m.Musk’s boss<strong>&nbsp;</strong>Trump chimes in to support Musk after his bad Monday,&nbsp;<a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114141854575248527" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">writing</a>&nbsp;on his Truth Social site he will buy a Tesla “as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American.”</p>



<p>March 11, 8:22 a.m.Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, long one of the most outspoken voices on Wall Street in Musk’s and Tesla’s corner, publishes a critical note on Musk, saying patience is “wearing very thin” and Musk “needs to step up as Tesla CEO at this critical juncture” as there’s been “little to no sign of Musk” at any Tesla facility since Trump took office.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">Big Number</h2>



<p>$22.8 billion. That’s how much Musk lost off his net worth during Tesla’s Monday nosedive, according to our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?list=rtb/">estimates</a>. That’s more than the entire $22.7 billion fortune held by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">Forbes Valuation</h2>



<p>Musk’s $325 billion net worth still makes him by far the wealthiest person in the world with a $110 billion lead over the next richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($215 billion net worth).</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">Crucial Quote</h2>



<p>“The Musk DOGE distractions” have “created a black cloud over Tesla&#8217;s stock” according to Ives.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tesla-stock-bounces-back-some-tuesday">Tesla Stock Bounces Back Some Tuesday</h2>



<p>Shares of Tesla gained as much as 6% Tuesday morning, bouncing off of their lowest close since October, before settling into a 1% advance by 11 a.m. EDT, as the market broadly dropped on Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114144217763824399" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">decision</a>&nbsp;to increase tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel imports to 50%. Tesla’s 2025 losses are staggering, as its nearly 45% year-to-date decline makes it the worst-performing company listed on the S&amp;P 500, according to FactSet data.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2025/03/10/why-tesla-isnt-the-ai-powerhouse-musk-says-it-is/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ForbesWhy Tesla Isn’t The AI Powerhouse Musk Says It Is<small>By&nbsp;Alan Ohnsman</small></a></p>


President Trump Returns To White House From Florida

A Timeline Of Elon Musk’s Terrible 24 Hours—A Dark Day For X, Tesla And More


<p><strong>Through <em>Kante</em>, Afrobeats, and his memories of Nigeria, King Charles III underscored music’s power to unite cultures.</strong></p>



<p>King Charles III shared a personal connection to <em>Kante</em>, a song by Nigerian Afrobeats star Davido featuring Fave, recalling how it reminded him of his last visit to Nigeria in 2018 when he attempted to speak Pidgin.</p>



<p>The British monarch made the revelation while presenting The King’s Music Room, a curated selection of 17 songs that have brought him joy, to mark Commonwealth Day 2025.</p>



<p>Among the diverse playlist, <em>Kante</em> stood out, not just for its infectious rhythm but as he said: &#8220;It also features lyrics in Pidgin, which I love in all its forms, and in which I attempted to make a speech when I last visited Nigeria.&#8221; The King said this in a recorded address from Buckingham Palace.</p>



<p>That visit, in November 2018, saw the monarch — then the Prince of Wales — engage with Nigeria’s cultural and political elite in Lagos in partly Pidgin, a lingua franca widely spoken across West and Central Africa.</p>



<p>Departing from his usual polished British English, he greeted dignitaries with a warm &#8220;How you dey?&#8221; (How are you?), drawing laughter and applause.</p>



<p>He even ventured further with the phrase, &#8220;God don butta my bread&#8221;, meaning “God has blessed me,” to acknowledge his return to the country after his first visit nearly three decades.</p>



<p>While he has yet to visit Nigeria as head of the Commonwealth, there were past trips — in 1990 with Princess Diana, then in 1999, 2006, and 2018.</p>



<p>Pidgin, which originated in the 17th and 18th centuries as a trade language between Africans and Europeans, has since evolved into a powerful cultural force.</p>



<p>It dominates Afrobeat lyrics, Nollywood films, and everyday conversations across West Africa.</p>



<p>Recognizing its global appeal, King Charles III noted, “I understand that thanks to Afrobeats, it (Pidgin) is becoming ever more popular around the world.”</p>



<p>During his 2018 trip, he also shared another Pidgin phrase: &#8220;If life dey show you pepper, make pepper soup&#8221;, roughly translating to “life is what you make it.”</p>



<p>“Music has that remarkable ability to bring happy memories, comfort us in times of sadness, and to take us to distant places,” he reflected in his recorded address. “But perhaps, above all, it can lift our spirits&#8230; It brings us joy.”</p>


Gold Motion Logo2.pdf (1)

King Charles III Recalls Speaking Pidgin In Nigeria, Shares Connection To Davido’s Kante


<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Topline</h2>



<p>Ukraine has agreed to an immediate, 30-day ceasefire proposal brokered by the United States, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/spilna-zayava-za-pidsumkami-zustrichi-delegacij-ukrayini-ta-96553" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">joint statement</a>&nbsp;from the two countries, though Russia has yet to accept the deal as it continues its three-year invasion of Ukraine.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>The ceasefire can be extended if Ukraine and Russia agree to additional terms, the statement said, noting Russia has not yet accepted the ceasefire deal.</p>



<p>The U.S. will immediately remove its pause on intelligence sharing and security assistance for Ukraine, according to the statement, about a week after the White House suspended intelligence that primarily aided Ukrainian attacks within Russian territory.</p>



<p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ABC/status/1899528838717043133" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told reporters</a>&nbsp;Tuesday after peace talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia “we’ll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope that they’ll say yes… the ball is now in their court.”</p>



<p>The U.S. and Ukraine also agreed to quickly reach an agreement on a mineral deal that was stalled last month after President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy engaged in a widely broadcast&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">argument in the Oval Office</a>&nbsp;that soured diplomatic relations and led to the Trump administration’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/03/04/zelenskyy-wants-to-make-things-right-as-us-cuts-off-assistance/">pause on military aid</a>&nbsp;for Ukraine.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-we-don-t-know">What We Don’t Know</h2>



<p>The specific terms of the ceasefire and what concessions, if any, Ukraine or Russia will have to make for the deal to go through. Zelenskyy has said Ukraine needs to be in a “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/02/28/zelenskyy-stands-his-ground-in-first-interview-since-fiery-trump-meeting-not-sure-that-we-did-something-bad/?ctpv=xlrecirc">strong position</a>” within a peace deal and that lasting security guarantees are needed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">Chief Critic</h2>



<p>Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton told&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/AmbJohnBolton/status/1899227444776743288" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">CBC News Network</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday that it is a “big mistake to insist that Ukraine agree to a ceasefire,” warning that a ceasefire along the frontlines could turn into the new Russian-Ukrainian border. “The result will be that Russia’s aggression will have been vindicated,” he said. Russia has control of eastern Ukrainian cities such as Melitipol, Mariupol, Donetsk, Bakhmut and Luhansk, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60506682" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">BBC</a>, which noted a smaller Russian offensive has taken shape in northern Ukraine as well.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Relations between the Trump administration and Zelenskyy have been rocky in the leadup to the ceasefire proposal. Trump began trying to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia last month, with his administration holding talks with the latter country without any Ukrainian delegates present. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not accept a peace deal created without Ukrainian participation, also alleging Trump had fallen for Russian disinformation as the U.S. president called him a “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/02/19/trump-zelensky-feud-trump-calls-zelensky-a-dictator--after-ukraines-president-criticizes-him-amid-russia-talks/">dictator</a>” who “has done a terrible job” handling Russia’s invasion. Trump and Zelenskyy verbally sparred in the Oval Office late last month, when the two were prepared to come to the table to sign a mineral deal that would allocate proceeds from Ukraine’s mineral resources to a joint fund with the U.S. as a means of providing the U.S. payback for the billions in military support it has provided Ukraine in the last few years. Tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy have slightly eased in recent days, with the Ukrainian president saying “it is time&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/03/04/zelenskyy-wants-to-make-things-right-as-us-cuts-off-assistance/">to make things right</a>” after the U.S. pulled military support from Ukraine and Trump remaining optimistic a peace deal could still be completed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/03/04/zelenskyy-wants-to-make-things-right-as-us-cuts-off-assistance/">Zelenskyy Wants To ‘Make Things Right’ As U.S. Cuts Off Assistance</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



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<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/02/28/zelenskyy-stands-his-ground-in-first-interview-since-fiery-trump-meeting-not-sure-that-we-did-something-bad/?ctpv=xlrecirc">Zelenskyy Stands His Ground In First Interview Since Fiery Trump Meeting: &#8216;Not Sure That We Did Something Bad&#8217;&nbsp;</a>(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">Trump, Zelenskyy, Vance Face Off In Oval Office Shouting Match—Here’s Everything They Said&nbsp;</a>(Forbes)</p>


EU Leaders Emergency Summit On Defense And Ukraine

Ukraine Agrees To 30-Day Ceasefire Proposal—But Russia Hasn’t Accepted Yet


<p><strong>FORBES AFRICA was at MWC Barcelona looking into Agentic AI and a raft of new gadgets coming up.</strong></p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Making its global debut at MWC, Xiaomi also showed off its SU7 Ultra EV, which goes from 0-<br>100km/h in a ridiculous 1.98 seconds. It recently went on sale in China and sold over 10,000 units<br>within two hours, reaching its annual sales target.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>Artificial Intelligence (AI) and agentic AI seemed to be the central theme at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona, with most companies showcasing some form of AI.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Agentic AI refers to AI systems that can operate autonomously, i.e., make decisions or take action without human intervention.&nbsp;</p>



<p>An example on Android is to ask Google’s Gemini to find flight options and send the results in an email to a colleague, or find a specific recipe and share it directly to a contact.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The introduction of these features means users will rely less on an app-based interface to give rise to ‘AI as the new UI’.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Google provided us with a sneak peek to its conversational AI, Gemini Live, that requires an advanced subscription: Gemini Live with video and Gemini Live with screenshare features.</p>



<p>Most smartphone companies at MWC had similar demos as they are powered by Google’s Gemini.</p>



<p>Meanwhile, technology brand Honor unveiled its $10-billion ‘Alpha Plan’; a change in its corporate strategy: to move from a smartphone maker to an AI device ecosystem company.&nbsp;</p>



<p>It shared a three-step plan to create an ‘intelligent world’ and called on the tech industry to join forces to “‘maximise human potential, ultimately benefiting all mankind”.</p>



<p>Honor CEO James Li said: “I am calling on all of us to unite together to address the challenges, as well as the many opportunities, of AI technology. I also call on the industry to be truly open so that we can fully embrace this exciting AI future.”</p>



<p>Honor said it will leverage Gemini 2.0 to create its first intelligent phone with partners Google and Qualcomm that will “revolutionize human-to-device interaction”.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Part of its plan is to make devices on its ecosystem work seamlessly with others, including iOS, which it demoed through file sharing to multiple devices on Android and iPhone.</p>



<p>Proving to be a major player in the Android space since splitting from Huawei in 2020, Honor also announced seven years of Android OS and security updates, joining the ranks of Google and Samsung.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>The best of the rest</strong></p>



<p>AI aside, here are some gadgets that caught our eye this year, which felt somewhat underwhelming compared to our visits in <a href="https://forbesafrica.com/technology/2023/05/17/the-metaverse-in-your-pocket-nifty-tech-and-trends-that-africa-will/">2023</a> and <a href="https://forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2024/02/28/driving-a-car-using-your-eyes-a-good-look-at-the-ai-eye-tracking-feature-at-global-mobile-tech-show/">2024</a>.</p>



<p>Lenovo showed off its Yoga Solar PC proof-of-concept laptop, with a lid covered in solar panels that claims an over 24% conversion rate, which it says is one of the highest in the industry.&nbsp;</p>



<p>A 20-minute direct sunlight charge yields enough power for up to one hour of video playback, it said.</p>



<p>Realme showed off an interchangeable lens concept smartphone that lets you swap out DSLR lenses with your device. It used an older device with a Sony one-inch sensor to show its capabilities.</p>



<p>While Xiaomi showed something similar a few years back, this year revealed a magnetic modular lens prototype smartphone that lets you easily swap out lenses using its proprietary lens mount.</p>



<p>Making its global debut at MWC, Xiaomi also showed off its SU7 Ultra EV, which goes from 0-100km/h in a ridiculous 1.98 seconds.&nbsp;</p>



<p>It recently went on sale in China and sold over 10,000 units within two hours, reaching its annual sales target. The company announced it will sell its cars outside of China within the next few years.</p>



<p>On the topic of cars, the Catalonian police showed off a hyperconnected police car with a drone on its roof to help patrol and catch criminals, including a smart police management system featuring a 24 hour in-person and virtual police force. The concept is yet to receive backing and funding to become a reality.</p>



<p>Unveiled at CES but showcased at MWC, TCL showed off the TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G smartphone, which makes the display look like paper for eye comfort, using its proprietary technology.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The phone features various ink paper modes for reading and limited app functionality and a black and white or colour paper mode.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Lastly, Samsung’s Project Moohan mixed reality headset was showcased at its booth, the first Android XR headset, however, no hardware specifications were shared. A rival to the Apple Vision Pro, it’s set to launch later this year.</p>


Xiaomi SU7 Ultra_ image supplied

Hyperconnected Police Cars And More: Sneak Peak Into ‘An Intelligent World’ At GlobalMobile Tech Show


<p>At the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards, held as a glittering gala at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria on Wednesday, March 5, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), took home the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Lifetime Achievement Award, while the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Changemaker of the Decade Award was awarded to Arunma Oteh, Chairperson of the 124-year-old Royal African Society.</p>



<p>Known for her illustrious career on the continent and globally, Oteh also holds the position of Executive Residence &amp; Member, Global Leadership Council at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. She was previously Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank, and Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Nigeria.</p>



<p>“The award reminds me of strong women who have paved the way for others and continue to inspire me, including past awardees and my big sisters, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Her Excellency Graça Machel and Madam Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,” Okonjo-Iweala said in her recorded acceptance speech.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="694" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-21.01.47-1024x694.png" alt="" class="wp-image-64861" style="width:572px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-21.01.47-1024x694.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-21.01.47-300x203.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-21.01.47-768x520.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-21.01.47-1536x1041.png 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-21.01.47.png 1706w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>


<p>In 2021, Okonjo-Iweala became the first woman and first African to take on the role of Director-General at the WTO. A global finance expert, economist and international development professional with over 40 years of experience working in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America, she noted in her acceptance speech that young African women inspire her.</p>



<p>“While I&#8217;m proud [to be the first woman and African DG], I always have mixed feelings,” she said. “I always feel there should have been a woman prior and an African, why not? But that being said, I&#8217;m happy that I&#8217;ve been able to break that glass ceiling, and I&#8217;m glad that, as many of us continue to break glass ceilings, young African women will hopefully no longer face as many barriers as those who came before them. I have to say that young African women inspire me.”</p>



<p>The FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards uncovers some of Africa’s biggest and brightest personalities who have used the power of their stories to change the discourse of development on the continent.</p>



<p>One of the winners on the night was ‘the Queen of Afrobeats’, Tiwa Savage, who walked home with the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Media Icon Award. Savage, whose digital cover was revealed during the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit earlier in the day, is known for her unique blend of Afrobeats, R&amp;B, soul and pop.</p>



<p>“I think a lot of times when people think of music, they think of just being an artist,” she explained in her interview with FORBES AFRICA. “But there are so many aspects to the industry. I want to build a school or scholarship program that teaches that.”</p>



<p>Among the award-winners on the night was 12-year-old Eniola Shokunbi who took home the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Young Achiever Award. A children’s health advocate and innovator, born in the U.S., and of Nigerian descent, she has been honored by the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation and is already known for her fight for cleaner air and the installation of air filters in classrooms around the world.</p>



<p>Hephzibah Akinwale, also 12 years old, is a world record-holder for the longest fiction novel written by a child author at the age of 10, in September 2023, with her book, Chronicles of the Time Keepers: Whisked Away, featuring over 58,000 words. On Wednesday, Akinwale won the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Next Generation Award.</p>



<p>South Africa’s Minnie Dlamini was handed the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Excellence in Entertainment Award as an entrepreneur behind the lens in South Africa’s entertainment industry. As</p>



<p>an actor, Executive Producer, and TV host, she has over 9.3 million followers both on Instagram and Twitter. Featured as FORBES AFRICA’s digital cover as part of the magazine’s second annual ‘Over 30 Under 50’ list, Dlamini said: “I don’t think I would have been able to handle everything that I’ve handled – good and bad – all the opportunities, the resources that have been afforded to me, the resources that I’ve gone out and gotten myself, had I been younger,” Dlamini said. “[I] needed to go through life, to be older, and to be this 34-year-old woman so that I can fully embrace everything that’s coming my way.”</p>



<p>Other winners of the star-studded event included Kenyan environmentalist Wanjira Mathai who won the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Social Impact Award, while FORBES AFRICA 30 under 30 list-maker Jessica Mshama took home the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Technology &amp; Innovation Award.</p>



<p>Nissi Ogulu won the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Youth Icon Award for her work as a musician, visual artist, and entrepreneur. Dr Adriana Marais, the Director of the Foundation for Space Development Africa and Head of Science for the Foundation’s Africa2Moon Project, received the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Academic Excellence Award.</p>



<p>The 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Champion of Change Award went to Dr Glenda Gray, who was the first female President and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, leading the Council for 10 years in this role.</p>



<p>The 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Businesswoman Award was awarded to Rita Zwane, Founder of Imbizo Shisanyama Busy Corner in South Africa. The face of women’s football in Africa, Sue Destombes was handed the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Sports Award. Her game-changing 30-year career in football has taken her across the continent and to AFCON and CHAN competitions since 2006.</p>



<p>To receive the inaugural 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Visionary Ally Award, former NBA star Luol Deng walked up on stage for his leadership and community work using his platform to promote and support women’s empowerment.</p>



<p>Kenyan actor Sarah Hassan took home the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Entertainer of the Year Award. Hassan is a multi-award-winning actor, producer, and TV host. The 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Champion of Entertainment Promotion was awarded to celebrity talent manager, Tholsi Pillay. This year, she celebrates a major milestone as her client, Wouter Kellerman, won his third Grammy Award, solidifying his position as a global music icon.</p>



<p>“I have to say that young African women inspire me,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “I see so many of them doing such wonderful things fearlessly, and it gives me a lot of hope. They will take on roles that we have now and more roles we don&#8217;t even know about, and they&#8217;ll do it fearlessly and succeed in ways that we before them never even thought of succeeding.”</p>



<p>The FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards were held as part of the 10th edition of the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit on March 5.</p>


DSC09044

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Arunma Oteh Win Big At Star-Studded 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards In Pretoria


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement posted on social media he and Ukraine are still committed to working with President Donald Trump and “it is time to make things right,” one day after Trump announced a pause on military aid to Ukraine after Zelenskyy’s contentious visit to the White House.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>Zelenskyy said in the X&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1896948147085049916" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">statement</a>&nbsp;Ukraine does not want “an endless war” and is ready to “come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer.”</p>



<p>Zelenskyy’s statement was posted just before 11 a.m. EST Tuesday, less than one day after Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/03/04/trump-freezes-ukraine-aid-after-confrontation-with-zelenskyy/">ordered a pause</a>&nbsp;on all military aid for Ukraine amid its ongoing war with Russia until he felt Ukraine’s leaders “demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-03/trump-pauses-military-aid-to-ukraine-after-clash-with-zelenskiy?srnd=homepage-americas" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>&nbsp;reported.</p>



<p>The pause in aid came days after Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance had a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">heated exchange</a>&nbsp;in the Oval Office in which American leadership criticized Zelenskyy for a lack of gratitude and Trump threatened he was “gambling with World War III.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">Crucial Quote</h2>



<p>“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be,” Zelenskyy said in the statement. “It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">Big Number</h2>



<p>$66.5 billion. That’s about how much&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/bureau-of-political-military-affairs/releases/2025/01/u-s-security-cooperation-with-ukraine#:~:text=To%20date%2C%20we%20have%20provided,invasion%20of%20Ukraine%20in%202014." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">U.S. aid</a>&nbsp;and military assistance has been sent to Ukraine since its war with Russia began in February 2022.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Russia invaded Ukraine more than three years ago and the countries have been warring since, with the U.S. and European countries largely backing Ukraine against President Vladimir Putin’s Russia. But Trump was critical of former President Joe Biden’s support of Ukraine, and regularly said throughout his presidential campaign the war would not have begun had he been president at the time Russia invaded Ukraine. Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/02/28/trump-threatens-zelensky-during-tense-live-meeting-make-a-deal-or-were-out/">met with Zelenskyy</a>&nbsp;last week in the White House for the signing of a minerals deal that would see Ukraine put some proceeds from its state-owned mineral resources to a jointly owned fund with the U.S. as a way to pay the U.S. back for its support during the war, but the meeting devolved into a shouting match in which Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">told</a>&nbsp;Zelenskyy he and Ukraine “don’t have the cards” to beat Russia without U.S. support. Zelenskyy left the White House without signing the deal, and the meeting drew criticism from Democrats who&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/atrupar/status/1895593439854547343" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>&nbsp;Trump’s behavior made the U.S. look weak.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">Tangent</h2>



<p>After the meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump, European leaders announced increased efforts to support Ukraine and end the war with Russia. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K., France and other countries were committed to keeping aid flowing to Ukraine, finding a path to lasting peace and developing a “coalition of the willing” to defend Ukraine, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9vygkzkkrvo" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">BBC</a>&nbsp;reported. Starmer also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-britain-zelenskyy-europe-starmer-trump-russia-b980170ead74a1a7914c565f14ee6cc9" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">pledged</a>&nbsp;$2 billion to Ukraine to fund defense missiles.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">What To Watch For</h2>



<p>Trump’s response to Zelenskyy’s statement.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/03/04/trump-freezes-ukraine-aid-after-confrontation-with-zelenskyy/">Trump Freezes Ukraine Aid After Confrontation With Zelenskyy</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">Trump, Zelenskyy, Vance Face Off In Oval Office Shouting Match—Here’s Everything They Said</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/02/28/trump-threatens-zelensky-during-tense-live-meeting-make-a-deal-or-were-out/">Trump-Zelenskyy Talks End Early After Trump Threatens Him In Tense Live Meeting: ‘Make A Deal Or We’re Out’</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p></p>


President Trump Hosts Ukrainian President Zelensky At The White House

Zelenskyy Wants To ‘Make Things Right’ As U.S. Cuts Off Assistance


<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-large-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>“I try to show myself as an example through excellence,&#8221; says Oduwole.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>Zuriel Oduwole, an education advocate and filmmaker known for her work in global peace and gender equality, has been nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.</p>



<p>The nomination, submitted by a professor of clinical education engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) and an emeritus professor of geosciences at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, recognizes Oduwole&#8217;s decade-long efforts in diplomacy and development.</p>



<p>&#8220;I try to show myself as an example through excellence,” Oduwole said to FORBES AFRICA, after leaving the stage following her panel discussion at the 2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit in March 2024 in Johannesburg.</p>



<p>The 22-year-old first gained international attention at the age of 13 when she met with then-President David Granger of Guyana in New York, urging him to consider the impact of war on women and girls amid rising tensions with Venezuela over the Essequibo oil-rich region.</p>



<p>Her advocacy, inspired by discussions with the First Lady of Sierra Leone about the lingering effects of war, positioned her as a young but formidable voice in international peace efforts.</p>



<p>In 2019, her work with Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi contributed to the country’s decision to ban child marriage. She was later invited by an Arab leader during the Qatar-Gulf diplomatic crisis, further solidifying her role in conflict resolution and policy discussions at the highest levels.</p>



<p>She is now a doctoral student at USC, having been accepted into the program at 20.</p>



<p>She has received honors, including the Ban Ki-moon Leadership Award in 2022 for her decade-long peacebuilding initiatives.</p>


DSC04653 (2)

2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Young Achiever Awardee Nominated For 2025 Nobel Peace Prize


<p><strong><abbr>E</abbr>li Lilly</strong>&nbsp;is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eli-lilly-bets-big-weight-loss-pill-with-550-million-inventory-stockpile-2025-02-20/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">stockpiling massive quantities</a>&nbsp;of an oral weight-loss drug that’s at least a year from launch, with total&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/59478/000005947825000067/lly-20241231.htm" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">“pre-launch inventory”</a>&nbsp;of nearly $550 million at Dec. 31, 2024, according to its 10-K financial statements released last week.</p>



<p>The unusual move represents a massive bet on a new once-daily pill for weight loss called orforglipron, at a time when GLP-1 drugs from Lilly and its competitor Novo Nordisk have taken the market by storm. Lilly’s tirzepatide drugs, Zepbound for obesity and Mounjaro for diabetes, both of which are administered by injection, accounted for $5.4 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter alone.</p>



<p>Orforglipron showed good results in a phase 2 trial published in the&nbsp;<em>New England Journal of Medicine</em>&nbsp;in June 2023. The highest dose of the drug resulted in&nbsp;<a href="https://investor.lilly.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lillys-phase-2-results-published-new-england-journal-medicine" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">14.7% weight loss after 36 weeks</a>&nbsp;for people who were obese or overweight. Lilly has begun stage 3 research, and CEO Dave Ricks said last month that the drug could receive FDA approval&nbsp;<a href="https://fortune.com/well/article/eli-lilly-weight-loss-pill-orforglipron-glp1-2026/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">as early as next year.</a></p>



<p>“The level of excitement here is high,” Patrik Jonsson, Lilly’s president of cardiometabolic health, told&nbsp;<em>Forbes&nbsp;</em>in an interview at the J.P. Morgan healthcare conference in January. “This could potentially be game-changing when it comes to reaching more patients across the globe.”</p>



<p>Oral medications, after all, don’t require the cold-chain storage and transportation that injectables do, and they’re less complicated to manufacture. They’re also more appealing to patients, especially those who have needle phobias.</p>



<p>What the easier production and distribution means for the price of orforglipron when it hits the market remains to be seen. On Tuesday, Lilly began selling higher doses of Zepbound in the U.S. at a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/lilly-launches-higher-dose-vials-weight-loss-drug-150-less-than-injector-pen-2025-02-25/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">discount of $150</a>&nbsp;compared to the injector pen versions, Reuters reported. Then, on Wednesday, it said that it would&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/26/eli-lilly-to-invest-27-billion-in-new-us-manufacturing.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">invest $27 billion</a>&nbsp;in four new U.S. manufacturing plants.</p>



<p>Research firm Coherent Market Insights estimates the global GLP-1 market at $25 billion in 2024 and forecasts that it will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biospace.com/press-releases/glp-1-receptor-agonist-market-worth-55-70-billion-by-2031-coherent-market-insights" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">surpass $55.7 billion by 2031.</a></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cellino-inks-a-deal-to-build-a-stem-cell-foundry-at-mass-general"><strong>Cellino Inks A Deal To Build A Stem Cell Foundry At Mass General</strong></h2>



<p><strong><abbr>F</abbr>or more than a decade</strong>, biotech researchers have been exploring the possibility of regenerating damaged parts of the body as a way to treat degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and type 1 diabetes. One of the most promising technologies to do so are induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can be programmed to turn into basically any kind of cell.</p>



<p>The catch: making these cells is a labor-intensive process that can cost millions of dollars to produce tissue for just one patient. Biotech startup Cellino, cofounded in 2017 by CEO and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/pictures/5bda143431358e5b43352bd7/marinna-madrid-28-nabiha/"><em>Forbes&nbsp;</em>30 Under 30 alumna Nabiha Saklayen,</a>&nbsp;is now one step closer to scaling iPSC manufacturing. It’s building its first foundry at Massachusetts General Brigham’s Gene and Cell Therapy Institute. Cellino has raised a total of $100 million in venture funding at a valuation of $140 million as of January 2022, according to Pitchbook.</p>



<p>The foundry will use the automated systems that Cellino has developed (<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2024/09/10/this-startup-aims-to-regenerate-damaged-tissues-with-the-help-of-ai-and-lasers/">read more about the tech here</a>) to generate iPSCs from patients’ blood or skin cells on-site. The company estimates that use of the foundry, which is set to go online next year, could reduce costs by a factor of ten. More importantly, a scalable, consistent process will make it easier to manufacture new treatments that can go through the clinical trial process and eventually be commercialized, CEO Saklayen told&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>.</p>



<p>“With high quality cells, we can start to see what the readout is in patients and know how potent the medicine is,” she said. “That’s hard to tell if the manufacturing isn’t standardized. So that’s what I’m really excited about.”</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-biotech-and-pharma"><strong>BIOTECH AND PHARMA</strong></h2>



<p>Last December, the FDA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-mesenchymal-stromal-cell-therapy-treat-steroid-refractory-acute-graft-versus-host" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">approved</a>&nbsp;Mesoblast’s drug Ryoncil, which is the first time a mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy has received a green light from the agency. MSCs are adult stem cells found in bone marrow that can turn into different types of cells. Ryoncil is used to treat children with severe graft-versus-host disease (GVH) following a stem cell transplant, which is typical for leukemia patients. It’s also the first approved treatment for children with this disease who don’t respond to steroids.</p>



<p>Mesoblast CEO Silviu Itescu told&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;last week that the company plans to begin commercial sales of the drug this quarter, with the remaining obstacles being setting pricing with payers and shipping product to hospital. “We have inventory for at least the next couple of years for children with acute GVH,” he said. The company is also pursuing clinical trials for adults with GVH as well as for the use of its stem cell products for children with severe Crohn&#8217;s disease, he said.</p>



<p>The publicly traded company’s shares are down 21% so far this year, at a recent $16.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-digital-health-and-ai"><strong>DIGITAL HEALTH AND AI</strong></h2>



<p>AI biotech startup Genesis Therapeutics&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250220803826/en/Incyte-and-Genesis-Therapeutics-Announce-Strategic-AI-focused-Research-Collaboration" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">entered</a>&nbsp;an agreement with pharmaceutical company Incyte to use Genesis’ AI drug discovery platform, GEMS, to discover small molecule drug candidates against two undisclosed targets. Under the terms of the arrangement, Incyte will pay Genesis $30 million upfront and up to $295 million in milestones per target over the course of the collaboration, plus royalties. Incyte, which has a $14 billion market cap, focuses on oncology, immunology and dermatology and other unmet needs. This is the third deal for Genesis since September, following similar collaborations with pharmaceutical company Gilead and AI powerhouse Nvidia.</p>



<p>“We found it was a really natural fit to combine GEMS and its ability to drug challenging targets with some of the needs Incyte had for some of its pipeline programs,” Genesis CEO Evan Feinberg told&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>, adding that another reason he wanted to work with Incyte is its “track record of pioneering completely new areas of medicine.”</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-medtech"><strong>MEDTECH</strong></h2>



<p>Medical device maker Medtronic (market cap $116 billion) gained FDA approval for a new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medtechdive.com/news/Medtronic-DBS-BrainSense-Parkinsons-FDA-approval/740757/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">self-adjusting deep brain stimulation device</a>&nbsp;for people with Parkinson’s disease, a nervous system disorder that affects movement. The BrainSense Adaptive device works similarly to a cardiac pacemaker, but for the brain, using a surgically implanted neurostimulator to transmit electrical signals to the specific areas of the brain affected by the disease. Medtronic said that the approval was the first for an adaptive deep brain stimulation device for Parkinson’s, and that it would be the largest ever commercial rollout of a brain-computer interface technology. Some 1 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with the debilitating neurological disorder.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-public-health-and-hospitals"><strong>PUBLIC HEALTH AND HOSPITALS</strong></h2>



<p>Measles keeps spreading in West Texas. There are now&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/health/measles-texas-cases/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">124 confirmed cases,</a>&nbsp;most of them in West Texas where the outbreak began. The West Texas outbreak is the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/west-texas-measles-outbreak-spreads-amid-vaccine-hesitancy-in-some-communities" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">largest the state has seen in 30 years,</a>&nbsp;and highlights the difficulties convincing people to get vaccines in the current environment. A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/02/26/texas-measles-outbreak-first-death-reported-as-over-120-infected/">first death from the disease</a>&nbsp;was reported on Wednesday morning. A separate, potentially related, measles outbreak in New Mexico has now grown to nine cases. The outbreak has also spurred parents who’d previously chosen not to vaccinate children to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/texas-measles-outbreak-grows-parents-vaccinate-rcna193637" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">change their minds</a>.</p>



<p>Plus:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiejennings/2021/10/12/meet-the-sudanese-doctor-who-turned-nurse-staffing-on-its-head/">Healthcare hiring unicorn Incredible Health</a>&nbsp;is expanding from nurses to technicians, a workforce that makes up 60% of all healthcare workers and is now facing a shortage. The San Francisco-based startup will also go beyond hospitals to home health organizations and ambulatory care centers. Incredible Health,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2021/10/12/next-billion-dollar-startups-2021/">an alum of the 2021 Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups list,</a>&nbsp;has placed more than 1 million nurses in 1,500 hospitals across the country since it launched in 2017. It has been testing hiring of technicians in nine states, including California, New York and Texas, and plans to complete the national rollout by year end.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-deal-of-the-week"><strong>DEAL OF THE WEEK</strong></h2>



<p>Eikon Therapeutics, which is developing a pipeline of drugs to treat cancer, announced&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eikontx.com/news/eikon-therapeutics-secures-350-7-million-series-d-to-advance-clinical-stage-programs-and-future-pipeline/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">it has raised</a>&nbsp;$350 million, bringing its total funding to more than $1.1 billion. The Hayward, Calif.-based company, which was worth $3.7 billion before the latest investment, according to PitchBook, declined to disclose its new valuation. Eikon plans to use the new funds to support the ongoing development of its drug candidates, which target advanced melanoma as well as brain, ovarian, breast, prostate and pancreatic cancer. To facilitate its drug development, the company uses its own&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2022/01/06/this-startup-raised-over-500-million-to-find-better-drugs-with-nobel-prize-winning-microscopes/">advanced fluorescent microscopy technology</a>, which enables it to observe how different substances interact on the cellular level in real time. Eikon CEO Roger Perlmutter was previously head of R&amp;D at Merck.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-we-re-reading"><strong>WHAT WE’RE READING</strong></h2>



<p>A newly discovered coronavirus in bats&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00503-7" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">has the potential to spill over</a>&nbsp;into humans using the same pathway as the virus that causes Covid-19.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2025/02/20/this-ceo-became-a-billionaire-by-trying-to-bring-back-the-woolly-mammoth/">Billionaire Colossal Biosciences CEO</a>&nbsp;Ben Lamm sees uses for human health in efforts to resurrect the woolly mammoth.</p>



<p>At least three DOGE employees&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/doge-is-inside-the-national-institutes-of-health-nih/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">have access to&nbsp;</a>the National Institutes of Health’s systems that control finance, budget and procurement.</p>



<p>How&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/health/dr-oz-medicare-finances-conflicts.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Dr. Oz’s millions collide with Medicare</a>, including as a relentless promoter of controversial private Medicare Advantage insurance plans for older Americans.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-rehires-staff-medical-devices-division-mass-layoffs-rcna193501" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">FDA rehires staff</a>&nbsp;to its medical devices division after mass layoffs by Elon Musk’s DOGE. Meanwhile, the new administrator in charge of the FDA’s food division appears to have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/food-safety-donald-trump-jr-kyle-diamantas-hunting-buddy" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">no relevant experience</a>&nbsp;beyond hunting with Donald Trump Jr.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.grubstreet.com/article/bird-flu-crescent-duck-farm-doug-corwin-long-island.html?origSession=D250225bemIKt3OSACQ4UVJI%2FXSXx3Mv2q6AsYYvGKfm92CLFQ%3D&amp;_gl=1*1yjo6ki*FPAU*NDQ1NDkyOTg1LjE3NDA1MDQ1MDI.*_ga*MTYzNjUxMjM4OC4xNzQwNTA0NTAx*_ga_DNE38RK1HX*MTc0MDUwNDUwMS4xLjEuMTc0MDUwNDU1NC4wLjAuOTU3NzI1OTA2*_fplc*Wkp5NFh0JTJCZHQ3cjNybnFnRXp0RDA2alVvWXVjejJWREZSVjdxZzNJUUdCTGFFSTlFNFdFaUtHQmpFVTclMkJaQnplRlNkTkVjN0ZPdU95YVFHa0d3dk16OGxXd1JNZGthN0xQaFZSRTVQUXhZVCUyQkQ2R3RjQ3ElMkZKa2pKM3FjM3clM0QlM0Q." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Bird flu wiped out</a>&nbsp;Doug Corwin’s century-old Long Island duck farm, forcing him to cull the entire 100,000 flock.</p>



<p>Two people, one in Wyoming and one in Ohio, have been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/24/bird-flu-hospitalizations-wyoming-ohio" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">hospitalized</a>&nbsp;with avian flu.</p>



<p>New research finds that hormone therapy&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/transgender-youth-have-better-emotional-health-after-taking-hormones-new/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">significantly improves</a>&nbsp;the emotional health of young transgender people.</p>



<p>Health clinic workers brush up on constitutional protections for their patients as&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/california-health-clinics-immigration-raids-trump-constitutional-rights/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_PHm1EgQV5IFp-ZPdE0o5DQu7-uyQDe8A5XyGfJW5DfWXtePxvtJB7OXmVMT9PJMDISwEK6RFmV5AxsHlTOnI9JipW2w&amp;_hsmi=348996172&amp;utm_content=348996172&amp;utm_source=hs_email" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">immigration raids loom.</a></p>


Indianapolis – April 2016: Eli Lilly and Company V

Eli Lilly Has Stockpiled Nearly $550 Million Of Its Next Obesity Drug


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is ready to sign a stalled minerals deal with the United States in a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895793386990551336" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">thread on X</a>&nbsp;on Saturday, in which he also urged the United States to stand strongly behind Ukraine amid its war with Russia, one day after his meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance devolved into a near-shouting match.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<p><a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895793386990551336" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Zelenskyy said</a>&nbsp;he is grateful to Trump and Congress for bipartisan support for Ukraine throughout its three-year invasion by Russia, acknowledging “tough dialogue” without mentioning his contentious Friday White House meeting with Trump and Vance.</p>



<p>The&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895793627164471777" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ukrainian president said</a>&nbsp;he is ready to sign the minerals deal—which he and Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-zelenskiy-did-not-sign-minerals-deal-white-house-says-2025-02-28/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">did not sign</a>&nbsp;after their meeting Friday—but said the deal is not enough, stating a “ceasefire without security guarantees is dangerous for Ukraine” and “Ukrainian people need to know that America is on our side.”</p>



<p>“I want the U.S. to stand more firmly on our side,”&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895794114622615757" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Zelenskyy said</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895794247791755302" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">stating</a>&nbsp;Ukraine’s relationship with the United States is “historic and solid bond between our peoples” that extends beyond Trump and himself.</p>



<p>Zelenskyy said it is “understandable the U.S. might look for dialogue with Putin,” but frequently warned of Russia throughout his X thread, calling the country “the enemy” and stating Putin cannot be trusted to uphold a ceasefire.</p>



<p>Zelenskyy’s tweet thread comes one day after he posted thanks to many foreign leaders for reaffirming their support for Ukraine after his meeting with Trump, including German Chancellor&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895574049960706075" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Olaf Scholz</a>, Swedish Prime Minister&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895574466580861106" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ulf Kristersson</a>, European Parliament President&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895574887684874478" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Roberta Metsol</a>&nbsp;and European Commission President&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895577227255013664" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ursula von der Leyen</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Happened At Zelenskyy’s White House Meeting?</h2>



<p>Zelenskyy visited the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/02/28/trump-threatens-zelensky-during-tense-live-meeting-make-a-deal-or-were-out/">White House</a>&nbsp;Friday to discuss the minerals deal with the United States, but his visit was cut short and the signing called off after a talk with Trump and Vance in the Oval Office grew increasingly tense and verged on a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">shouting match</a>&nbsp;between the three leaders. When Vance suggested the path to peace should be through engaging in diplomacy, Zelenskyy questioned the vice president: “What kind of diplomacy, JD, (are you) speaking about?” stating Putin is an unreliable partner in a potential cease-fire deal. Vance then called Zelenskyy “disrespectful” for trying to “litigate this in front of the American media” and questioned whether Zelenskyy had thanked the United States for its support. Trump entered the argument after Zelenskyy said “everybody has problems. Even you, but you have nice ocean and don’t feel now, but you’ll feel it in the future,” telling Zelenskyy: “Don’t tell us what we’re gonna feel,” adding the Ukrainian president he is “gambling with World War III.” Trump later told Zelenskyy: “You’re either gonna make a deal or we are out.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Are The Details Of The Ukraine Minerals Deal?</h2>



<p>Trump has framed the minerals deal with Ukraine as necessary for repayment for military aid provided to Ukraine during its war with Russia. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/europe/ukraine-us-mineral-resources-deal-explained-intl-latam/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">terms of the deal</a>&nbsp;would reportedly establish a “reconstruction investment fund,” to which half the revenue from Ukraine’s state-owned natural resources projects would go. Zelenskyy has pushed for the deal to include greater security guarantees for Ukraine, though&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/25/trump-zelenskyy-ukraine-minerals-deal" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Trump has said</a>&nbsp;he would look for greater security for Ukraine “later on.” Trump initially demanded $500 billion from Ukrainian minerals from the deal, which Zelenskyy rejected, prompting Trump to call him a “dictator” in a tense war of words.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Minerals Does Ukraine Possess?</h2>



<p>Ukraine’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources says the country has Europe’s number-one graphite, lithium, titanium and uranium reserves, which are crucial for producing batteries, armor, defense materials and nuclear fuel. Partnering with Ukraine to source these minerals could reduce the United States’&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/17/what-are-ukraines-critical-minerals-and-why-does-trump-want-them" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reliance on China</a>&nbsp;and Russia to import these minerals.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">Trump, Zelenskyy, Vance Face Off In Oval Office Shouting Match—Here’s Everything They Said</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/02/28/trump-threatens-zelensky-during-tense-live-meeting-make-a-deal-or-were-out/">Trump-Zelenskyy Talks End Early After Trump Threatens Him In Tense Live Meeting: ‘Make A Deal Or We’re Out’</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


Zelenskyy Says He’ll Sign Minerals Deal And Urges US To ‘Stand More Firmly’ For Ukraine After Oval Office Clash


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>“Emilia Pérez” star Selena Gomez, billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey and Oscar winner Halle Berry are among the stars slated to present at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday evening, though Harrison Ford is no longer slated to present after receiving a&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/harrison-ford-no-longer-presenting-oscars-1236324484/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">shingles</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/harrison-ford-isnt-presenting-2025-oscars-shingles-diagnosis-1236151499/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">diagnosis</a>&nbsp;Friday.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>In keeping with Oscars tradition, the four&nbsp;<a href="https://press.oscars.org/news/oscarr-winners-robert-downey-jr-cillian-murphy-davine-joy-randolph-and-emma-stone-return" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">acting winners</a>&nbsp;from last year’s ceremony—Emma Stone, Cillian Murphy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Robert Downey Jr.—will all return to the Dolby Theatre stage to present this year.</p>



<p>Stars from some of this year’s nominated movies will present, including Selena Gomez (“Emilia Pérez”), Margaret Qualley (“The Substance”), Lily-Rose Depp (“Nosferatu”), Elle Fanning (“A Complete Unknown”), Joe Alwyn (“The Brutalist”) and Bowen Yang (“Wicked”)—as well as Zoe Saldaña, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for “Emilia Pérez.”</p>



<p>Past Oscar winners and nominees who are set to present include Halle Berry, Ana de Armas, Penélope Cruz, Whoopi Goldberg, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Goldie Hawn, Sterling K. Brown, Andrew Garfield, Samuel L. Jackson and billionaire Oprah Winfrey.</p>



<p>Other celebrities who will present include Willem Dafoe, Ben Stiller, Amy Poehler, June Squibb, Connie Nielsen, Gal Gadot, Dave Bautista, Alba Rohrwacher and Rachel Zegler.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-will-the-oscars-use-the-fab-5-presentations-this-year">Will The Oscars Use The “fab 5” Presentations This Year?</h2>



<p>Academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/oscars-remove-original-song-performances-1236282452/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;last month the “Fab 5” presentation—in which five previous Oscar winners honor each nominee in a given category one-by-one before presenting the award—would return for this year’s ceremony, though they did not specify which categories they would be for. The “Fab 5” presentation was used last year in the acting categories, in which previous winners, including Best Actress winners Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron, Sally Field, Michelle Yeoh and Jessica Lange gave tributes to nominees Lily Gladstone, Annette Bening, Emma Stone, Sanda Hüller and Carey Mulligan, respectively.&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/netflix-emilia-perez-oscar-campaign-karla-sofia-gascon-scandal-1236296776/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Variety reported</a>, citing anonymous sources, the “Fab 5” presentations will not be used in acting categories this year, and that the Academy made this decision before Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/02/05/emilia-prez-director-disavows-karla-sofa-gascns-tweets-and-slams-actress-for-playing-the-victim-all-the-films-controversies-explained/">ignited controversy</a>&nbsp;over resurfaced tweets in which she made disparaging remarks about Islam, diversity at the Oscars and George Floyd. Variety reported the “Fab 5” presentation will instead be used in the Best Director category and several other unspecified categories.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-are-the-oscars">When Are The Oscars?</h2>



<p>The Academy Awards will air at 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST on Sunday, March 2. The ceremony will broadcast live on ABC and will stream live on Hulu for the first time.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-is-nominated-at-the-oscars">Who Is Nominated At The Oscars?</h2>



<p>“Emilia Pérez,” a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/02/05/emilia-prez-director-disavows-karla-sofa-gascns-tweets-and-slams-actress-for-playing-the-victim-all-the-films-controversies-explained/">controversial</a>&nbsp;musical about a Mexican cartel leader who undergoes a gender transition, leads the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/01/23/oscar-nominations-2025-announced-emilia-prez-leads-with-13-nods-the-brutalist-and-wicked-get-10/">nomination tally</a>&nbsp;with 13 total. “Wicked” and “The Brutalist” follow with 10 each. Those three films, as well as “Anora,” “Conclave,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Dune: Part Two,” “I’m Still Here,” “Nickel Boys” and “The Substance,” are nominated for Best Picture, the ceremony’s biggest prize.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/01/23/oscar-nominations-2025-announced-emilia-prez-leads-with-13-nods-the-brutalist-and-wicked-get-10/">Oscar Nominations 2025 Announced: ‘Emilia Pérez’ Leads With 13 Nods, ‘The Brutalist’ And ‘Wicked’ Get 10</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/11/15/conan-obrien-will-host-2025-oscars-heres-why-that-might-mean-fewer-trump-jokes/">Conan O’Brien Will Host 2025 Oscars—Here’s Why That Might Mean Fewer Trump Jokes</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://sync.graph.bluecava.com/ds.png?p=4cb3430d-9dfd-11ef-a5fe-4201ac100015&amp;segment=forbeseval" alt=""/></figure>


31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards – Show

Who’s Presenting At The Oscars? Harrison Ford Drops Out—As Selena Gomez, Oprah Winfrey And More Will Reveal Academy Award Winners


<p><strong>The lights have always been on inside the so-called AI black boxes. Shifting commercial expectations and increasing awareness of the technology are seemingly changing the narratives. </strong></p>



<p>What if bias is actually fundamental to AI’s ability to work in the first place? Rules are imposed to, essentially, protect people, refine results and achieve specific goals but each rule can be seen as an introduction of bias. What needs to change is the implication that it is inherently bad.</p>



<p>“At the end of the day, you’re building a discerning machine and in order to discern, you need a filter and that, fundamentally, is bias,” says Alix Rübsaam, Vice President of Research, Expertise, Knowledge at Singularity.</p>



<p>It’s also important to understand how to use bias in the right ways and ensure AI delivers results that are relevant, which means prioritizing and understanding what data has been used to train the algorithm and why.</p>



<p>“It’s weird that we feel so defensive when it comes to our biases because these are what help us discern. Humans have biases because it is how our brains make sense of things. And if we pretend our AIs don’t have biases, we can’t optimize them or improve their ability to discern,” she says.</p>



<p>One could say that an algorithm used to determine specific results must have this. If the AI rejects the CV of a six-year-old applying for the role of CEO, the bias is relevant.</p>



<p>As Rübsaam points out, AI solution builders need to move away from the knee-jerk response that there should be bias-free algorithms but instead own up to the ones they have introduced because it defines the accuracy of the algorithm.</p>



<p>This then turns the conversation towards the concept of the AI black box – the ‘darkness’ that sits within the algorithms. IBM describes it as “an AI system whose internal workings are a mystery to its users”.</p>



<p>“For the last decade, some of the loudest voices in the AI space have always said [this]; that they don’t know why it does what it does,” says Rübsaam.</p>



<p>“AI has been given the data and trained itself and is now making decisions based on motivations that they cannot discern. This is just not true because there are always ways to either go in after the fact, or to build models that tell you why an AI does what it does.”</p>



<p>It has been technically possible all along – expensive and time-consuming, but possible. As Rübsaam points out, isn’t that the very purpose of AI?</p>



<p>“When you hear a problem described as complex, time-consuming and expensive, that’s exactly the type of problems we use AI for. It has never made sense to me that the AI black box has been such a predominant narrative.”</p>



<p>In 2019, Rübsaam alongside Ty Henkaline, an AI and data science expert who worked with her at Singularity, developed a model that allowed users to train their own algorithms and extrapolate all the decision-making that needs to go into making an AI before it even comes into existence.</p>



<p>It sheds some light on how human biases distort AI. People don’t realize they’re making biased decisions until they sit down with their hands in the code or how they select specific datasets.</p>



<p>“This can go wrong – recently a study showed the efficiency of facial recognition algorithms which analyzed across four quadrants; the AI’s abilities to detect whether a face was present was wildly skewed towards white male faces. The dataset given to AI was not statistically representative.”</p>



<p>This use case underscores the importance of knowing what you’re training your AI on, and what the parameters of the dataset are. Now, transparency itself has become a commodity.</p>



<p>Over the past year, companies like Anthropic and Microsoft have turned the light on inside AI, reportedly finding clues to how large language models (LLMs) work for the ‘greater good’.</p>



<p>Mark Zuckerberg released Llama 2 which he described as an open-source model. DeepMind came out with an open weights model called RecurrentGemma based on the Griffin architecture, and then NVIDIA released a paper which indicated that they would open not just the weights, but also the training data.</p>



<p>In the space of about six months, notable players in the industry started to increase transparency regarding their models.</p>



<p>“It’s an interesting time because I think we might finally be in a place to say maybe AI was never the black box we said it was; we just didn’t take the steps to do the analysis to actually discern it,” Rübsaam explains.</p>



<p>“It’s key to showing the bias [and] the weights in decision-making, which means we can improve the quality of AI and move away from universally applicable AI models.</p>



<p>“We can start thinking about how a particular solution matches the problem we’re trying to solve,” she concludes.</p>


Artificial Intelligence warning danger in black box on network

‘Maybe It Was Never The Black Box We Said It Was’: Bias, Analysis And Relevance In The Evolving World Of AI


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Artificial intelligence powerhouse OpenAI announced its latest chat model Thursday, starting a limited roll out of GPT-4.5, which OpenAI chief Sam Altman called a “giant” and “expensive” model that “feels like talking to a thoughtful person.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>OpenAI called GPT-4.5 its “largest and most knowledgeable model yet” in a&nbsp;<a href="https://cdn.openai.com/gpt-4-5-system-card.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">document</a>&nbsp;summarizing the new chatbot, saying user interaction with it feels more natural.</p>



<p>OpenAI said the new model features a broader knowledge base, better emotional intelligence and improved contextual understanding, noting the improvements make it well-suited for problem-solving, writing and programming tasks.</p>



<p>The new model supposedly has fewer hallucinations— a common euphemism for when AI models produce inaccurate or misleading results.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-powerful-is-gpt-4-5">How Powerful Is Gpt-4.5?</h2>



<p>GPT-4.5 has more than 10 times the amount of computational efficiency of GPT-4, according to the document, which means it takes less time and resources to solve a problem.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-can-use-gpt-4-5">Who Can Use Gpt-4.5?</h2>



<p>GPT-4.5 is only available to users subscribed to ChatGPT Pro, a $200 per month plan that gives users the highest level of access to OpenAI’s products. Altman said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/sama/status/1895203654103351462" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">tweet</a>&nbsp;OpenAI wanted to launch the new model on the ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Pro plans simultaneously, but could not due to a shortage of graphics processing units needed to support such a rollout. Altman added OpenAI will add tens of thousands of GPUs next week, allowing for GPT-4.5 to become available on the ChatGPT Plus plan, which is $20 per month.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">Forbes Valuation</h2>



<p>We estimate Altman’s net worth at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/sam-altman/">$1.1 billion</a>, a figure established through the CEO’s investments in Reddit, Stripe and fusion power company Helion.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>The release of GPT-4.5 comes a little less than two years after OpenAI launched GPT-4 and just a few weeks after the company revealed “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/01/23/openais-operator-what-we-know-about-new-ai-assistant-capable-of-ordering-groceries-making-reservations/">Operator</a>,” an AI assistant designed to carry out tasks on the internet for users like grocery orders, ticket purchases and lecture downloads. OpenAI is also eyeing a funding round that could double its value to an eye-popping $340 billion. The funding round, if completed, would place OpenAI’s valuation far above competitors like the Elon Musk-owned xAI (valued at roughly $50 billion) and Amazon-backed AI firm Anthropic, which valued at $18 billion and is reportedly in talks for a funding round that would boost its valuation to $60 billion.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/01/30/openai-eyeing-funding-round-that-would-double-its-value-report-says/">OpenAI Eyeing Funding Round That Would Double Its Value, Report Says</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/01/23/openais-operator-what-we-know-about-new-ai-assistant-capable-of-ordering-groceries-making-reservations/">OpenAI’s ‘Operator’: What We Know About New AI Assistant Capable Of Ordering Groceries, Making Reservations</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


In this photo illustration a Open AI logo is displayed on a

OpenAI Debuts GPT-4.5—What We Know About The Latest ChatGPT Model


<p><strong>The African Development Bank (AfDB), one of Africa’s most powerful financial institutions, is set to elect a new president on May 29 — a decision that could shape the continent’s economic trajectory for years to come.</strong></p>



<p>With billions of dollars in funding and development projects at stake, the African Development Bank (AfDB) election has drawn five candidates from across the continent, each offering a distinct vision for the bank’s future.</p>



<p>Among them is Amadou Hott of Senegal, a former AfDB Vice President and ex-Minister of Economy, who argues that Africa must act &#8220;faster, bigger, and with more determination&#8221; to unlock its economic potential.</p>



<p>Founded in 1964, the AfDB is the continent’s leading financial institution, funding infrastructure, energy, and economic projects across Africa. Headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, it provides loans and grants to spur growth, reduce poverty, and tackle climate change.</p>



<p>Unlike many African institutions, the AfDB has global influence, with 81 member countries — including the United States, China, and France — that contribute to its capital and influence its policies. The election of its next president will determine how the bank mobilizes billions in investment and navigates Africa’s economic challenges, from rising debt to climate finance shortfalls.</p>



<p>Hott, who has worked both inside the AfDB and within Senegal’s government, sees slow financing and high borrowing costs as major obstacles to Africa’s growth.</p>



<p>“Africa is paying five to eight times more than developed countries when we go to the capital market,” Hott told CNBC Africa, arguing that the AfDB should leverage its equity to raise more money and help African nations access cheaper financing.</p>



<p>He also stressed the need for domestic resource mobilization, pointing out that Africa loses $90 billion annually due to illicit financial flows. “This continent is wealthy — not just in natural resources, but in financial capital,” he said, highlighting a report that estimates Africa’s high-net-worth individuals hold $2.5 trillion in wealth.</p>



<p>Hott believes the AfDB can play a key role in tapping into this wealth, reducing reliance on external funding, and speeding up project execution. “Everything is urgent. Many people are suffering. We need to support them fast, with drive and passion,” he said.</p>



<p>Hott faces competition from four other candidates, including Samuel Munzele Maimbo of Zambia, a former World Bank Vice President, specializing in financial sector development and economic reforms.</p>



<p>Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania is the head of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), with experience in regional finance.</p>



<p>Abbas Mahamat Tolli from Chad is the former Governor of the Bank of Central African States, known for his work in currency stability and financial regulation.</p>



<p>Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala of South Africa is the only female candidate, formerly AfDB’s Senior Vice President and Chief Finance Officer (CFO), seen as a continuity candidate.</p>



<p>Whoever wins will have to tackle major economic challenges, including Africa’s debt crisis as many nations are struggling with unsustainable debt, requiring new financing strategies.</p>



<p>On climate financing, despite contributing just 4% of global emissions, Africa receives only 3% of global climate funding.</p>



<p>For private-sector growth, the AfDB has been pushing for more private investment in sectors like infrastructure, fintech, and agribusiness.</p>



<p>The AfDB president is chosen by its Board of Governors, composed of finance ministers and central bank chiefs from 54 African countries and 27 non-African member states. To win, a candidate must secure a majority of votes from both groups.</p>



<p>With Africa’s economy projected to grow 4% in 2025, the stakes are high. The election will determine how the AfDB navigates a changing global economy, strengthens Africa’s financial independence, and mobilizes billions in investment for the continent’s future.</p>



<p>The AfDB’s current president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, will be completing his term in August.</p>


Daily Life in Ivory Coast’s Capital as Food Prices Soar

Race For Presidency Of African Development Bank Heats Up As Election Nears


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their New Mexico home, local law enforcement said Thursday, as officials—who referred to their deaths as “suspicious”—reported finding Arakawa with pills scattered on a nearby counter.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>Hackman, 95, Arakawa, 64, and one of their dogs, a German shepherd, were found dead when police entered their home for a welfare check at about 1:45 p.m. local time Wednesday, Sante Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila told Forbes.</p>



<p>No one else was inside the home and no foul play is suspected, according to the sheriff’s office.</p>



<p>Deputies were sent to Hackman’s home just outside of Santa Fe after a concerned neighbor called about the couple, the sheriff’s office told local TV affiliate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kob.com/news/top-news/actor-gene-hackman-wife-found-dead-in-santa-fe-home/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">KOB</a>, and Sheriff Adan Mendoza&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/us/gene-hackman-wife-dead-new-mexico.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;the New York Times an associate of Hackman and his family placed an emergency call after they discovered their bodies.</p>



<p>Two alive dogs were also found within the home, Mendoza said.</p>



<p>Hackman was found on the floor in the home’s mud room—a space where shoes are left before entering a house—while Arakawa was found lying on her side in a bathroom, where unspecified pills were scattered on a nearby counter by an opened prescription bottle,&nbsp;<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/actor-gene-hackman-wife-found-dead-home-sheriff/story?id=119242578" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according&nbsp;</a>to ABC News, citing a search warrant affidavit.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-was-gene-hackman-s-cause-of-death">What Was Gene Hackman’s Cause Of Death?</h2>



<p>Details about how Hackman and Arakawa died were not disclosed, but the search warrant affidavit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/us/gene-hackman-wife-dead-new-mexico.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reportedly</a>&nbsp;said their deaths were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation” because of “circumstances surrounding” the scene. Elizabeth Jean Hackman, Hackman’s daughter,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tmz.com/2025/02/27/gene-hackman-family-suspects-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-death/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;TMZ that while law enforcement is unsure about their cause of death, she believes they likely died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Both the Santa Fe City Fire Department and the New Mexico Gas Company found no signs of carbon monoxide leaks within the home, ABC News reported. The search warrant affidavit also indicated Hackman appeared to have fallen suddenly and both he and Arakawa—whose body showed signs of decomposition—“showed obvious signs of death.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">Big Number</h2>



<p>2. That is the total number of Academy Awards Hackman won in his career, including “Best Actor” for his leading role in the 1971 action and crime drama “The French Connection” and “Best Supporting Actor” for his work in the 1993 western “Unforgiven.” In total, Hackman was nominated for an Oscar five times.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">Crucial Quote</h2>



<p>Director Francis Ford Coppola, who directed Hackman in the 1974 film ‘The Conversation,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.threads.net/@francisfordcoppola/post/DGkjPl-xAEx?xmt=AQGzLsFSfidFMp1QIdylndCN6DGhgrBLZ6zfeXzs1n01Unc" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">paid tribute to the actor</a>&nbsp;on Threads, saying: “The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity. I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution.” On X, Edgar Wright&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/edgarwright/status/1895036854472450072" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">hailed</a>&nbsp;Hackman as “The greatest…” Star Trek actor George Takei&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/GeorgeTakei/status/1895044356848918793" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">tweeted</a>: “We have lost one of the true giants of the screen. Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it. He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Hackman, an actor who starred in films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/19/magazine/hollywood-s-uncommon-everyman.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reportedly</a>&nbsp;met Arakawa in the mid-1980s as she worked at a California gym. Arakawa, a classically trained pianist from Hawaii, moved in with Hackman just outside of Sante Fe near the Rocky Mountains. They built a new 2,300-square-foot home in 2000 with a market value of just over $1 million, the Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-found-dead-f6c106e92987aeaaab7b35c1b956a5c8" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reported</a>. Hackman, who largely remained out of the public eye since his retirement, had three children—including Elizabeth Hackman—with his ex-wife Faye Maltese, who died in 2017. He was airlifted to a hospital after he was hit by a car in 2012, though he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/gene-hackman-hit-car-flna1c9379797" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">suffered</a>&nbsp;only minor injuries.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/sheriff-gene-hackman-wife-found-dead-in-santa-fe-home-no-foul-play-suspected/article_2ea8855a-f4b8-11ef-b501-73232a2b5213.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Sheriff: Gene Hackman, wife found dead in Santa Fe home; no foul play suspected</a>&nbsp;(Santa Fe New Mexican)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/gene-hackman-dead-french-connection-actor-95-893902-1236148755/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gene Hackman, Oscar-Winning Star of ‘The French Connection,’ Dies at 95</a> (The Hollywood Reporter)<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/"></a></p>


GettyImages-104892858w

Actor Gene Hackman And His Wife Found Dead With Pills Scattered Nearby, Police Say


<p><strong>These artifacts, which include a bell, relief plaques, a coconut casing, and a staff, were looted by British soldiers during the 1897 expedition.</strong></p>



<p>Nigeria is set to receive the single largest return of Benin antiquities directly linked to the 1897 British punitive expedition.</p>



<p>This is according to Olugbile Holloway, Director General of the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments.</p>



<p>The Netherlands has agreed to return 119 Benin Bronzes, including 113 objects from the Dutch State Collection and six additional objects from the municipality of Rotterdam.</p>



<p>&#8220;We hope this will set a good example for other nations of the world in terms of repatriation of lost or looted antiquities,&#8221; Holloway reportedly said.</p>



<p>The Benin Bronzes are an essential part of Nigeria&#8217;s history and cultural identity, and their return is seen as a significant step towards rectifying the historical injustices of the past, according to Netherlands&#8217; Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Eppo Bruins who made the decision.</p>


British Museum’s Security In Question After Revelations Of Missing Treasures

Nigeria Set To Receive Single Largest Return Of Benin Antiquities Linked To 1897 British Expedition


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Hunter Schafer, a transgender actress best known for her role on the HBO drama “Euphoria,” posted a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/PopBase/status/1892978350223769938" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">video</a>&nbsp;to her TikTok story stating she had to renew her stolen passport, but the passport she received lists her sex as male, which she said was due to President Donald Trump’s executive order defining a person’s gender as either male or female based on what was assigned at birth.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>Schafer said her new passport says “male” despite her selecting “female” while filling out paperwork, and she said all of her previous forms of identification, including passports and driver’s licenses, have said female.</p>



<p>Schafer cited the&nbsp;<a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/passport-help/sex-marker.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Bureau of Consular Affairs</a>, the agency that issues passports, which says on its website it will “only issue passports with an M or F sex marker that match the customer&#8217;s biological sex at birth” and will no longer use the “X” marker for nonbinary people, citing Trump’s day-one executive order that defines sex as either male or female assigned at birth.</p>



<p>The actress criticized the Trump administration, stating she is “never going to stop being trans” and “a letter on a passport can’t change that.”</p>



<p>Schafer said she didn’t post the video to receive consolation, citing her “privilege as a celebrity trans woman who is white,” but to call awareness to “other trans women who this might also be happening to.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-did-trump-s-executive-order-do">What Did Trump’s Executive Order Do?</h2>



<p>On the first day of his second presidential term, Trump issued an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">executive order</a>&nbsp;titled, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The order directed federal agencies to recognize “two sexes, male and female,” which “are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” The order specifies passports, as well as other forms of government-issued identification, must reflect sex assigned at birth. The order also prohibits federal funds from being used to “promote gender ideology,” which it defines as “the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one’s sex.” Trump has issued other executive orders targeting trans people, including one that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/trump-executive-order-transgender-military-dei-rcna189470" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">prohibits trans people</a>&nbsp;from serving in the military, and another that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/trump-executive-order-ban-trans-women-sports-rcna190767" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">bars trans women</a>&nbsp;from participating in women’s sports.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">Crucial Quote</h2>



<p>“I don’t give a f— that they put a M on my passport. It doesn’t change really anything about me or my transness, however, it does make life a little harder,” Schafer said, adding she will likely have to out herself as trans to border patrol agents when she travels.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">Tangent</h2>



<p>Trump’s executive order preventing gender markers from being changed on passports has already faced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gender-affirming-care-lawsuit-transgender-19-97965f9f1b2fb070dcacdb744c2f03c8" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">legal challenges</a>. A group of transgender people, represented by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/cases/orr-v-trump" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">American Civil Liberties Union</a>, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Boston earlier this month alleging the policy discriminates against individuals based on sex and transgender status and infringes First Amendment rights to free speech and expression.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/us/transgender-americans-lawsuit-trump-passports.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Transgender Americans Challenge Trump’s Passport Policy in Court</a>&nbsp;(New York Times)</p>



<p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-order-transgender-nonbinary-passport-dd7d25350afea024c0a9de1011174e2c" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">The US stopped allowing passport gender marker changes. Here are some of the people affected</a>&nbsp;(Associated Press)</p>


2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards  – Arrivals

Trans Actress Hunter Schafer Says Her Passport Now Lists Her Sex As Male After Trump Executive Order


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Nearly a decade after releasing her most recent album “Anti,” billionaire pop star and beauty mogul Rihanna hinted at her long-awaited new music in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, stating she’s been in the studio for eight years but finally had the realization about what she wants her new album to sound like.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>Rihanna told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a63741955/rihanna-motherhood-music-dior-campaign-interview-2025/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Harper’s Bazaar</a>&nbsp;she “just came to that realization” of the direction for her new music, stating she finally “cracked the code” and is “feeling really good about this.”</p>



<p>She said her new music is “not going to be anything that anybody expects” and will not be “commercial or radio digestible,” stating it is “where my artistry deserves to be right now.”</p>



<p>The singer acknowledged she has “kept saying this over the years,” referring to the ongoing nine-year wait for a new album since she released “Anti” in 2016.</p>



<p>Rihanna debunked rumors that have circulated that the new album would be reggae music, calling the rumor “way off” and stating her new music has “no genre.”</p>



<p>She alluded to pressure she feels to get the new music right after such a long hiatus, telling Harper’s Bazaar she has to show fans “the worth in the wait” and that she “cannot put up anything mediocre.”</p>



<p>Rihanna, however, did not provide any details on a timeline or a title for the new album.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Fans, yearning for new music, have lamented the lengthy wait for Rihanna’s upcoming ninth album, which does not yet have a name but is referred to by fans as “R9.” She hasn’t released an album since January 2016, when “Anti” topped the charts. The wait is uncharacteristically long for Rihanna, who released seven albums between 2005 and 2012, garnering 14 No. 1 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100. She made a brief return to music in 2023, writing and singing “Lift Me Up” for the film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which earned her an Oscar nomination. During her hiatus from music, Rihanna started a relationship with rapper A$AP Rocky, with whom she has two children.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">Tangent</h2>



<p>Rihanna has acknowledged the long wait for her album—but she also sometimes trolls her fans, like when she wore a shirt that said “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/06/11/rihanna-starting-over-on-long-delayed-new-album-and-denies-retiring-despite-viral-rumors/">I’m Retired</a>” last year. The shirt went viral, and some fans feared she was serious, but she later denied in an interview that she was retired. In 2020, the singer told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.etonline.com/rihanna-talks-new-fenty-line-and-antagonizing-her-fans-about-upcoming-album-exclusive-141150" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Entertainment Tonight</a>: “I like to antagonize my fans a little bit. Well, they antagonize me, too! So, they get it right back.” She also posted a video to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/badgalriri/reel/B6Ybc0snGw9/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Instagram</a>&nbsp;in 2019 of a dog jumping up and down, captioned: “me listening to ‘R9’ by myself and refusing to release it.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">Forbes Valuation</h2>



<p>Rihanna is worth $1.4 billion, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/rihanna/">Forbes estimates</a>. Much of her net worth comes from the value of Fenty Beauty, her popular cosmetics brand, which she co-owns with French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. She also owns a 28% stake in Savage X Fenty, her lingerie and loungewear brand. Rihanna is the world’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/10/08/taylor-swift-becomes-worlds-richest-female-musician-heres-who-is-right-behind-her/">second-richest female musician</a>, only behind Taylor Swift, who passed Rihanna when her net worth reached $1.6 billion last year.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a63741955/rihanna-motherhood-music-dior-campaign-interview-2025/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Rihanna Is the People’s Pop Star</a>&nbsp;(Harper’s Bazaar)</p>


Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show – Press Conference

Rihanna Says She Finally ‘Cracked The Code’ On Long-Awaited New Album


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Pope Francis had a restful night Saturday, the Vatican said Sunday morning, after the 88-year-old leader of the Catholic Church suffered a respiratory crisis, putting him in critical condition following his week-long hospitalization for a lung infection.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>“The night passed quietly, the pope rested,” The Vatican said in a brief statement early Sunday, as quoted by the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-pneumonia-06324d49846f26a24acec1da5fc74ab2" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Associated Press</a>.</p>



<p>It then followed up later Sunday saying Francis is conscious and tests are still being conducted on him, and he is also receiving supplemental oxygen.</p>



<p>The Vatican said Saturday Francis suffered a “long asthmatic respiratory crisis,” days after he was hospitalized for pneumonia.</p>



<p>Francis “continue[d] to be alert” Saturday, but was more ill than he was Friday, the Vatican said.</p>



<p>Francis has also received blood transfusions following tests that indicated a condition associated with anemia, the AP reported, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-pneumonia-hospital-b211a400c4cedc1f419d932447cfc189" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">doctors expect</a>&nbsp;he will remain hospitalized through the next week.</p>



<p>The pope’s medical team previously said Friday his condition is not life-threatening, but that he is “not out of danger.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">Crucial Quote</h2>



<p>The Vatican released an Angelus&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2025/documents/20250223-angelus.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">statement</a>&nbsp;from Pope Francis on Sunday, in which the pope remarked on the upcoming third anniversary of the war in Ukraine and thanked the public for their messages of support about his hospital stay, asking people to “pray for me.” “I am confidently continuing my hospitalization at the Gemelli Hospital, carrying on with the necessary treatment; and rest is also part of the therapy!” Pope Francis said, as translated by The Vatican. “I sincerely thank the doctors and health workers of this hospital for the attention they are showing me and the dedication with which they carry out their service among the sick.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">What To Watch For</h2>



<p>A more detailed update on Francis’ condition is expected later Sunday.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-do-we-know-about-the-pope-s-health">What Do We Know About The Pope’s Health?</h2>



<p>The pope has pneumonia in both lungs, as well as bacterial, viral and fungal infections, according to his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-pneumonia-hospital-b211a400c4cedc1f419d932447cfc189" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">doctors</a>. His doctors have given him supplemental oxygen when necessary, and they are treating him with a drug therapy they say Francis is responding to. Doctors also prescribed Francis “absolute rest,” and several of his public events have been canceled. Doctors have said the primary threat to Francis’ health would be the onset of sepsis, a serious condition that could arise from pneumonia complications, though Francis has not shown signs of sepsis so far.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Francis, 88, has led the church as pope for 12 years since his election in 2013. Francis has been hospitalized several times in recent years, including one hospital stay in July 2021 for a narrowing of his large intestine, and another in 2023 for bronchitis. Francis has chronic bronchitis and a history of respiratory issues.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-pneumonia-hospital-b211a400c4cedc1f419d932447cfc189" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Pope Francis isn’t out of danger but his condition isn’t life-threatening, medical team says</a>&nbsp;(Associated Press)</p>


Vatican Pool Images 2024

Pope Francis Had Restful Night After Reports Of Critical Condition


<p><strong>This marks a shift from six rate hikes in 2024.</strong></p>



<p>Nigeria&#8217;s central bank has opted to maintain its benchmark lending rate at 27.50%, as announced by Governor Olayemi Cardoso.</p>



<p>The bank made the decision at its 299th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting concluded today.</p>



<p>This development comes on the heels of the rebasing exercise by the west African nation statistics agency recently, revealing a significantly lower annual inflation rate of 24.48% last month from 34.80% in December last year.</p>



<p>The rate hikes in 2024 cumulatively totaled 875 basis points, aimed at reining in inflation.</p>


Nigeria’s Dying ATMs Leave a Cash-Shaped Hole Filled by Agents

Nigeria Holds Benchmark Rate Steady At 27.50% Amid Lower Inflation


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Apple announced Wednesday a new addition to its iPhone 16 series, debuting the iPhone 16e to customers, who will soon be able to pre-order the lower-cost model that includes some of the bells and whistles of Apple’s latest iPhone lineup.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>The iPhone 16e will be available for pre-order Friday and launch on Feb. 28, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/02/apple-debuts-iphone-16e-a-powerful-new-member-of-the-iphone-16-family/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Apple</a>, which said the phone would deliver fast performance and “breakthrough battery life” at a more affordable price than other iPhone 16 models.</p>



<p>The iPhone 16e will be powered by the same A18 chip found in the more expensive iPhone 16 base model and has the same 6.1-inch screen the base model has.</p>



<p>The new phone has a 48 megapixel camera system and can shoot video at 4k resolution at 60 frames per second.</p>



<p>The product will also feature Apple Intelligence, the phonemaker’s artificial intelligence tool limited to the iPhone 15 and 16 lineups.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-much-does-the-iphone-16e-cost">How Much Does The Iphone 16e Cost?</h2>



<p>The iPhone 16e starts at $599 for its 128 gigabyte model, making it $200 cheaper than the base iPhone 16 model. The 256 GB iPhone 16e is priced at $699, while the 512 GB version is $899.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Apple has typically released affordable versions of its iPhones through its iPhone SE lineup, which featured smaller displays, lightning ports for charging and lower-performing chips. The iPhone 16e’s release also comes just five months after the release of the iPhone 16 lineup, bucking Apple’s trend of yearly iPhone releases. The tech giant reported $69.1 billion in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/01/30/apple-earnings-preview-record-results-expected-with-china-ai-concerns-in-focus/">iPhone sales last quarter</a>, falling short of Wall Street estimates by nearly $2 billion. Apple’s sales in China also came up $2.4 billion short of expectations during the quarter, generating $18.5 billion in the country dominated by the Huawei and Xiaomi smartphone brands. However, Apple managed 4% year-over-year sales growth and 10% net profit growth.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/01/30/apple-earnings-preview-record-results-expected-with-china-ai-concerns-in-focus/">Apple Earnings: Record Results Even As iPhone, China Sales Fall Short Of Forecasts</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


Economy And Business In Poland

Apple Announces Lower-Cost iPhone Launching This Month


<p><strong>The country’s parliament announced, on the day that the Budget Speech was expected to be delivered, that it would be postponed until a later date, reportedly over concerns within the GNU about a proposed 2% increase in VAT, among others.</strong></p>



<p>For the first time in its democratic history, South Africa has postponed its 2025 Budget Speech to March 12, after it was initially expected to be delivered on February 19.</p>



<p>This was after reports of an emergency cabinet meeting, called by President Cyril Ramaphosa, earlier on Wednesday following concerns by members of the executive committee, which included a proposed 2% increase in Value Added Tax (VAT). It would have taken the country’s VAT to 17% from the current 15%.</p>



<p>National Assembly speaker, Thoko Didiza announced to parliament that an agreement could not be reached regarding these proposals. &nbsp;</p>



<p>“Cabinet decided not to come and do a presentation of the budget and allow themselves enough time to relook at the budget and come back to this house in March, at a time at which they will inform us,” she said.</p>



<p>Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana later briefed the media on the postponement announcement, where the new date was announced.</p>



<p>“Cabinet is united in the view that the budget must strike a balance between the interest of the public, economic growth and fiscal sustainability,” he said.</p>



<p>Political party leaders in the country have each offered their view with the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Julius Malema stating that “this is unprecedented”.</p>



<p>“This is not a practice we want to set for this parliament. It is going to be your legacy that, during your tenure, that parliament could not debate and adopt a budget. You are denying this body an opportunity to receive a budget, debate it, accept it or reject it,” Malema added in parliament.</p>



<p>The Democratic Alliance&#8217;s (DA) John Steenhuisen later said, “There were some concerns around some of the proposals in the current budget that members of the GNU felt were not in-line with the growth agenda in South Africa”.</p>



<p>“What we want to do is come back with a budget that will give South Africans hope that there is now a big move forward under the Government of National Unity to fix the economy, create jobs and ensure that we can combat the high cost of living.”</p>


President Cyril Ramaphosa Launches South Africa’s G20 Presidency

South Africa’s 2025 Budget Postponed Until March 12


<p><strong>The cement producer is expanding in theEast African nation despite past security challenges.</strong></p>



<p>Aliko Dangote, founder of Dangote Industries with the subsidiary Dangote Cement, recently announced a $400 million investment to revive a second production line at the Mugher cement plant in Ethiopia.</p>



<p>The expansion, projected to be completed within the next 30 months, is expected to double the nine-year-old plant’s capacity to 5 million metric tons annually.</p>



<p>The plant, which is one of the Dangote cement plants operational in 10 countries across the continent, was reportedly plagued by violence and political instability.</p>



<p>“Despite the ups and downs, we have successfully repaid all our loans and repatriated our profit,” Africa&#8217;s richest man reportedly confirmed.</p>



<p>He also revealed plans for a new greenfield cement grinding unit with a capacity of 3 million tons per annum.</p>



<p>In partnership with state-owned Ethiopian Investment Holdings, Dangote&#8217;s company will invest in the Omo Kuraz sugar factory.</p>


30th Afreximbank Annual Import-Export Fair In Ghana

Sub-Saharan Africa’s Largest Cement Producer Bets Big On Ethiopia With Expansion Plans And New Greenfield Grinding Unit


<p><strong>Feuding with Drake turned the ‘Not Like Us’ performer into hip-hop’s hottest artist. Now he will take music’s biggest stage in New Orleans—for free.</strong></p>



<p><strong><abbr>T</abbr>he effects of last summer’s rap feud</strong>&nbsp;between&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/kendrick-lamar/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kendrick Lamar</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/drake/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Drake</a>&nbsp;continue to reverberate through the music industry, and the careers of its two combatants. This month,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/01/15/drake-sues-universal-music-group-for-defamation-over-kendrick-lamars-not-like-us/">Drake made headlines for bringing a defamation lawsuit</a>&nbsp;against Universal Music Group for its role in the back-and-forth, while Lamar prepares for the biggest gig of his life—headlining the halftime show at Super Bowl LIX on February 9.</p>



<p>It’s hard to imagine how the 37-year-old Lamar, who for much of his career has been seen as a critical darling with a cult-like following, would have been chosen by halftime show executive producer Jay-Z and his Roc Nation for music’s biggest stage were it not for the beef and the series of diss tracks it produced. “Not Like Us,” Lamar’s anthemic takedown of hip-hop’s best-selling artist, hit more than a billion streams on Spotify in 2024 and spent a record-setting 21 consecutive weeks atop Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart.</p>



<p>“The feud between him and Drake made him bigger; there’s no one that can sit here and argue that,” says Antwan “Amadeus” Thompson Sr., a multi-platinum music producer. “But [the Super Bowl] is going to catapult [Lamar’s] career to a whole other level. And I think it’s very important that artists take advantage of this because all eyes will be on him.&#8221;</p>



<p>The exposure given to halftime performers, playing in front of more than 80,000 fans inside New Orleans’ Superdome and more than 100 million across the country on TV, is why the Super Bowl is considered the most prestigious gig on the music calendar.</p>



<p>Every artist on the planet wants to take that stage, even if it means performing for free.</p>



<p>And that’s exactly what they’re asked to do. As has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2016/02/05/why-coldplay-and-beyonce-wont-be-paid-for-their-super-bowl-halftime-gig/">the custom for halftime headliners</a>&nbsp;for many years, Lamar won’t be paid for his 12-to-14-minute performance, other than the negligible union-mandated minimum. (Last year’s headliner, Usher, reportedly received $671.)</p>



<p>The NFL and halftime presenting sponsor Apple Music do cover the cost of the production, which in many years stretches to more than $10 million for sets that don’t last longer than 15 minutes. Some recent artists have chosen to pay millions more from their own pockets to maximize the Super Bowl spectacle.</p>



<p>The tradeoff is well worth it. After last year’s show, Usher reportedly received a 550% bump in overall Spotify streams, similar to what other performers have experienced in recent years.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2021/08/04/fentys-fortune-rihanna-is-now-officially-a-billionaire/">Rihanna</a>, the headliner in 2023, snuck in a plug for her&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2024/06/04/rihanna-launching-fenty-hair-billionaire-pop-star-expands-beauty-empire/">Fenty Beauty</a>&nbsp;brand during her set that was worth an estimated $44 million in earned media.</p>



<p>Like many halftime performers before him, Lamar will ride the Super Bowl bump into a 19-stop stadium tour across North America this summer alongside SZA, who has already been announced as a guest star for the halftime show. The pair have two songs together, “Luther” and “Gloria,” on Lamar’s new album,&nbsp;<em>GNX</em>, which he surprise-released in December. In addition, a movie produced by Lamar and&nbsp;<em>South Park</em>&nbsp;creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone is set to debut in July, distributed by Paramount.</p>



<p>It all represents a major step-up for Lamar, a member of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2017/11/14/kendrick-lamar-conscious-capitalist-the-30-under-30-cover-interview/">Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2014</a>&nbsp;who has won 17 Grammy Awards but never headlined stadium-sized shows before. His first taste came in 2022, when he was given a two-minute spot during Super Bowl LVI’s halftime performance led by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, seen as a passing of the torch in West Coast rap.</p>



<p>Because Lamar is so closely identified with his hometown of Los Angeles, being chosen for this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2024/09/09/nicki-minaj-and-others-seemingly-call-out-jay-z-for-picking-kendrick-lamar-for-super-bowl-over-lil-wayne-what-to-know/">a curious choice</a>. Since Jay-Z took on his role producing the halftime show in 2019, headlining artists have gotten younger, more diverse and more closely associated with the game’s host city. The obvious geographical choice in this case would have been New Orleans native and multi-platinum artist Lil Wayne.</p>



<p>“If I was Jay-Z, I would’ve absolutely gone with Lil Wayne,” says Thompson. He still believes a special guest appearance in the show is possible, but unlikely, in part because of Wayne’s allegiances to Drake, whom Wayne first discovered and signed to his Young Money label in 2008.</p>



<p>Yet Thompson admits that Lamar is unquestionably “the hottest artist in hip-hop” right now, and in the wake of the devastation left by January’s wildfire in Los Angeles, his selection suddenly has greater significance. One of the things fans admire about Lamar is that he raps about and advocates for substantive issues, whether it’s mental health or uniting the gangs in Los Angeles. Lamar’s music has a level of meaning and depth that are rare to see from a stage as big as the Super Bowl.</p>



<p>“He’s been the one to take stands during difficult times and talk about things that a lot of artists wouldn’t touch on,” says Thompson.</p>



<p>Jasmine Young, who serves as director of the Warner Music/Blavatnik Music Center at Howard University and previously worked on marketing campaigns at Def Jam records, agrees that the Super Bowl will boost Lamar’s career but adds that the NFL also stands to benefit from his cultural resonance just as much as he will benefit from its massive global audience.</p>



<p>“Nowadays people use hip-hop to sell their brands,” says Young. “You really can’t sell your brand without hip-hop.”</p>



<p>It’s a sentiment that echoes Lamar’s own words when he was announced for this year’s show back in September. “Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date,” Lamar said. “And I’ll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one.”</p>


Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show

Why Kendrick Lamar Won’t Get Paid For The Super Bowl Halftime Show


<p><strong>The new credit rating agency is part of the African Union’s push for fairer credit ratings that better reflect the continent’s economic realities.</strong></p>



<p>In June, Africa will officially launch its own credit rating agency, the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA).</p>



<p>“It is time for Africa to use the right scale, one that reflects its true weight,” Kenyan President William Ruto said today at the presidential breakfast dialogue on the establishment in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.</p>



<p>The event brought together other African leaders, including Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Ethiopia’s Taye Atske Selassie, and Zambia’s Hakainde Hichilema.</p>



<p>Currently, African nations rely on global rating agencies that critics say undervalue their economies, leading to higher borrowing costs.</p>



<p>AfCRA aims to address this by providing transparent, development-focused assessments.</p>



<p>A one-notch rating improvement could unlock $15.5 billion in additional funding — funds that could reduce reliance on aid and boost infrastructure, Ruto reportedly noted in statement.</p>



<p>Global credit rating agencies play a crucial role in determining how much it costs countries to borrow money from international markets.</p>



<p>However, African leaders and economic experts have long criticized these agencies for issuing ratings that they argue fail to reflect the true economic potential of African nations.</p>



<p>Critics claim that structural biases and outdated risk assessments result in lower-than-warranted ratings, making borrowing more expensive for African countries.</p>



<p>A study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) found that African nations pay an estimated $75 billion more in interest payments than they would if they were rated more fairly.</p>



<p>Lower credit ratings mean African countries often face higher borrowing costs, limiting their ability to fund infrastructure projects, social services, and economic development.</p>


The New York Times Climate Forward Summit 2023

Africa To Launch Own Credit Rating Agency In June Amid Calls For Fairer Assessments


<p><strong>Drone delivery and logistics company Zipline&#8217;s expansion comes at a time when the Nigerian government is seeking to improve healthcare outcomes nationwide.</strong></p>



<p>A drone logistics distribution center, operated by Zipline, is expected to serve health facilities and community delivery sites within a 38,000-square-kilometer area of Southern Nigeria’s Bayelsa.</p>



<p>The center, marked by a ceremony attended by Nigeria’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, and Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri, increases Zipline’s coverage in the state since 2023, now reaching 73 out of the state’s 83 wards.</p>



<p>‘’From its current facilities in Cross River and Bayelsa, it can serve the bordering states of Akwa Ibom and Abia, and Delta and Rivers, respectively. By sharing flight capacity (which surpasses 300 autonomous flights per day per facility), the operating expense for the system is spread across more users, bringing it down for everyone,’’ Akin Oyediran, Zipline’s Partnerships Executive in Nigeria, explains to FORBES AFRICA.</p>



<p>Through a Memorandum of Understanding signed last year with Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health, Zipline operating in the country since 2022 will support the country’s broader health infrastructure, with projections to reduce zero-dose children by 50%, avert 1.7 million disease cases, and save hundreds of thousands of lives over the next several years.</p>



<p>‘’This infrastructure will represent the world&#8217;s largest autonomous logistics system and will help deliver health and economic impact in Nigeria akin to other major historical infrastructure upgrades. The project is expected to enable access to high-quality, reliable healthcare for more than 60% of the country&#8217;s non-urban population, and unlock a myriad of health and societal benefits,’’ says Oyediran.</p>



<p>In addition to its health initiatives, Zipline is exploring ways to extend its reach into Nigeria’s agriculture sector. Its success in Rwanda, where drones have been used to deliver livestock vaccines and artificial insemination products, has provided a model that Zipline hopes to replicate in Nigeria.</p>



<p>In 2022, Zipline partnered with the Government of Rwanda, which included the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), to up the delivery of both healthcare and animal care goods in the country.</p>



<p>That year alone, the Ministry of Agriculture reportedly delivered more than 500,000 doses of animal health vaccines and more than 8,000 units of swine semen to vets and farmers, using Zipline</p>


Zipline Aircraft

Agriculture Is Next For Drone Logistics Company Expanding Healthcare Access In Southern Nigeria


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>CBS, Nickelodeon and other channels owned by Paramount will soon go dark on YouTube TV, as negotiations continue for both companies after they failed to reach a contract renewal to distribute Paramount’s channels on the streaming service.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<p>YouTube&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.youtube/inside-youtube/youtube-tv-and-paramount-programming-update/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">wrote</a>&nbsp;Wednesday that all Paramount content on the streaming service—including CBS, CBS Sports, MTV and Nickelodeon, among other channels—will become “unavailable” as early as Thursday.</p>



<p>Users will be offered an $8 credit if Paramount’s content is unavailable for an “extended period,” YouTube TV said.</p>



<p>Paramount—which launched a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.keepparamount.com/youtubetv/facts" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">separate website</a>&nbsp;for the dispute—claims YouTube TV is “attempting to pressure” the company toward “unfavorable and one-sided terms” in a new contract, alleging YouTube TV is “prioritizing their own interests over a fair agreement.”</p>



<p>Paramount said the company made a “series of offers” to YouTube TV, including an unspecified “comprehensive deal,” though YouTube TV says they are still “actively negotiating.”</p>



<p>Neither Paramount nor YouTube TV immediately responded to requests for comment.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Paramount Channels Will Be Affected?</h2>



<p>About 23 of Paramount’s networks would be pulled from YouTube TV, including CBS, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, TV Land, Paramount Network, CMT, VH1 and BET, among others (Paramount has a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.keepparamount.com/youtubetv/channels" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">list of affected channels</a>&nbsp;by ZIP code). CBS News affiliates will also go dark, Paramount said, including Atlanta’s WUPA, Boston’s WSBK, KTXA in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, New York’s WLNY, Philadelphia’s WPSG, Pittsburgh’s WPCW, Sacramento’s KMAX, San Francisco’s KPYX, Seattle’s KSTW and Tampa Bay’s WTOG. YouTube TV warned users subscribed to Paramount’s Paramount+, SHOWTIME and BET+ will also be unable to access content, including any recorded shows.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Big Number</h2>



<p>More than 8 million. That’s how many subscribers YouTube TV had as of Feb. 6, 2024,&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.youtube/inside-youtube/2024-letter-from-neal/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. That&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.youtube/inside-youtube/2024-letter-from-neal/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reportedly</a>&nbsp;makes YouTube TV the largest internet-based pay-for-TV service in the U.S. ahead of DirecTV Stream and Fubo.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Background</h2>



<p>YouTube TV’s latest contract dispute follows the service&#8217;s latest price hike, after the company pushed the price tag for its basic package by $10 to $82.99 per month in January. Disney-owned channels went dark on YouTube TV in December 2021, after both companies failed to complete contract negotiations before a deadline. The channels—ABC, ESPN and National Geographic, among others—went dark for about three days before YouTube TV and Disney reached an agreement, which included YouTube TV&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/19/media/youtube-tv-disney-deal-reach-deal/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">lowering</a>&nbsp;its monthly subscription rate. NBCUniversal had a&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/nbcu-youtube-tv-reach-deal-1235079414/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">similar dispute</a>&nbsp;with YouTube TV in October 2021, briefly threatening a blackout of NBC’s channels like NBC Sports and USA Network before the two companies reached an agreement before a deadline.</p>



<p></p>


Los Angeles Economy

Paramount Channels—CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV—Will Go Dark On YouTube TV: Here’s What To Know


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan announced on Thursday that they have ended discussions on a merger that would have created one of the largest automakers in the world after the two companies failed to reach an agreement on the structure of the deal.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>Both companies&nbsp;<a href="https://global.honda/en/investors/library/filings/filings2025021304/main/0/link/CY2025_20250213_TSEfling_2_e_1.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">issued</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/250213-00-e" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">statements</a>&nbsp;announcing the termination of the talks and said the decision was made to “prioritize speed of decision-making and execution of business measures” in a market that is being shaken by electric vehicles.</p>



<p>The statements pointed to a key disagreement between the two automakers over Honda’s proposal to change the structure of the deal, which was first announced in December.</p>



<p>Instead of establishing a joint holding company, Honda’s changed proposal called for Nissan to become its subsidiary “through a share exchange.”</p>



<p>Despite calling off the merger, the companies said they still intend to collaborate under a strategic partnership “aimed at the era of intelligence and electrified vehicles,” which was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/IR/TSE/ASSETS/2024/PDF/20240315_tse_e.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">first announced</a>&nbsp;in March last year.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-have-the-markets-reacted-to-the-merger-cancellation">How Have The Markets Reacted To The Merger Cancellation?</h2>



<p>The price of Honda Motors’ Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed shares rose 2.14% to $9.30 (¥1,434) on Thursday, while Nissan’s shares fell to $2.70 (¥415), down 0.35%.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-about-mitsubishi">What About Mitsubishi?</h2>



<p>Mitsubishi, in which Nissan is the largest shareholder with a 24% stake,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/en/newsroom/newsrelease/2024/20241223_1.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;in December that it had agreed with both Honda and Nissan to explore the possibility of participating or being involved in the merger. However, following Thursday’s announcement, Mitsubishi said it has also agreed to terminate its memorandum of understanding with the two companies “regarding the consideration of the structure for a tripartite collaboration.” However, like the other two automakers, Mitsubishi intends to collaborate under a EV and self-driving vehicle—focused “strategic partnership.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>The merger talks were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2024/12/17/honda-and-nissan-in-merger-talks-amid-efforts-to-boost-ev-offerings-report-says/%5C">first reported</a>&nbsp;in mid-December and confirmed by the two companies a week later.&nbsp;<a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Honda-and-Nissan-to-begin-merger-talks-amid-EV-competition" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">According to</a>&nbsp;Nikkei, increased pressure in the EV market from competitors like Tesla and Chinese carmakers like BYD has been a key driving force behind the deal. The merger talks, however, stagnated quickly as Honda expressed concerns about Nissan’s financial health. In the first half the ongoing financial year for Nissan, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/IR/FINANCIAL_RESULTS/ASSETS/DATA/2024/20242nd_presentation_423_e.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reported</a>&nbsp;a 94% drop in net income. When Nissan&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-06/nissan-searching-for-new-partner-with-honda-deal-set-to-collapse" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reportedly</a>&nbsp;failed to present a turnaround plan, Honda offered to alter the deal and acquire the company instead—a move Nissan strongly opposed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2024/12/17/honda-and-nissan-in-merger-talks-amid-efforts-to-boost-ev-offerings-report-says/">Honda And Nissan In Merger Talks Amid Efforts To Boost EV Offerings, Report Says</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/12/18/nissan-shares-surge-23-after-report-of-merger-talks-with-honda/">Nissan Shares Surge 24% After Reports Of Merger Talks With Honda</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


Category: Current Affairs