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🎬Last minute visit
Good morning and welcome to December. There are only 30 days left in the year, so if you’re only halfway through executing some of the resolutions you made at the start of the year, we suggest you let go already. However, you should still have enough time for the following:
Draft a new set of New Year’s resolutions
Read 20 books
Figure out what “spending more time with the people who fill you up means”.
— Chibuike Uzor.
CURRENCIES
Currency exchange rates against the US dollar as of market close. Here’s what these numbers mean
ECONOMY
Biden finally keeps his promise to Angola
White House/Global Times
With only a month left in office, President Joe Biden is trying to wrap up more last-minute deliveries than the Arctic’s favorite oldie on Christmas Eve. He will be visiting Angola today, fulfilling a promise made in late 2022 to visit sub-Saharan Africa.
What do we know?
In Luanda, Biden will discuss various US investments in the region, starting with the "Lobito Corridor," a major rail project linking Angola's port of Lobito to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The railway would primarily transport minerals like cobalt and copper from resource-rich DR Congo to Angola and then onto the US through the Atlantic.
The US is funding the project in part, contributing $500 million out of the projected $1.6 billion cost.
“The US doesn’t want to give up the region’s mineral resources to China, but it will be difficult to unseat the Chinese who have invested in the region for decades” according to Angolan political analyst, Claudio Silva.
China on the other hand is already building a new line to the Indian Ocean. In March 2024, Beijing announced the expansion of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway.
But it’s not all business. Biden is also expected to set the record straight on Angola’s worsening human rights reputation with Amnesty International calling on him to enforce the release of political opposition leaders who have been detained for more than a year.
And Angola will need to comply, as it looks for a way out of its $25 billion debt to China. The most of any African country.
Looking back. Biden’s trip will make good on only one of his promises to Africa. Others will remain unrealized, like backing two permanent seats for Africa at the U.N. Security Council. -CU
DIGITS
Boom time for music revenue
Antony Jones/Getty
Every time you stream that one Kendrick song on Spotify, you are participating in a ~$45 billion economy. According to data from media consultancy Omdia, and reported by the Financial Times, annual copyrighted music revenue hit $45.5 billion last year—double the number from 2014, and higher than the global box office’s pre-pandemic peak of $41.9 billion in 2019.
Today, digital streaming platforms are powering the surge and now account for more revenue than that of broadcast and radio, per the Financial Times. A decade ago, digital made up only 5% of music revenue. To be fair, that was before Kendrick.
SHOWER THOUGHTS
“Being naked while wearing shoes, somehow feels more naked than being naked.”
NEWS
Round the continent
Sia Kambou/AFP
The ex-wife of former Ivory Coast President, Laurent Gbagbo has declared her intention to run for president.
Panduleni Itula, an opposition candidate in Namibia’s elections has declared his party would reject the results after voting has been prolonged for days.
South Africa officially took over the presidency of the G20 Summit this past weekend.
Chad’s government has ended a defense cooperation agreement with its former colonial power, France. And France was not involved in the negotiations.
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