Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 04 March 2024

[Bulls n Bears]

 <https://bullszimbabwe.com/> 

 


 

 <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com> Bullszimbabwe.com
<mailto:info at bulls.co.zw?subject=View%20and%20Comments> Views & Comments
<https://bullszimbabwe.com/category/blogs/bullish-thoughts/> Bullish
Thoughts        <http://www.twitter.com/BullsBears2010> Twitter
<https://www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe> Facebook
<http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bulls-n-bears-zimbabwe/57/577/72> LinkedIn
<https://chat.whatsapp.com/CF6wllAfScU9Wr6dXxoQnO> WhatsApp
<mailto:bulls at bullszimbabwe.com?subject=Unsubscribe> Unsubscribe

 


 

 


Major International Business Headlines Brief:::  04 March 2024 

 


 

 

	
 


 

 


 

ü  Nigeria Govt Slams $10 Billion Fine On Binance

ü  Mozambique: Government Needs 100 Million Dollars for Rail Electrification

ü  Nigeria: Advocacy Groups Call for Halt to Shell's Planned Exit From
Nigeria

ü  Nigeria: Updated - CBN Revokes Operating Licenses of 4,173 BDCS

ü  Nigeria: Poor Power Supply Denies Nigerians Access to Good Life, Says FG

ü  Nigeria: FG Launches 'Mining Marshals' to Curb Illegal Mining

ü  Nigeria: Withheld Salaries - Stop Treating Us Like ASUU, We Never Went On
Strike - - Conua Tells Tinubu

ü  Nigeria: Tinubu Commissions Lagos Red Line Train Project

ü  Kenya: Nairobi County Sets Aside Sh800mn for City Stadium - Gov Sakaja

ü  Nigeria: MTN Suffers Outage in Nigeria, Gives Reason

ü  Boeing in takeover talks for Spirit Aerosystems

ü  As banks buy up bitcoins, who else are the 'Bitcoin whales'?

ü  US says falling trade with China could be positive

ü  Elon Musk sues ChatGPT-maker OpenAI over Microsoft links

 


 

 


 <https://www.cloverleaf.co.zw/> Nigeria Govt Slams $10 Billion Fine On
Binance

The Nigerian government's retribution claim is coming months after Binance
pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle criminal money
laundering charges levied by the U.S. Department of Justice.

 

The Nigerian government is demanding at least $10 billion as retribution
from Binance amid crackdown on the crypto exchange platform in desperate
moves to salvage the value of the nation's local currency.

 

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola
Tinubu, made this known Friday morning in an interview with the BBC.

 

Binance profited substantially from its "illegal transactions" in Nigeria
while the nation suffered huge losses, Mr Onanuga said during the interview,
monitored by PREMIUM TIMES.

 

 

Earlier on Friday, PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Office of the National
Security Adviser (ONSA) confirmed that the crypto exchange platform is being
investigated by the Nigerian authorities.

 

In its first official confirmation of the clampdown efforts on the
activities of Binance and other crypto platforms, a top official of the ONSA
confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that the security adviser's office is
coordinating an interagency investigation into the operations of Binance.

 

"I am confirming that the office of the national security adviser, as part
of ongoing operations in the foreign exchange market with the CBN and other
law enforcement and security agencies, is coordinating an interagency
investigation into the operations of Binance," Zakari Mijinyawa, head of
Strategic Communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser, told
PREMIUM TIMES after multiple requests for comment Thursday.

 

However, Mr Mijinyawa did not provide any other details about the
investigations as of press time Thursday night.

 

On Wednesday, this newspaper reported how the government detained two
executives of the crypto exchange platform amid desperate efforts to
stabilise the nation's foreign exchange market.

 

Sources with details of the matter told PREMIUM TIMES that the two
executives were detained in Abuja, the federal capital territory, days after
they flew into the country as part of moves to negotiate with the Nigerian
authorities amid crackdown on the crypto platform.

 

They had arrived in Nigeria earlier in the week to negotiate with the
government amid the crackdown. However, the meetings were deadlocked as
Binance officials declined to meet some of the demands put forward by the
Nigerian government.

 

 

They were also accused of operating a business worth billions without the
requisite registrations and documentation.

 

According to sources who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday evening, the
Nigerian authorities requested Binance executives to provide data relating
to transactions involving the Nigerian Naira on the Binance platform in the
last seven years. They also demanded that some other data relating to
Nigeria be deleted from the Binance platform.

 

However, the Binance executives insisted that they should be taken to their
respective countries' embassies before they could comply.

 

While the full identities of the two Binance executives remain sketchy,
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that one of them is an American and the other a
British-Pakistani.

 

The Nigerian government also obtained a court warrant to detain the
officials for at least twelve days in the first instance, according to a
source with knowledge of the matter.

 

Retribution

 

On Friday, Mr Onanuga claimed that Binance is not registered in Nigeria and
has no presence in the country. He alleged that people used the platform to
arbitrarily fix dollar-naira rates; a practice he said negatively impacted
the value of the local currency.

 

He explained further that the Binance team were already cooperating with the
Nigerian government by providing useful information, and had already
suspended naira related transactions on the platform.

 

Nigeria nevertheless wants Binance to pay at least $10 billion in
retribution, Mr Onanuga said.

 

Earlier in the week, Mr Onanuga had alleged that if not stopped, the
cryptocurrency trading platform will destroy the Nigerian economy by
arbitrarily fixing foreign exchange rate.

 

"If we don't clamp down on Binance, Binance will destroy the economy of this
country. They just fix the rate," the presidential spokesman said on
Channels Television's Politics Today programme on Wednesday.

 

Background

 

Last week, PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Nigerian government blocked the
online platforms of Binance and other crypto firms to avert what it
considers continuous manipulation of the forex market and illicit movement
of funds.

 

Apart from Binance, other platforms such as Forextime, OctaFX, Crypto, FXTM,
Coinbase, Kraken, among others, were equally blocked.

 

 

Presidency and regulatory sources said the government decided to move
against Binance and other crypto firms following reports that currency
speculators and money launderers were using them to execute criminal
activities. Authorities believe the 'criminal activities' going on on
platforms are contributing significantly to the weakening of the naira.

 

Binance, a digital assets platform, serves as a window for peer to peer
transactions allowing users to advertise interest to sell or buy currencies
of their choice.

 

In September 2023, Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) placed
a disclaimer on Binance Nigeria Limited, saying the platform was "neither
registered nor regulated by the Commission and its operations in Nigeria are
therefore illegal".

 

In its reaction last week, Binance said "users behaving in a manipulative
way" will be removed from its platform.

 

"As industry leaders, we are working hand in hand with local authorities,
lawmakers, and regulators to ensure we act on non-compliance," the platform
added, noting that it is "setting an upper limit for ads, filtering and
removing bad ads, requiring and raising deposits for merchants posting ads
as well as processes for actioning against any market manipulators."

 

The crypto exchange platform has, however, declined further comments amid
the ongoing clampdown.

 

The Nigerian government's retribution claim is coming months after Binance
pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle criminal money
laundering charges levied by the U.S. Department of Justice.

 

Binance founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, pleaded guilty
and agreed to step down from his position. His criminal trial has been
postponed to 30 April by a US court.

 

- Premium Times.

 

 

 

Mozambique: Government Needs 100 Million Dollars for Rail Electrification

Maputo — The Mozambican government needs about 100 million dollars to
implement the pilot rail electrification project, from Maputo city to the
border with South Africa at Ressano Garcia, over a length of 88 kilometres.

 

According to Transport Minister Mateus Magala, who was speaking to reporters
on Thursday, in Maputo, after a meeting with the Dutch ambassador, Elsbeth
Akkerman, in the context of energy transition, there is a consensus that
clean, green energies are the best bet for the future, in order to guarantee
the well-being of new generations.

 

During this occasion, the ambassador demonstrated her first electric car and
its solar-powered charging system, as a way to encourage the use of clean
energy.

 

 

"We have a master plan that talks about how we should improve our mobility,
the big challenge is the limited resources we have in terms of funding. Mass
transport is the way to improve people's mobility', Magala said.

 

According to Magala, one of the ways out that the government has found is to
create some demonstration projects, one of which is to encourage the use of
railways.

 

For her part, the ambassador said that the planet is subject to many
man-made pressures, pointing to climate change as being at the root of these
phenomena.

 

"It's good that climate change is discussed every year at a global level at
the United Nations conference on climate change. At the COP 28 in Dubai,
Mozambique outlined its Energy Transition Strategy and intends to position
itself as a clear destination for investments in renewable energy
infrastructure and green industrialization', she said.

 

In the Netherlands, electrification of vehicles is already under way and
they will enter the market in 2030, with an expected 1.9 million fully
electric passenger vehicles on the road that can be charged at the same
number of charging stations.

 

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: Advocacy Groups Call for Halt to Shell's Planned Exit From Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria — Advocacy groups are calling on the Dutch oil giant Shell to
halt its plans to divest assets from Nigeria's Niger Delta region unless
proper cleanup and decommissioning of its infrastructure is complete.

 

This week, a Netherlands-based nonprofit released a report accusing Shell of
trying to avoid responsibility for oil spills. The Center for Research on
Multinational Corporations' report, entitled "Selling Out Nigeria -- Shell's
Irresponsible Divestment," said the Dutch oil giant's divestment in Nigeria
must be suspended until clean-up and decommissioning of assets are complete.

 

The group accused Shell of trying to avoid responsibility for decades of oil
spills in Nigeria's Niger Delta region that have polluted bodies of water
and farmlands. It said Shell's assertion that it cleaned up polluted oil
spill sites is flawed and cannot be trusted.

 

 

Faith Nwadishi, founder of Center for Transparency Advocacy, agrees with the
report.

 

"The contract that they have signed that talks about the issue of
remediation, protection of the environment and all of those things have not
been done," said Nwadishi. "We should be looking at the contract and
interpreting it accordingly -- this is international best practice. This is
what happens everywhere."

 

Shell operations grew controversial

 

Shell pioneered Nigeria's oil and gas explorations in 1937, but its
operations have been subject to controversy and lawsuits from local
communities.

 

Shell often blamed sabotage and vandalism by locals for busted pipelines,
oil spills and environmental pollution.

 

In January, the company announced plans to sell its onshore operations to a
local consortium of five companies for $2.4 billion.

 

Shell said the move would allow it to focus on more lucrative offshore
businesses and that it was also proof that local companies are able to take
on a larger share of Nigeria's oil and gas industry.

 

But Nwadishi said if the pollution issue is not addressed, Shell's exit
could set a bad example for other multinationals operating in Nigeria.

 

"Once one person sets a precedent -- especially the bad precedences -- once
they're set, you see other people following up," said Nwadishi. "When they
do that, what it will mean is that they set a wrong template for other
multinationals to do the same thing. And unfortunately, we have this
judicial system that takes forever to take care of issues like that."

 

Law mandates funding for cleanup

 

Under Nigerian law, Shell is expected to provide funding for cleanup and
decommissioning of its infrastructure before exiting.

 

But the report says the implementation of the law is flawed and said there
is no sign that Shell is trying to comply with the law.

 

The company has not commented on the report but recently released a list of
eight cleanup operations it plans to carry out in Nigeria this year, all for
spills of less than 100 barrels of oil.

 

Emmanuel Afimia, founder of Enermics Consulting, said Nigerian authorities
must take the Shell divestment plan seriously.

 

"Nigeria should implement the following measures: establish a robust
regulatory framework that holds multinational corporations accountable for
the environmental damage caused by their operations; ensure that affected
communities are consulted and involved in the cleanup process and that their
concerns and needs are addressed," said Afimia. "We need to monitor and
evaluate the cleanup process regularly to ensure that it is being done
properly and transparently."

 

VOA asked Nigeria's National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency for
comment on the Shell issue but has not received a response.

 

Before Shell can sell the assets in question, it must get approval from the
Nigerian government. The government has not said whether it will authorize
the sale.

 

- VOA.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: Updated - CBN Revokes Operating Licenses of 4,173 BDCS

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revoked the operational licences of
4,173 Bureaux De Change operators in the country.

 

The bank disclosed this Friday through a statement signed by the acting
Director, Corporate Communication, Sidi Hakama.

 

The bank said the affected institutions failed to pay for licence renewal,
submit returns or comply with CBN directives on anti-money laundering,
countering financing of terrorism, and counter proliferation financing
regulations.

 

The CBN said it is revising the regulatory guidelines of BDCs.

 

The move is part of efforts to restore confidence in the nation's foreign
exchange market.

 

The apex bank released the full list of the affected BDCs Friday.

 

The bank recently revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for BDCs
operations in Nigeria, according to the powers conferred to the central bank
under Section 56 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020
(BOFIA).

 

 

In the guidelines, the bank categorised BDCs into Tier 1 & Tier 2. Tier 1
BDCs authorised at the national level are permitted to establish branches
and appoint franchisees, subject to CBN approval. These franchisees are
required to adhere to the branding of their overseeing Tier 1 BDCs. However,
Tier 2 BDCs, limited to operating within one state, are allowed up to three
locations but are not permitted to appoint franchisees.

 

In line with the revised guideline, Tier 1 BDC operators are now mandated to
deposit a cautionary sum of N200 million. The application fee and licensing
fee have been adjusted to N1 million and N5 million respectively, with an
annual renewal fee of N5 million.

 

For Tier 2 BDC operators, the caution deposit now stands at N50 million. The
application fee and licensing fee have been modified to N250,000 and N2
million respectively, with an annual renewal fee of N1 million.

 

The bank also mandates that a minimum of 75 percent of any foreign currency
sale conducted by a BDC must be electronically transferred to the customer's
Nigerian domiciliary account or prepaid card.

 

The updated guidelines, building upon the existing conditions, specify that
BDC operators who utilise unauthorized accounts for their transactions will
face license revocation.

 

Similarly, BDCs that surpass designated foreign exchange limits and neglect
to obtain the necessary transaction documentation will also be subject to
the same penalty of license revocation.

 

- Premium Times.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: Poor Power Supply Denies Nigerians Access to Good Life, Says FG

The Federal Government yesterday acknowledged that the abysmal level of
power supply in the country is denying citizens the opportunity to live a
good life.

 

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu who stated this in Abuja during
the electricity and energy access session at the Nigeria International
Energy Summit, NIES, said the government was doing everything to ensure that
power supply improves across the country.

 

Chief Adelabu noted that with the 700 megawatts Zungeru Hydro set to join
the grid in the next two weeks and work ongoing to complete evacuation
infrastructure for the 40MW Kashimbilla Hydro, power supply through the grid
would steadily improve.

 

He said the government was also working to put in place gas supply contracts
for the power plants under the National Integrated Power Projects, NIPP,
managed by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC.

 

He explained that when this is completed the plants would add about 3,500MW
to the grid, and therefore called for patience on the part of Nigerians.

 

 

He said the problems affecting the industry have been properly diagnosed
with solutions found, adding that "we are now at the implementation stage.
This takes time to manifest and that is why we are asking Nigerians to be
patient".

 

He added that the "sector must be attractive for equity investment and debt
capital. Our model must be bankable to attract investors and lenders.
Transforming the power sector especially in our clime requires a lot of
investment. The only way this can happen is when the investors have a line
of sight that shows that whatever money they inject in the sector must
surely come back".

 

He urged the stakeholders to work together to bridge the energy access gap
in Nigeria and across African countries.

 

"It is unfortunate that Nigeria is on the low ebb in the hierarchy of
nations in terms of power production and supply to households, businesses
and industries. This has not only hindered our economic growth and
industrial development, it has also denied our people access to good life",
he added.

 

Speaking while declaring the summit closed, the Secretary to the Government
of the Federation, Senator George Akume assured participants that the
Federal Government would work to ensure that the head office of the Africa
Energy Bank to Nigeria.

 

Senator Akume who commended participants for the efforts and ideas pointed
out that "in the spirit of inclusivity and cooperation, this summit has
provided a platform for stakeholders to engage in meaningful discussions on
innovations, policies, advancements, and the overall trajectory of the
energy sector in Nigeria. The knowledge shared and relationships fostered
during this summit will undoubtedly serve as catalysts for the
transformative changes that lie ahead.

 

"I wish to express my sincere appreciation to all the participants,
sponsors, and partners who have contributed to the success of this summit.
Your commitment to the sustainable development of the energy sector in
Nigeria is commendable, and I am confident that the collaborative efforts
initiated here will yield tangible results in the days and years to come".

 

Vanguard Newspaper

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: FG Launches 'Mining Marshals' to Curb Illegal Mining

The federal government has launched "Mining Marshals" for the Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to checkmate illegal mining of
solid minerals across the country.

 

Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, performed the ceremony as part of
activities to mark the 2024 International Civil Defence Day at the
headquarters of the NSCDC in Abuja.

 

The minister said the Mining Marshals would carry out their functions in
conjunction with the Ministry of Solid Minerals.

 

Daily Trust gathered that each state command of the NSCDC will have its own
mining marshals, starting with 60 personnel.

 

Tunji-Ojo charged the Corps to secure Nigeria's collective assets in areas
of oil and gas infrastructures, solid minerals, power infrastructures, and
telecommunications infrastructures amongst others.

 

Speaking at the event which also marked his third year in office, the
Commandant General (CG) of the NSCDC, Ahmed Audi, said over 1175 illegal
mining sites have been identified and would be manned by the newly created
Mining Marshals to curtail the activities of illegal miners.

 

Audi also said the NSCDC has within the past three years of his assumption
of office destroyed over 200 illegal refineries, arrested over 500 suspected
oil thieves, and ensured the successful prosecution and conviction of 120
people.

 

He said the Corps Special Intelligence Squad established recently has
arrested 8 tankers which served as a warehouse for stolen railway sleepers
and other equipment valued at over 1.7 billion naira.

 

- Daily Trust.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: Withheld Salaries - Stop Treating Us Like ASUU, We Never Went On
Strike - - Conua Tells Tinubu

CONUA however aligned with ASUU in the call for reinstatement of the
universities' dissolved governing councils, saying Mr Tinubu's action
violates the Universities Autonomy Act, 2007.

 

The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has asked the Nigerian
government to pay its members the remaining part of their withheld salaries.

 

The academic union, a breakaway from the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU), asked the government to stop lumping up its members'
issues with those of ASUU members, saying its members had consistently
denied being on strike while the ASUU strike lasted in 2022.

 

 

The latest position is contained in a statement issued by CONUA and signed
by its National President, 'Niyi Sunmonu, who commended President Bola
Tinubu for paying four months from the almost eight months' withheld
salaries of universities' academic staff.

 

Dated Thursday, 29 February 2024, and titled: "State of the Nation, Payment
of Four Months out of Seven and a Half Months' Withheld Salaries, Stagnation
of Remuneration of Academics, and Call for Negotiations," CONUA urged the
President to speed up his efforts and interventions aimed at repositioning
the country for good and to address the pains of the poor due to economic
hardship.

 

The statement reads in part: "Our Union, CONUA, has consistently maintained
that it never declared and was not part of any strike action.

 

"Since CONUA neither called for nor joined any strike, withholding the three
and a half months salaries of members of the union contravenes Section 43
(1b) of the Trade Disputes Act CAP. T8, which states that "where any
employer locks out his workers, the workers shall be entitled to wages and
any other applicable remunerations for the period of the lock-out and the
period of the lock-out shall not prejudicially affect any rights of the
workers being rights dependent on the continuity of the period of
employment". This provision is consistent with global best practices. In
conclusion on this, CONUA demands that the process of paying these
outstanding months be kick-started immediately to ensure lasting peace in
our ivory towers."

 

Withheld Salaries

 

In 2022, the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari invoked a
'No Work, No Pay' policy and withheld the workers' salaries during the
eight-month strike.

 

The workers' unions that had their members' salaries withheld at the time
include ASUU and CONUA.

 

Others are; Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated
Institutions (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities
(SSANU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

 

 

Selective Payments

 

However, in October, Mr Tinubu announced that his government would pay four
of the withheld salaries to members of ASUU, immediately raising concerns as
to the fate of the members of the other unions.

 

Last week, the Nigerian government began paying the academics --ASUU and
CONUA-- leaving out the non-academic staff.

 

On Friday, SSANU and NASU released a joint statement threatening to strike
should the government fail to do the same for its members.

 

Pay remaining months --CONUA

 

CONUA appreciated Mr Tinubu's payment of four of the seven-and-a-half months
withheld salaries. It, however, asked the government to pay its members the
remaining three and half months, claiming they never embarked on strike.

 

"What the government had done was to lump together those who embarked on
strike with those who did not," Mr Sunmonu, a senior lecturer at Obafemi
Awolowo University (OAU), said.

 

It said failure to pay CONUA members for the remaining months would mean
that the government doesn't appreciate other measures other than a strike to
pursue the demands of academics.

 

On remuneration, governing councils

 

The workers' union also called on the government to expedite action on the
implementation of the 35 per cent and 23.5 per cent salary increment for
staff of tertiary institutions through a memo from the National Salaries,
Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) announced in September and which was
supposed to be effective from January.

 

"CONUA finds it appalling that one year after the directive; it has not been
implemented even in the face of excruciating suffering of Nigerian academics
brought about by inflation," it said.

 

"CONUA, therefore, calls for the implementation of this directive and also
demands the constitution of a negotiation committee, without further delay,
that will include all academic unions in the university and other
stakeholders to negotiate the upward review of emoluments of academics in
Nigerian universities while taking into account the current realities
created especially by the fuel subsidy removal."

 

Meanwhile, CONUA aligned with ASUU in the call for restoring the dissolved
governing council of universities.

 

The union described the move as an error and called on Mr Tinubu to "correct
it", saying it violates the Universities Autonomy Act No. 1, 2007.

 

"Section 3(2A) of the Amendment Act states as follows concerning the tenure
of Governing Councils: "The Council so constituted shall have a tenure of
four years from the date of its inauguration provided that where a Council
is found to be incompetent and corrupt it shall be dissolved by the Visitor
and a new Council shall be immediately constituted for the effective
functioning of the University." It is our belief that the action of
correcting the errors will negate the unintended impression that the
government is unappreciative of the invaluable services of the distinguished
Nigerians some of whom were literally begged to put their wealth of
experience at the service of the nation's educational system," the statement
added.

 

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for
the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists
to report on under-covered issues around the globe

 

- Premium Times.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: Tinubu Commissions Lagos Red Line Train Project

"There are a total of 6 lines that we have on our Lagos rail mass transit
system when fully developed. We have started preliminary works on the next
rail projects - the green line and the purple line," Mr Sanwo-Olu said.

 

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday officially commissioned the Lagos Mass
Rail Transit (LMRT) red line train project.

 

The project, which is in its first phase, runs from Agbado in Ogun State to
the Oyingbo axis of Lagos State. The 37 km rail line has eight stations,
namely Agbado, Iju, Agege, Ikeja, Oshodi, Mushin, Yaba and Oyingbo.

 

Mr Tinubu, in his address, assured that Nigeria will be out of economic
problems, adding that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

"I speak to Nigerians through this podium that change is possible. We cannot
afford to relax. We will grow the economy; we will free ourselves from the
penury.

 

 

"I'm assuring you that Nigeria will be out of economic problems; we just
need to persevere and work hard," he said.

 

Mr Tinubu urged the Minister of Transportation, Sa'id Alkali, who was
present at the event, to collaborate with other ministries at the
sub-national level in order to achieve all round development across the
country.

 

He, however, cautioned the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), against
undertaking strike actions within nine months of his administration.

 

"The Labour union should understand that no matter how much we cling to our
freedom and rights, to call for strike within nine months of an
administration is unacceptable. If you want to participate in the electoral
process, wait until 2027; if not, maintain peace. You are not the only voice
of Nigerians," he said.

 

Earlier, Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in his address,
commended the President for his unflinching support for the state.

 

 

Governor Sanwo-Olu also reiterated his administration's commitment to bring
out development in the state's transport sector.

 

"For the first time in the history of Lagos, we have an integrated
transportation system, comprising the road, which is the BRT that we are
using, the rail, which is the rail mass transit programme, and the
waterways, through the state ferries," he said.

 

The governor hinted at the state's plans to expand the Lagos Mass Rail
Transit (LMRT) train project.

 

"There are a total of 6 lines that we have on our Lagos rail mass transit
system when fully developed. We have started preliminary works on the next
rail projects - the green line and the purple line.

 

"The green line is a 71. 4 km rail from Marina to Lekki free trade zone,
while the Purple line is a 54.3 km rail from Ojo close to Lasu into Mowe,
Ogun State." the governor said.

 

At the event, Governor Sanwo-Olu and Mr Tinubu also witnessed the signing of
the contract for Phase 2 of the LMRT red line train project (Oyingbo to
Marina)

 

Olatunde Owoeye, a resident who attended the event, lauded the state
government for the initiative, stressing that the blue and red rail lines
will bring ease to all Lagos residents.

 

"I believe that it will help the transport sector because of the traffic in
Lagos. I know people will love it because they will be able to meet up
various activities. It will also reduce the rate of accidents on our major
roads," he said.

 

- Premium Times.

 

 

 

 

Kenya: Nairobi County Sets Aside Sh800mn for City Stadium - Gov Sakaja

Nairobi — Nairobi County Governor Johnson Sakaja has said they have set
aside Sh800mn to facilitate the renovation of the City Stadium, now to be
called the Joe Kadenge Stadium.

 

The stadium has been in dilapidated state for many years, and promises have
been made, since former Governor Evans Kidero's tenure, of its facelift, but
none fulfilled.

 

The stadium, nicknamed Tok Komwanda by Gor Mahia faithful who adopted it as
their home ground, has not hosted any top flight matches for the last eight
years.

 

Speaking on Friday during the ground breaking of the Talanta City Stadium in
Jamhuri, Sakaja has asked for the national government, through the sports
fund to boost their kitty to help them do a commendable job.

 

 

"We have a budget of Sh800mn for the renovation of City Stadium and I have
spoken to the Sports Fund boss to see if they can boost that possibly with
another Sh800mn for us to make something great," Sakaja said.

 

He has also disclosed that the County will construct a stadium of football
legend Joe Kadenge, who the stadium is now named after.

 

"Just like there is a statue of Thierry Henry outside the Emirates Stadium,
we will have the statue of Joe Kadenge outside this stadium," said Sakaja.

 

President William Ruto has meanwhile asked the Ministry of Sports and the
County Government to align on the rehabilitation of the stadium and work
together.

 

"The Ministry of Sports should work in collaboration with the County so that
we can agree on how we can help. We are going to work with the County in the
facilities that they have mentioned and I want to ask Ababu (CS) to have
consultations with the governor so that we can see what resources can be
availed to help," the President said.

 

Meanwhile, the County Chief has also disclosed that the newly constructed
Dandora Stadium will be officially opened in April, during the national
finals of the Chapa Dimba na Safaricom youth tournament.

 

- Capital FM.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: MTN Suffers Outage in Nigeria, Gives Reason

"We apologise for the inconvenience and ask for your patience and
understanding as the team works to restore full service as soon as
possible."

 

Mobile network operator MTN has apologised to its Nigerian customers after
users experienced outages in many parts of the country on Wednesday.

 

It was observed Wednesday that the network disruption affected calls and
data services for several hours.

 

In a statement, the telecom operator attributed the network challenges to a
major service outage caused by multiple fibre cuts.

 

The company said its engineers are working hard to resolve the problem while
noting that services are gradually being restored in some areas.

 

"You have been experiencing challenges connecting to the network due to a
major service outage caused by multiple fibre cuts, affecting voice and data
services. Our engineers are working hard to resolve the problem with
services gradually being restored in some areas.

 

"We apologise for the inconvenience and ask for your patience and
understanding as the team works to restore full service as soon as
possible."

 

The South African-owned MTN is the largest telecom provider in Nigeria,
which provides the company its biggest market.

 

It is active in over 20 countries, and one-third of the company's revenue
comes from Nigeria, where it holds about 35 per cent market share.

 

- Premium Times.

 

 

 

 

Boeing in takeover talks for Spirit Aerosystems

Boeing is in talks to take over Spirit Aerosystems, the supplier that has
been involved in many of its recent manufacturing issues.

 

The company, a major global air parts supplier, was spun out of Boeing in
2005 as part of a cost-cutting drive.

 

It continues to rely on Boeing for more than two-thirds of its business.

 

Boeing has been under pressure over its manufacturing pipeline after a piece
of one of its planes blew off in mid-air in January.

 

The US government's review of the blowout found that bolts meant to fasten
the panel had been removed at Boeing's factory in Washington, apparently to
fix damaged rivets, and had never been re-installed.

 

The piece had been made by Spirit, before being sent to Boeing for final
assembly.

 

This week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has been
examining Boeing since the incident, gave Boeing 90 days to develop a
"comprehensive action plan" for improving its safety management systems.

 

Boeing review finds 'disconnect' on safety

Boeing has already been working closely with Spirit to address a spate of
quality issues, which have caused delays to plane deliveries and led to the
appointment of a new chief executive at Spirit last year.

 

In a statement on Friday to Reuters news agency, Boeing said: "We believe
that the reintegration of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems' manufacturing
operations would further strengthen aviation safety, improve quality and
serve the interests of our customers, employees, and shareholders."

 

Following reports of takeover talks, shares in Spirit jumped by more than
10% on Friday, giving it a market value of more than $3.7bn.

 

But shares in Boeing slid more than 1% after the discussions were first
reported in the Wall Street Journal.

 

Spirit, which the Journal said was also considering a sale of its Northern
Irish unit to Airbus, did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

 

Spirit employs more than 20,600 people around the world, including about
3,400 in Belfast and 1,120 in Prestwick.-bbc

 

 

 

 

As banks buy up bitcoins, who else are the 'Bitcoin whales'?

The price of Bitcoin is close to its all-time high, thanks in large part to
US finance giants.

 

Investment firms like Grayscale, BlackRock and Fidelity, are pouring
billions of dollars into buying the volatile digital asset.

 

In the last few weeks, these powerful institutions have become so called
'Bitcoin whales'.

 

Because of Bitcoin's system there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins.

 

19 million have been created, but many are already accounted for and
probably off the market.

 

So what other organisations or individuals are Bitcoin whales, and what does
the shift in wealth mean for the digital currency that was originally
created as a peer-to-peer internet money?

 

The figures below are estimates gathered from direct research and published
information, but should give a good overview of how Bitcoin is distributed.
Our data collection ended on the morning of 29 February.

 

The total amount of Bitcoin which will ever be available is 21 million.
There is 1.4 million still to be mined and, of the 19.6 million has mined,
2.4 million has since been 'lost'.

 

 

Estimates for how many bitcoins are lost forever vary between three million
to as many as six million. Bitcoins can be lost because people forget the
details of their digital wallets - there is no 'customer support' in
Bitcoin. Just ask James Howells, who lost 8,000 bitcoins on a discarded hard
drive in Wales.

 

Some of these lost bitcoins might also come from abandoned criminal proceeds
left untouched. According to crypto-investigators at Elliptic, 3.15 million
bitcoins have been dormant for 10 years or more. Some analysts - like those
from investigators Chainalysis - say Bitcoin that hasn't been moved in five
years could also be lost too. So millions more bitcoins could potentially be
added to the lost pile.

 

A loose estimate that's often agreed upon is 3.5 million. But 1.1 million of
those dormant coins are likely to belong to the anonymous creator of
Bitcoin, so we can take that portion out of the equation. A conservative
estimate for lost coins therefore is about 2.4 million, or 11% of all
bitcoins.

 

Crypto-exchanges

2.3m Bitcoins

Cryptocurrency exchanges act like banks for crypto-users. You can exchange
your traditional money like dollars or pounds for Bitcoin and other digital
tokens. K33 researchers estimate that about 2.3 million bitcoins are kept by
exchanges, either on behalf of customers or as float. Binance is the world's
largest exchange and is estimated to have about 550,000 bitcoins - followed
by Bitfinex (403,000), Coinbase (386,000), Robinhood (146,000) and OKX
(126,000). In total it is thought exchanges hold about 11% of all bitcoins.

 

Leaving your coins on an exchange can go wrong though, for example with the
collapse of FTX which left customers without access to their coins. Some
Bitcoin purists are also uneasy about how a reliance on large and
increasingly regulated and legally compliant exchanges goes against the
anti-establishment ethos of Bitcoin.

 

Unknown whales

1,600,000 Bitcoins

A Bitcoin whale is someone who holds more than 10,000 bitcoins in their
digital wallet. The website Bitinfocharts uses public blockchain records to
keep a Bitcoin Rich List of the 100 richest wallets, and there are about 80
wallets with 10,000 coins or more, whose owners are unknown. Owning one of
these wallets would make you a billionaire. Some of them might be the
wallets of people or organisations which appear elsewhere in this graph but
we will never know, unless a researcher makes the link or the whale outs
themselves. A loose estimate is that large whales account for about 8% of
all bitcoins.

 

Yet to be mined

1,400,000 Bitcoins

The way that Bitcoin was invented means there can only ever be 21 million
coins. Every coin has to be mined using a network of volunteer computers
around the world. These computers - often owned by large Bitcoin mining
companies - act like high-tech accountants checking and securing the record
of Bitcoin transactions. In return for the work, the computers are
automatically rewarded with Bitcoins.

 

Over time, the amount of coins given out as part of the mining reward is
automatically reduced and in April it will halve again, squeezing the supply
of new coins further. There are still about 7% of coins yet to be mined, and
it is estimated that the last Bitcoin will be created in 2140.

 

Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin inventor

1,100,000 Bitcoins

The anonymous creator of Bitcoin holds an estimated 1.1 million bitcoins in
wallets that were the first to be created in 2009. None of the coins have
been moved in years, and no-one knows who Satoshi is - or even if he/ she/
they are still alive. If they are still alive - and estimates are correct -
then this would make Satoshi Nakamoto roughly the 22nd richest person in the
world. This stash is about 5% of all bitcoins.

 

Regulated investment firms

933,000 Bitcoins

In January, US financial authorities allowed regulated investment firms to
start selling new financial products linked to Bitcoin, called Spot Bitcoin
ETFs. In mid-February, the investment giants that applied to start ETFs
began buying bitcoins in their thousands, as everything from hedge funds to
stock market traders purchased ETFs to bet on the price of Bitcoin, without
having to own any coins themselves.

 

According to K33 Research, 933,000 coins had already been allocated or
purchased by 29 February, and are currently being held by the institutions
for these new financial products. K33 analysts think that the biggest holder
is Grayscale, which started as a digital currency investment firm. It is
estimated to have around 450,000 bitcoins. Other giants include BlackRock
(150,000) and Fidelity (102,000).

 

Most crypto-fans online are celebrating the rise in their personal fortunes
thanks to the financial establishment pumping up Bitcoin's value through
increased demand. But some have expressed concerns about a consolidation of
power and wealth into the traditional regulated banking system that Bitcoin
was invented to replace. These financial giants now hold about 4.5% of all
coins. One wonders what Satoshi Nakamoto will think if and when the banks
overtake him/ her in their bitcoin holdings.

 

Law enforcement

335,000 Bitcoins

Police forces around the world regularly bust cyber-crime gangs or illicit
market places, seizing huge stashes of bitcoins in the process. There have
been three major seizures of Bitcoin by the US since 2020. Eventually they
will be sold at auction, but according to research from 21.co the funds have
remained in their respective crypto-wallets and not moved, so there are
nearly 200,000 bitcoins held from the busts. Arkham Intelligence has also
linked a Bitcoin wallet address containing another 30,000 coins to the US
takedown of the darknet market place Silk Road. The UK is thought to hold
61,000 bitcoins from a major seizure in 2018, and it is thought German
police still have 50,000 coins from a recent operation.

 

MicroStrategy, software company

193,000 Bitcoins

Bitcoin believers are often depicted as having laser eyes in images on
social media, and none burn brighter than those of software entrepreneur
Michael Saylor. In 2020, he persuaded his enterprise software company to
start buying up as much Bitcoin as they could, and he celebrates every
purchase with a Tweet that invariably goes viral with crypto-fans.
MicroStrategy, plus its subsidiaries, now has around 193,000 bitcoins, and
is the largest single organisation owner of the digital coins.

 

Block One, crypto-software company

140,000 Bitcoins

In 2020, the CEO of crypto-software makers Block One tweeted that his
company has continued buying bitcoins after an initial purchase of 140,000.
So the true figure is likely to be much higher. The firm did not respond to
our email.

 

Mt Gox, coins lost in the hack

82,000 Bitcoins

In a flurry of disastrous hacks and mishaps, the world's first major
crypto-exchange, Mt Gox, lost about 850,000 bitcoins in 2011. Mark Hunter,
the author of a book about it, says there is still confusion about what
happened to the coins, but it is assumed that the majority have been sold
back to the open market by the thieves.

 

However, 80,000 bitcoins sit untouched in a now famous crypto- wallet
address starting with '1Feex'. This stash will probably never be recovered
or moved. Another 2,600 bitcoins were also accidentally and irreversibly
destroyed during the chaos. Some of the customers who lost their savings in
the hacks have begun to receive a portion back from recovered coins.

 

Winklevoss Twins, investors

70,000 Bitcoins

It is not known for sure how many Bitcoins the crypto-entrepreneur brothers
own now, but in an interview in 2017 with the New York Times the twins
revealed they had around 70,000, and said they had not sold any.

 

Tether, crypto coin company

67,000 Bitcoins

Tether is its own crypto token known as a stable coin, but the company
behind it has been buying up bitcoins for years as part of its reserves.
Industry watchers estimate the firm has around 67,000 bitcoins after a
published audit in January said the company had the equivalent dollar amount
of Bitcoin.

 

Publicly listed Bitcoin miners

40,000 Bitcoins

Bitcoin mining companies run warehouses full of powerful computers, whirring
away to keep the public blockchain of transactions up-to-date. In exchange
for the work, the Bitcoin system automatically rewards them bitcoins in a
process called mining. Bitcoin mining is controversial because of the
environmental cost of running the computers and keeping them cool. It has
become harder over time to successfully mine for Bitcoin, so large companies
make up the lion's share of the Bitcoin mining pool around the world.

 

Many of them are not public, but according to research from K33 the largest
8 publicly listed ones hold around 40,000 bitcoins. The largest include
Marathon (16,000), Hut8 (9,000) and RIOT (7,600).

 

Tim Draper, investor

30,000 Bitcoins

US venture capitalist investor Tim Draper made headlines in 2014 when he
bought 30,000 bitcoins that had been seized by police from Silk Road and
auctioned by the US government. At the time the coins cost him $17 million.
Although he doesn't declare how many coins he now owns, he told crypto
website Protos in 2022 that he has not sold any and is still buying
bitcoins, so we can assume his holding has increased significantly.

 

Michael Saylor

18,000 Bitcoins

The founder of Microstrategy tweeted in October 2020 that he personally
holds 17,700 bitcoins. It is likely to be more by now.

 

Tesla, company

9,700 Bitcoins

Tesla's quarterly earnings at the end of 2023 didn't mention any changes to
its finances with regard to its Bitcoin holdings. So we can assume that the
company still owns just over 9,700 Bitcoins. In 2021, Elon Musk's company
had purchased more than 40,000 coins, but sold off the majority in recent
years.

 

Block, payments and crypto-tech company

8,000 Bitcoins

Block, the payments company led by Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, has
long been a crypto- backer. In its latest earnings report, it said it had
approximately 8,038 Bitcoins for investment purposes.

 

Peter Thiel, investor

3,600 Bitcoins

It is not known exactly how many bitcoins the billionaire investor owns, but
in 2023 his company started buying bitcoins - spending $100m in total so
far.

 

El Salvador, the country

2,800 Bitcoins

The Bitcoin-loving president of the Central American country El Salvador
started buying Bitcoin with public money as part of a controversial
investment plan for his country in 2021. The number of bitcoins here is
gathered from his tweets by Dutch researcher Elias, who runs a website
tracking the portfolio. Public records are not kept on exactly how many
coins have been purchased or at what value.

 

People

A ball-park figure for how many bitcoins are held by the general public is
what's left - 10.5m bitcoins. This is about 50% of all bitcoins that exist
today when you take out all the above chunks that we know about. This number
will be higher when you factor in the coins held by exchanges, as most of
those are owned by people too. But it might also be lower if the number of
lost coins is higher or the amount of coins that bitcoin whales are sitting
on is more than we know.

 

No-one knows for sure how many individual people own bitcoins, but
crypto-tech company River estimated that Bitcoin had 81.7 million users as
of June 2023, or 1% of the global population.

 

Interestingly, research suggests that the latest surge in the value of
Bitcoin is not coming because individual retail investors are buying
bitcoins. Analysts at IntoTheBlock say Bitcoin whales like the big banks are
pushing up price and demand - not an increase in ordinary people turning to
this peer-to-peer digital cash.-BBC

 

 

 

US says falling trade with China could be positive

The steep drop in trade with China could be a positive development, the
United States' top trade official has told the BBC.

 

Katherine Tai said it "isn't necessarily negative. It could be a positive
indication of diversification on both sides."

 

The amount of goods the world's two biggest economies sold to each other
fell 17% last year.

 

It comes amid deepening divisions in the global economy.

 

Those differences were exposed again with the US announcing an investigation
in to what it said was a potential national security risk from cars made in
China, citing fears that tech-connected cars could collect personal data or
be controlled remotely.

 

Chinese car companies have been expanding their presence in other parts of
the world but have virtually no presence in the US, where they already face
import duties of 25%.

 

The White House described its action as "unprecedented" and a fair response
to Chinese policies which impose restrictions on foreign car companies.

 

Last year the amount of goods the US bought from China fell just over 20% to
$427bn, with a 4% fall the other way to just under $148bn (£117bn).

 

Consumer electronics, machinery and clothing have been some of the biggest
sellers in recent years.

 

Trade between the two hit a record high in 2022 but has fallen as many big
US companies move production outside of China and feel the impact of
tariffs.

 

Amid growing tensions between the two countries, trade expert William
Reinsch of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies says: "Last
year's decline in U.S.-China trade does appear to be a sign that both
economies are moving away from each other"

 

"But if you look at the increased imports from Southeast Asia into the
United States, it appears that a good part of that increase is coming from
Chinese companies that have either moved production or are simply moving
their products through third countries in order to circumvent tariffs or
other restrictions."

 

Katherine Tai

Image caption,

Trade relations with China have been a top concern for US Trade
Representative Katherine Tai

Ambassador Tai said: "China's economic development is creating many
competitive pressures around the world".

 

She was speaking at the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) major meeting in
Abu Dhabi and said the institution was "showing its age" and needed to be
reformed so that it could do more to address those pressures.

 

The gathering of the world's trade ministers has been extended into a fifth
day as they seek to reach agreement on updating the rules of global trade.

 

However, reaching any agreement is complex because it requires consensus
from all 166 members.

 

Fishing subsidies, extending a ban on e-commerce tariffs and reform of the
WTO itself are amongst the issues being discussed.

 

biden and xi and teams at table

IMAGE SOURCE,AFP

Image caption,

President Biden and President Xi struggled to make progress on trade when
they met in California in November

The US has been leading those calls for WTO reform in recent years.

 

Under Donald Trump's presidency it disabled the dispute resolution body by
blocking the appointment of new judges, arguing that the system and its
rulings favoured China at the expense of the US.

 

That blockade and call for reform have continued under Joe Biden's
presidency despite his team revealing very little of the changes they want
publicly.

 

Ambassador Tai said that "the WTO is here to serve the interests of all of
its members, large and small."

 

China attacks latest US chip restrictions

WTO says Trump's steel tariffs broke trade rules

Trade relations between the world's two biggest economies have worsened
under the Biden administration with both the US and China imposing new
barriers on trade, including restrictions on computer chip exports which
have recently suffered shortages.

 

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told the
BBC: "Upholding sound and steady growth of China-US economic and trade ties
serves the fundamental interests of both countries and our peoples and is
conducive to global economic growth."

 

Mr Liu added that the two sides should work together on global challenges
and hoped the US would move "in the same direction".

 

Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is trying to bridge differences on
global trade at a World Trade Organization in Abu Dhabi

In the build up to the meeting in Abu Dhabi, the Director-General of the
World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the BBC that the body
was trying to help the US and China solve some of their differences.

 

Both countries are trying to grow their economic influence in parts of
Africa and Asia as they try to secure access to natural resources and build
resilience into supply chains.

 

It has led to growing concerns that the world is splitting in to two trading
blocs and Dr Okonjo-Iweala warned that "we should be very careful, because
if this continues, it could do real damage to the world economy".

 

A WTO study found such a division could cost the world economy 5% of its
GDP. At a time when growth is struggling because of higher interest rates
and inflation, she says, "that is huge".-BBC

 

 

 

Elon Musk sues ChatGPT-maker OpenAI over Microsoft links

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, arguing it has breached
the principles he agreed to when he helped found it in 2015.

 

The lawsuit - which has also been filed against OpenAI boss Sam Altman -
says the firm has departed from its original non-profit, open source
mission.

 

It says instead of trying to "benefit humanity" - as it was set up to do -
it is focusing on "maximising profits" for major investor Microsoft.

 

OpenAI has been approached for comment.

 

The firm was created with the intention of building what's known as
artificial general intelligence (AGI) - AI that can perform any task a human
being is capable of.

 

It was also set up as a not-for-profit company, meaning it would not aim to
make money.

 

The lawsuit, which has been filed in San Francisco, states it was under
these conditions, that Mr Musk agreed to found OpenAI, along with Mr Altman
and co-founder Greg Brockman.

 

He left three years later.

 

"This case is filed to compel OpenAI to adhere to the Founding Agreement and
return to its mission to develop AGI for the benefit of humanity, not to
personally benefit the individual Defendants and the largest technology
company in the world," the lawsuit says.

 

The filing comes after the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that US
regulators had begun to probe the ChatGPT creator over whether investors had
been misled, following boardroom drama at OpenAI in November 2023.

 

It saw Mr Altman suddenly ousted from the board, before being reinstated at
the helm several days later.

 

The board at the time accused Mr Altman of not being "consistently candid in
his communications", and said as a result they had "lost confidence" in his
leadership.

 

It was a row Microsoft became deeply embroiled in - including an offer to
take on any staff who quit OpenAI.

 

Mr Musk had said in a post on X - formerly Twitter - that he was "very
worried" by the situation.

 

What is AI and how does it work?

How OpenAI created the perfect conditions for chaos

Who is Elon Musk?

His lawyers now say in this lawsuit that these "stunning developments"
highlight Microsoft's increased influence over the company.

 

"Its technology, including GPT-4, is closed-source primarily to serve the
proprietary commercial interests of Microsoft," it says.

 

Microsoft's initial $1bn backing of OpenAI in 2019 came shortly after the AI
firm - previously operating as a non-profit - announced a new "capped
profit" structure which would allow investment in it.

 

Microsoft's investment swelled to a multi-year, multi-billion partnership in
January 2023 following the launch of OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT.

 

The partnership is now being examined by UK, EU and US regulators.

 

Presentational grey line

Analysis box by Zoe Kleinman, technology editor

To understand some of the context behind this, it's useful to know a little
about a philosophy several tech billionaires including Elon Musk are said to
be fond of: it's called effective altruism.

 

It has very lofty ambitions around identifying the world's most pressing
problems and trying to solve them (this is a very basic explanation - but
you can see why it helps if you're a billionaire). It's not about personal
or indeed commercial gain.

 

If OpenAI was founded with that principle at its core, you can see why Mr
Musk, and indeed some of the firm's senior figures, were disgruntled when a
few years later it launched a profit-arm.

 

Indeed there were some whispers around the time that Sam Altman was
dramatically fired that the board was concerned about the growing power of
the profit-making division.

 

If this does ever come to court, it could be an epic battle of two tech
titans, neither of whom particularly needs a financial win.

 

It could become a fight between ideology and the real world, or ultimately a
battle for supremacy between two men who have extraordinary global
influence.

 

I'm getting the popcorn ready


 

Presentational grey line

The lawsuit also alleges that details about the design of OpenAI's most
recent AI model, GPT-4, were kept secret.

 

"On information and belief, this secrecy is primarily driven by commercial
considerations, not safety," it says.

 

Mr Musk announced his own AI start-up called xAI in July 2023, citing its
mission as being to "understand reality".

 

It developed Grok, its own chatbot with "a little humour", to try and rival
the likes of ChatGPT in November that year.

 

Mr Musk's lawyers say, among other desired outcomes of the lawsuit, they
want OpenAI to be ordered to continue making information relating to its AI
developments available to the public.

 

Microsoft declined to comment.-BBC

 

 

 

ices, known as deflation.-bbc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-bbc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


 Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

Cellphone:         +263 71 944 1674 | +27 79 993 5557 

Email:                <mailto:bulls at bullszimbabwe.com>
bulls at bullszimbabwe.com

Website:             <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com> www.bullszimbabwe.com 

Blog:                  <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com/blog>
www.bullszimbabwe.com/blog

Twitter (X):        @bullsbears2010

LinkedIn:           Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe

Facebook:           <http://www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe>
www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe



 

 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2024

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Art

AGM

virtual (escrow platform)

March 7. 2:30

 


 

2024 auction tobacco marketing season opens

 

13 march

 


 

Good Friday

 

march 29

 


 

Easter Monday

 

1 April

 


 

Independence Day

 

April 18

 


 

Workers day

 

1 May

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


CBZH

GetBucks

EcoCash

 


Padenga

Econet

RTG

 


Fidelity

TSL

FMHL

 


 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of
Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not
constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or
subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has
been compiled from s believed to be reliable, but no representation or
warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All
opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without
notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be
suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth
companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than
the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any
other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability
whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its
contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this
report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent
investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of
any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are
for guideline purposes only and d from third parties.

 


 

 


 (c) 2024 Web:  <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com> www.bullszimbabwe.com Email:
<mailto:bulls at bullszimbabwe.com> bulls at bullszimbabwe.com Tel: +27 79 993
5557 | +263 71 944 1674

 


 

 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20240304/63165015/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 9458 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20240304/63165015/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 456088 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20240304/63165015/attachment-0004.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 32076 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20240304/63165015/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.png
Type: image/png
Size: 34378 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20240304/63165015/attachment-0005.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 29361 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20240304/63165015/attachment-0003.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: oledata.mso
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 65615 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20240304/63165015/attachment-0001.obj>