BIG Exclusives

(Part 1 of 2) Key takeaways Rare earth elements (REE) are not geologically rare, but commercially viable deposits are – making economic extraction difficult and highly concentrated. China dominates the REE value chain, producing 68% of global output and controlling ~90% of global refining capacity. Global production has surged, rising from 64,500 tonnes in 1994 to ~394,000 tonnes in 2024. Growth from 2023 to 2024 was driven largely by the U.S., China, Nigeria, and Thailand. ...

Billy Simani had participated in nationwide demonstrations opposing the 2024 Finance Bill, which proposed new taxation measures in Kenya. At approximately 15:00 hours on June 21, a day after the protests, his door was knocked. Six individuals – five men in balaclavas and one woman in a facemask – restrained him, confiscated his electronic devices, and instructed him to unlock his phone. On inquiring about the reason for the invasion, he was physically assaulted,...

AI fills pitch decks with promise, then reappears in post-mortems when reality intervenes. Models perform flawlessly in demos, stumble in production, and leave expensive lessons. This article examines the most visible failures, explains what went wrong, and offers a practical playbook to prevent the next one. Why ambitious AI projects still fail Data and reality diverge. Models are trained on yesterday’s data while operations run on today’s. When the gap widens, performance collapses. Objectives get...

Health services across the Northern Hemisphere are once again bracing for what many in the media like to call the “winter crisis” – an acute, annual imbalance when healthcare demand exceeds supply.As usual, health officials warn us of the threat of hospitals being over capacity, and the media dutifully feeds us dramatic stories of people lying on beds in hallways, the floor, or any other available space. The source of the crisis? “Flu” season. Where I...

I have seen the PowerPoint slide too many times. Another perfect circle adorned with cheerful arrows. "Take-Make-Dispose becomes Take-Make-Use-Return,” the chief sustainability officer explains to nodding heads – mostly the same nodding heads on the same conference circuit. The room smells of expensive coffee and cheap promises. The circular economy has become the corporate world's favourite bedtime story, replete with a soothing narrative that lets us sleep peacefully while the world falls apart. Eventually, you outgrow the pacifiers...

Ken Dryden, superstar goalie of the Montreal Canadiens and Team Canada in the 1970s, passed away last month at age 78. Far too young, but cancer does that with distressing regularity. Dryden was a childhood hero for me. Standing tall in his crease, staring down the big bad Boston Bruins and guiding the fleet and elegant Habs to victory, he won six Stanley Cups in his short eight-year NHL career. He also backstopped Team Canada...

Vaccines to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection were widely regarded as the best means for controlling COVID-19. Since their emergency authorization, billions of doses have been administered worldwide, accompanied by declarations of safety and efficacy. However, no studies on either medium- or long-term risks were conducted prior to the rollout, leaving significant gaps in our understanding of potential harms. Population-wide vaccination programs began swiftly, but concerns soon emerged about the lack of comprehensive, published clinical trial reports....

After exploring AI's limitations – from hallucinations and context blindness to black box opacity – it is time to examine where AI actually delivers results. Despite significant challenges, AI has achieved remarkable successes across industries, delivering genuine value and transforming operations. Understanding these successes reveals patterns that help organizations deploy AI more effectively. The key to AI's success stories is not overcoming fundamental constraints. Rather, these victories share common characteristics: well-defined problems, abundant high-quality data,...

Key takeaways Angola imports 70% of its fuel due to a mismatch between refinery output and domestic consumption. Fuel subsidies became fiscally unsustainable as rising demand, a weaker kwanza, and higher global oil prices pushed Angola’s fuel import bill above $3 billion annually. Declining oil reserves and production threaten fiscal stability – reserves have shrunk, and output has fallen nearly 40% from peak levels, undermining revenues. Subsidy removal is economically necessary but politically...

Since 2020, Haiti has not had a functioning parliament or elected officials, and leader after failed leader, no lasting solution has been found. The most populous country in the Caribbean (11.4 million), Haiti has been disintegrating to anarchy, a failed state where criminal gangs reign. The last holder of the prime minister office was ousted while in Kenya on a mission to secure assistance to fight raging gangs in Port-Au-Prince. With over 7,000 deaths reported...