Will African gold producers benefit from a surge in prices this year? There's been a price hike after the start of a global trade war
An inquest into the apartheid-era death of Nobel laureate Albert Luthuli reopens nearly 60 years later
People displaced by the Uganda oil pipeline complain that they ‘received inadequate compensation’
Presenter: Audrey Brown
Producers:
Focus on Africa Frenny Jowi, Charles Gitonga and Richard Kagoe in Nairobi, Tom Kavanagh and Victor Sylver in London and Blessing Aderogba in Lagos.
Technical Producer: Gabriel O'Regan
Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga
Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi
Senator Cynthia Lummis joins "CoinDesk Spotlight" to discuss her enthusiasm for establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve and how it could alleviate the U.S. national debt. Plus, she details the potential of bitcoin's decentralized nature and why bipartisan cooperation in Congress is crucial for regulatory developments in the digital assets industry.
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This content should not be construed or relied upon as investment advice. It is for entertainment and general information purposes.
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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Spotlight” is produced by Sam Ewen, Jennifer Sanasie, Taylor Fleming and Victor Chen.
Welcome back to The Mining Pod! Today, Didar Bekbau, CEO of Xive, joins us to analyze Kazakhstan's Bitcoin mining industry. Following China's 2021 mining ban, Kazakhstan briefly captured 15-18% of global hashrate, making it the second largest mining hub in the world, before government restrictions devastated the sector. Didar explains how aging Soviet-era infrastructure couldn't handle the surge, triggering a power price tax hike that drove miners to Russia and the US. He also explores whether Kazakhstan's energy-rich landscape might someday welcome miners back with proper planning and infrastructure investment.
# Notes:
- Kazakhstan peaked at 18% of global hash rate (2021)
- Mining capacity dropped from 1600MW to ~200-400MW
- Electricity tax reached $0.05-0.06 per kWh
- Russia became primary destination for fleeing miners
- Many miners relocated equipment to US and Russia
- Grid infrastructure dated from 1960s-1980s Soviet era
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
02:02 Current Kazakhstan mining overview
04:19 Scope of hashrate
06:14 Why declining hashrate?
08:49 Tax structure
11:58 Reverting the tax structure
13:42 Effects of China mining ban
14:51 Where power generators mining?
17:14 Supply & demand imbalance
21:05 Future for mining in Kazakhstan?
23:59 GDM owning generation
25:07 Russia mining
27:34 Off grid mining in Kazakhstan
29:55 Ukraine war and natural gas
31:52 GDA, grid demand & government
33:12 Kazakhstan mining outlook
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The recent winter proved deadly for honey bee colonies. The Washington State University’s Honey Bees and Pollinators Program reports mass die-offs for commercial beekeepers. Honey bees, butterflies, and even small vertebrates like bats and birds are important to agriculture and are indicators of a healthy ecosystem. Their populations fluctuate and are affected by pesticide use, habitat loss, and climate change. Tribes and Native groups like the Euchee Butterfly Farm are among those devoting resources to pollinator restoration work. We’ll talk with Native pollinator protectors about efforts to help turn the threat to pollinators around.
Immigration stand-off deepens over man mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Gulf shrimpers cheering the tariffs. Donated organs thrown away. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has today's World News Roundup.
President Trump’s back-and-forth on tariffs in recent days has led to major ups and downs in the stock market, worrying investors. So, what, if any, changes should people consider making to their portfolios. Reset gets tips from the director of personal finance and retirement planning with the firm Morningstar, author of 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances Christine Benz.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
Falling trust in the greenback is most apparent in bond-market moves. How close is the dollar to losing its status as the world’s go-to currency, and what could take its place? We take a look at Jordan Bardella, the young, polished, ever-rising star of France’s far right (11:56). And Hong Kong’s notoriously gruff cab drivers are told to smile more…or else (18:26).
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele says he has no plans to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, an NPR report details unusual data events at the National Labor Relations Board, and Harvard University says that it won't comply with a list of demands from the Trump administration.
Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Roberta Rampton, Brett Neely, Steven Drummond, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Janaya Williams. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Carla Esteves, Ashley Montgomery, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent. And our technical director is David Greenburg.
Kavitta Ghai realized at an early age that she thought different than everyone else. She grew up neurodivergent, with autism and ADHD but was a lucky kid, having parents that helped her see the silver lining in her learning challenges, making sure she had outlets in extracurricular activities. She is a creative person always looking to build something that doesn't exist. In her off time, she enjoys turning off all the tech, learning a new language, and reconnecting with the real, analog world.
Kavitta and her co-founder found themselves frustrated with the classroom in college. For paying such an exorbitant amount of money, they were confused why the educational classroom was so ineffective. It came to a head - to the point, where Kavitta was going to change it or drop out of school.
