France's Macron Commits €1 Billion to Africa Electrification
French President Emmanuel Macron said his country will contribute €1 billion euros ($1.04 billion) to a World Bank-backed drive to increase access to electricity in Africa.
The money will be channeled through the Agence Francaise de Developpement, a French state development bank, by 2030, Macron said in a video address to the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Tuesday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Wire
an hour ago
- Business Wire
Dassault Systèmes' 3D UNIV+RSES at the 2025 Paris Air Show: Transforming Aerospace and Defense with AI-Powered Generative Experiences
VELIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: FR0014003TT8, today announced it will showcase how its 3D UNIV+RSES are transforming design, production and operations to shape the future of the aerospace and defense industry, at the Paris Air Show June 16-22, 2025. As challenges in complexity, safety, sovereignty, skills, sustainability and speed to market require industry to adopt new working methods across the value chain, 3D UNIV+RSES enable industry to imagine and develop new products and services with experience at the core. Their unique combination of modeling, simulation, data science and AI-generated content blend virtual and real worlds in a secured environment for experimenting, collaborating, learning and inventing while protecting intellectual property. At chalet B159, Dassault Systèmes will feature the transformative power of virtual twins and AI-enabled generative experiences integrated across the aircraft lifecycle, accelerating design through to operations. Demonstrations will tackle the different challenges the industry faces today, including workforce training and capturing and preserving the expertise that will empower a new generation. Highlights and demonstrations include: 3DEXPERIENCE platform capabilities for building an aircraft with AI-powered generative experiences, automating production, testing and optimizing an airframe for certification, ensuring quality, reducing maintenance costs, and more Panels on how the virtual world is driving a paradigm shift across defense, the supply chain, production, advanced air mobility, and education with participants from Airbus Defense and Space, the French Procurement agency (DGA), NIAR, Aciturri, SABCA, TAAC Aerospace Technologies, UUDS Group, Beyond Aero, UrbanV, Vertical Aerospace, Group ISAE and more A contest inviting attendees to try to win prizes by using a mobile web application to scan QR codes to collect iconic virtual twins of innovations by Dassault Systèmes customers 'The future of aerospace and defense requires new ways to bring machines, drones, satellites, equipment and intelligent systems to life, and to redefine how the world can benefit from them. Our 3D UNIV+RSES propel this disruption forward with generative AI, knowledge and know-how, catalyzing a new era of industrial transformation that delivers performance, resilience and sovereignty,' said David Ziegler, Vice President, Aerospace and Defense Industry, Dassault Systèmes. Since 1981, Dassault Systèmes has been the partner of choice to the aerospace and defense industry, enabling transformative business processes across all disciplines and the value chain that have changed how they work and innovate. With science-based solutions for the commercial aviation, space, defense, aerospace propulsion, supplier, airport and airline sectors, the company's technology is deployed across the industry worldwide, bringing the virtual world to nearly every program today. Dassault Systèmes in the aerospace and defense industry: ABOUT DASSAULT SYSTÈMES
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Dassault Systèmes' 3D UNIV+RSES at the 2025 Paris Air Show: Transforming Aerospace and Defense with AI-Powered Generative Experiences
3D UNIV+RSES offer new ways to tackle challenges and transform working methods across the value chain, marking a turning point for industrial innovation 3D UNIV+RSES' unique combination of modeling, simulation, data science and AI-generated content to be showcased at chalet B159 Highlights include a demo on building an aircraft with AI-powered generative experiences; panels on defense, suppliers, production, advanced air mobility and the workforce of the future VELIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France, June 12, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: FR0014003TT8, today announced it will showcase how its 3D UNIV+RSES are transforming design, production and operations to shape the future of the aerospace and defense industry, at the Paris Air Show June 16-22, 2025. As challenges in complexity, safety, sovereignty, skills, sustainability and speed to market require industry to adopt new working methods across the value chain, 3D UNIV+RSES enable industry to imagine and develop new products and services with experience at the core. Their unique combination of modeling, simulation, data science and AI-generated content blend virtual and real worlds in a secured environment for experimenting, collaborating, learning and inventing while protecting intellectual property. At chalet B159, Dassault Systèmes will feature the transformative power of virtual twins and AI-enabled generative experiences integrated across the aircraft lifecycle, accelerating design through to operations. Demonstrations will tackle the different challenges the industry faces today, including workforce training and capturing and preserving the expertise that will empower a new generation. Highlights and demonstrations include: 3DEXPERIENCE platform capabilities for building an aircraft with AI-powered generative experiences, automating production, testing and optimizing an airframe for certification, ensuring quality, reducing maintenance costs, and more Panels on how the virtual world is driving a paradigm shift across defense, the supply chain, production, advanced air mobility, and education with participants from Airbus Defense and Space, the French Procurement agency (DGA), NIAR, Aciturri, SABCA, TAAC Aerospace Technologies, UUDS Group, Beyond Aero, UrbanV, Vertical Aerospace, Group ISAE and more A contest inviting attendees to try to win prizes by using a mobile web application to scan QR codes to collect iconic virtual twins of innovations by Dassault Systèmes customers "The future of aerospace and defense requires new ways to bring machines, drones, satellites, equipment and intelligent systems to life, and to redefine how the world can benefit from them. Our 3D UNIV+RSES propel this disruption forward with generative AI, knowledge and know-how, catalyzing a new era of industrial transformation that delivers performance, resilience and sovereignty," said David Ziegler, Vice President, Aerospace and Defense Industry, Dassault Systèmes. Since 1981, Dassault Systèmes has been the partner of choice to the aerospace and defense industry, enabling transformative business processes across all disciplines and the value chain that have changed how they work and innovate. With science-based solutions for the commercial aviation, space, defense, aerospace propulsion, supplier, airport and airline sectors, the company's technology is deployed across the industry worldwide, bringing the virtual world to nearly every program today. FOR MORE INFORMATION Dassault Systèmes' 3DEXPERIENCE platform, 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions: Dassault Systèmes in the aerospace and defense industry: ABOUT DASSAULT SYSTÈMES Dassault Systèmes is a catalyst for human progress. Since 1981, the company has pioneered virtual worlds to improve real life for consumers, patients and citizens. With Dassault Systèmes' 3DEXPERIENCE platform, 370,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, can collaborate, imagine and create sustainable innovations that drive meaningful impact. For more information, visit: View source version on Contacts Dassault Systèmes Press ContactsCorporate / FranceArnaud +33 (0)1 61 62 87 73 North AmericaNatasha +1 (508) 449 8097 EMEAVirginie +33 (0) 1 61 62 84 21 ChinaGrace +86 10 6536 2288 JapanReina +81 90 9325 2545 KoreaJeemin +82 2 3271 6653 IndiaPriyanka +91 9886302179 AP SouthHazel +65 8333 3484
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Exclusive-China-backed militia secures control of new rare earth mines in Myanmar
By Naw Betty Han, Shoon Naing, Devjyot Ghoshal, Eleanor Whalley and Napat Wesshasartar BANGKOK (Reuters) -A Chinese-backed militia is protecting new rare earth mines in eastern Myanmar, according to four people familiar with the matter, as Beijing moves to secure control of the minerals it is wielding as a bargaining chip in its trade war with Washington. China has a near-monopoly over the processing of heavy rare earths into magnets that power critical goods like wind turbines, medical devices and electric vehicles. But Beijing is heavily reliant on Myanmar for the rare earth metals and oxides needed to produce them: the war-torn country was the source of nearly half those imports in the first four months of this year, Chinese customs data show. Beijing's access to fresh stockpiles of minerals like dysprosium and terbium has been throttled recently after a major mining belt in Myanmar's north was taken over by an armed group battling the Southeast Asian country's junta, which Beijing supports. Now, in the hillsides of Shan state in eastern Myanmar, Chinese miners are opening new deposits for extraction, according to two of the sources, both of whom work at one of the mines. At least 100 people are working day-to-night shifts excavating hillsides and extracting minerals using chemicals, the sources said. Two other residents of the area said they had witnessed trucks carrying material from the mines, between the towns of Mong Hsat and Mong Yun, toward the Chinese border some 200km away. Reuters identified some of the sites using imagery from commercial satellite providers Planet Labs and Maxar Technologies. Business records across Myanmar are poorly maintained and challenging to access, and Reuters could not independently identify the ownership of the mines. The mines operate under the protection of the United Wa State Army, according to four sources, two of whom were able to identify the uniforms of the militia members. The UWSA, which is among the biggest armed groups in Shan state, also controls one of the world's largest tin mines. It has long-standing commercial and military links with China, according to the U.S. Institute of Peace, a conflict resolution non-profit. Details of the militia's role and the export route of the rare earths are reported by Reuters for the first time. University of Manchester lecturer Patrick Meehan, who has closely studied Myanmar's rare earth industry and reviewed satellite imagery of the Shan mines, said the "mid-large size" sites appeared to be the first significant facilities in the country outside the Kachin region in the north. "There is a whole belt of rare earths that goes down through Kachin, through Shan, parts of Laos," he said. China's Ministry of Commerce, as well as the UWSA and the junta, did not respond to Reuters' questions. Access to rare earths is increasingly important to Beijing, which tightened restrictions on its exports of metals and magnets after U.S. President Donald Trump resumed his trade war with China this year. While China appears to have recently approved more exports and Trump has signalled progress in resolving the dispute, the move has upended global supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers and semiconductor companies. The price of terbium oxide has jumped by over 27% across the last six months, Shanghai Metals Market data show. Dysprosium oxide prices have fluctuated sharply, rising around 1% during the same period. CHINESE INFLUENCE A prominent circular clearing first appears in the forested hills of Shan state, some 30 km (18.6 miles) away from the Thai border, in April 2023, according to the satellite images reviewed by Reuters. By February 2025 - shortly after the Kachin mines suspended work - the site housed over a dozen leaching pools, which are ponds typically used to extract heavy rare earths, the images showed. Six km away, across the Kok river, another forest clearing was captured in satellite imagery from May 2024. Within a year, it had transformed into a facility with 20 leaching pools. Minerals analyst David Merriman, who reviewed two of the Maxar images for Reuters, said the infrastructure at the Shan mines, as well as observable erosion levels to the topography, indicated that the facilities "have been producing for a little bit already." At least one of the mines is run by a Chinese company using Chinese-speaking managers, according to the two mine workers and two members of the Shan Human Rights Foundation, an advocacy group that identified the existence of the operations in a May report using satellite imagery. An office at one of the two sites also had a company logo written in Chinese characters, said one of the workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters. The use of Chinese operators in the Shan mines and transportation of the output to China mirrors a similar system in Kachin, where entire hillsides stand scarred by leaching pools. Chinese mining firms can produce heavy rare earth oxides in low-cost and loosely regulated Myanmar seven times cheaper than in other regions with similar deposits, said Neha Mukherjee of London-based Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. "Margins are huge." Beijing tightly controls the technology that allows for the efficient extraction of heavy rare earths, and she said that it would be difficult to operate a facility in Myanmar without Chinese assistance. The satellite imagery suggest the Shan mines are smaller than their Kachin counterparts but they are likely to yield the same elements, according to Merriman, who serves as research director at consultancy Project Blue. "The Shan State deposits will have terbium and dysprosium in them, and they will be the main elements that (the miners) are targeting there," he said. STRATEGIC TOOL The UWSA oversees a remote statelet the size of Belgium and, according to U.S. prosecutors, has long prospered from the drug trade. It has a long-standing ceasefire with the junta but still maintains a force of between 30,000 and 35,000 personnel, equipped with modern weaponry mainly sourced from China, according to Ye Myo Hein, a senior fellow at the Southeast Asia Peace Institute. "The UWSA functions as a key instrument for China to maintain strategic leverage along the Myanmar-China border and exert influence over other ethnic armed groups," he said. Some of those fighters are also closely monitoring the mining area, said SHRF member Leng Harn. "People cannot freely go in and out of the area without ID cards issued by UWSA." Shan state has largely kept out of the protracted civil war, in which an assortment of armed groups are battling the junta. The fighting has also roiled the Kachin mining belt and pushed many Chinese operators to cease work. China has repeatedly said that it seeks stability in Myanmar, where it has significant investments. Beijing has intervened to halt fighting in some areas near its border. "The Wa have had now 35 years with no real conflict with the Myanmar military," said USIP's Myanmar country director Jason Towers. "Chinese companies and the Chinese government would see the Wa areas as being more stable than other parts of northern Burma." The bet on Shan's rare earths deposit could provide more leverage to China amid a global scramble for the critical minerals, said Benchmark's Mukherjee. "If there's so much disruption happening in Kachin, they would be looking for alternative sources," she said. "They want to keep the control of heavy rare earths in their hands. They use that as a strategic tool." (Additional reporting by the Beijing newsroom; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Katerina Ang)
