Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered the Russian cabinet to draw up by December 1 a roadmap for the extraction of rare earth minerals which are used in smartphones, electric vehicles and weapons systems.
In a list of tasks for ministers published on the Kremlin website, Putin also ordered the cabinet to take measures to develop transport links at Russia’s borders with China and North Korea.
Both of Russia’s far eastern neighbours have deepened economic ties with Moscow since Western countries imposed sanctions on it over the war in Ukraine. Reuters
Amazon wins $38bn OpenAI cloud deal after setbacks
Amazon’s $38bn cloud deal with OpenAI marks a major endorsement for the e-commerce giant’s cloud business after recent setbacks, including ceding market share to rivals and an outage that disrupted large parts of the internet.
After years of leading the cloud computing industry with its highly profitable Amazon Web Services (AWS) business, Amazon has watched Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google snatch big-ticket contracts with their AI-steeped clouds. Reuters
Nigeria denies state role in religious persecution claims
Berlin — Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said on Tuesday that state involvement in religious persecution was “impossible” in Nigeria under the country’s laws and constitution.
He was responding to a question about US President Donald Trump’s warning of possible “fast” military action in Nigeria if it fails to crack down on the killing of Christians by Islamist insurgents.
Speaking in Berlin alongside his German counterpart Johann Wadephul, Tuggar pointed to his country’s “constitutional commitment to religious freedom and rule of law.” Reuters
Kenya to hold further IMF talks on new programme
Nairobi — Kenya will hold further talks with the International Monetary Fund to overcome the key obstacles that have so far prevented it from securing a new support programme, the country’s finance minister, John Mbadi, said on Tuesday.
The East African nation formally requested a new lending programme after the expiration of the previous $3.6bn deal in April, and talks were held in Washington last month after an IMF mission to Nairobi in September.
Mbadi told a news briefing that the two sides were continuing to discuss whether securitised loans being used to fund major infrastructure upgrades should be treated as sovereign debt or not. Reuters
China warns Netherlands over Nexperia seizure, supply risks
Beijing/Amsterdam — China’s commerce ministry on Tuesday accused the Netherlands of not working with Beijing to resolve the dispute surrounding the Dutch government’s seizure of chipmaker Nexperia and warned of further supply chain disruptions as a result.
The Dutch government took control of Nexperia on September 30 due to concerns about its Chinese parent, Wingtech.
The Chinese commerce ministry’s accusation of continued Dutch inaction on the dispute underscores the difficulty of the Netherlands and China agreeing to a long-term solution for the ownership of Nexperia, which makes large volumes of basic chips used in cars. Reuters
Typhoon Kalmaegi kills four, floods central Philippines
Manila — The death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi has climbed to four, disaster officials said on Tuesday, as the powerful storm unleashed heavy rains and floods across the central Philippines, submerging homes and forcing thousands to evacuate.
Although Kalmaegi, locally named Tino, has weakened since making landfall early on Tuesday, it continued to lash the country with winds of 130km/h and gusts of 180km/h as it swept across the Visayas islands and northern Palawan towards the South China Sea.
Three people were confirmed dead, and at least one person was reported missing in the central province of Cebu, provincial information officer Ainjeliz Orong said. Two more deaths were still being verified. Reuters
