Category: News

Madagascar may be best known for talking zoo animals, a monarchy comprised of lemurs, sassy hippos, and flamboyant musical numbers, but the African island just east of Mozambique has a commodity more pressing and vital than dancing primates. 

The more prevalent role that algorithms, automation and data have on our day to day existence, mean that the everyday person is more cogent than ever of the role statistics play in modern life. One statistic which is particularly difficult to ignore for most Australians, despite us hailing from the ‘lucky country’, Australia has the highest cancer rate in the world, with 468 cases per 100,000 people.

Black Earth Minerals (ASX:BEM) have recently announced they have secured ongoing support from the Madagascan Ministry of Mines and Strategic Resources. Following a meeting in June with the Minister, Mr Fidianiavo Ravoktra, the company is pleased to reveal that they had been offered the Minister’s full support for the Maniry project, acknowledging the strategic value that the project holds in one of the poorest parts of the country.

On Tuesday, 30th July, the Australian share market hit its highest level ever, surpassing a record set just before the global financial crisis. It took almost 12 years for the index to get back to this level surpassing the previous all-time high set in 2007.

‘Trade-war’ is a term that has been thrown around frequently to describe the happenings between China and the US over the past few years. As the relationship between the two biggest economies in the world continues to sour, it appears time to reflect on how, exactly, we got to this point.

Decades ago, the US military were confounded by transport issues in adverse terrain conditions. Inhospitable terrain such as soft and shifting soils and a lack of stable roads, meant that they were stuck; moving vehicles through such difficult landscapes seemed impossible. That is, until a few bright minds in the military came up with an idea: an engineered platform solution of large, moveable mats that could essentially be laid down and locked together, so that anything from a truck to a tank could move across them with ease. 

After a hiatus of over two decades, the 2021 MotoGP is returning home to Indonesia for the third time in unprecedented style. In two years’ time, the coveted motorbike championships will take place on the freshly built turf in Lombok, a rapidly developing Indonesian hot spot dubbed “the new Bali”.

Fifty years ago, the average Chinese person consumed 4 kilograms of meat a year. In the present day, the average Chinese person now consumes 54 kilograms of meat over the same period. But that figure is half the average person in the US or Australia, who both on average will consume around 100 kilograms of meat a year. As their diet evolves however, the Chinese are showing signs of catching their Western compatriots at a rate of knots.

Over the last decade, technological improvements and algorithmic learning have made rapid improvements to many facets of people’s lives. Smartphones can track daily routines and present a morning alarm, weather schedule and traffic or transport report catered to specific daily plans.

Steam engines, mass production, and Internet technology each brought epic revolution to business. Today we are in the midst of what is often called the fourth industrial revolution – the convergence of physical things with the Internet: the Internet of Things (IoT).

Concerns about the ongoing strength of the international steel market, and consequently the iron ore market, appear unfounded on the basis of recent projections. Although the market is evolving, the commodity as a whole remains strong, with forecasts suggesting that this will remain the case.

Bali without a saturation of enthused Aussie tourists is like gin without tonic, a meat pie without sauce, or Canberra without a biannual leadership coup. Needless to say, Bali’s tourism industry is enormous. Where else are 18-25 year old Australians meant to go when their Instagram is looking a little bare and they’re in need of a fresh bintan singlet?