Recession avoided: South Africa’s economy escaped a technical recession in the fourth quarter as fewer power cuts helped energy-intensive industries rebound. https://bloom.bg/49YVCbX

Anti-LGBTQ law: Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo delays his consideration of an anti-LGBTQ bill after it was challenged in court, postponing a potential showdown with international lenders whose funding is key to the country’s economic recovery. https://bloom.bg/3SVqWkQ

Acquisition talks: Vivendi’s Canal+ increased its bid for South Africa’s MultiChoice by almost a fifth and entered exclusive talks on acquiring control of the African broadcaster. https://bloom.bg/49Y5l2h

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Bitcoin surged to an all-time high of more than $69,000, surpassing the record it set at the peak of the last crypto bull market more than two years ago.⁣
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In an ironic twist, Bitcoin owes much of its resurgence to a regulator long-viewed as hostile to crypto: the US SEC. The SEC approved spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in early January after suffering a legal defeat last year in its attempt to reject them.⁣
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The move has widened the mass-market accessibility of Bitcoin, helping the crypto sector to turn the page following a bear market in 2022 and a string of subsequent bankruptcies, including the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange. Read more here:⁣ https://trib.al/YXFgJ2Q

Subscribe to the Bloomberg Crypto Telegram channel: https://t.me/bloombergcrypto
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📷: Getty Images

Rates hike: Uganda’s central bank delivered an emergency interest-rate increase to curb inflation and support the battered shilling. https://bloom.bg/3InZUhi

Currency devaluation: Egypt hiked interest rates and allowed its currency to weaken more than 35% in a long-awaited devaluation that may pave the way for billions of dollars more in loans from the International Monetary Fund. https://bloom.bg/3TlFonQ

Deal sweetener: Ghana is resisting calls by holders of the country’s Eurobonds to offer a sweetener for restructuring $13 billion of debt, risking a self-imposed deadline for a deal. https://bloom.bg/4c4xExW

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

As lawmakers and advisers meet in Beijing this week for the nation’s biggest political gathering of the year, the Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper released a list of the event’s buzzwords.

Tracking slogans and phrases from government and party documents has become an important way to gain insight into Chinese policymaking, especially as the country has increasingly restricted access to information.

From "AI plus" to "new three," here are the key terms that can help better understand China’s priorities for the upcoming year: https://bloom.bg/3V0IBdM

📷: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Power vacuum: Senegal is rushing to hold elections this month to elect a new president before Macky Sall's term ends, although different dates have been set by the nation’s top court and the government. https://bloom.bg/49HnEc6

Prescribed assets: The ANC plans to revive an apartheid-era rule that compels pension funds to invest in government-approved programs, assuming it retains power in the upcoming elections. https://bloom.bg/49Es5Vh

Gulf power play: Egypt has secured more than $40 billion in investments and loans from the UAE and IMF. And a Saudi deal may be next. https://bloom.bg/4a1O9ZB

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

LATEST: Hong Kong is fast-tracking the approval of Article 23, and proposes life imprisonment for treason and insurrection https://bloom.bg/4c5Anaa

Record drought: A swathe of southern Africa about the size of France suffered the driest February in decades, killing crops and precipitating a power shortage that threatens to hit copper mines in a key producing region. https://bloom.bg/49zzVPX

Somaliland recognition: Ethiopia is considering scrapping a plan to recognize the breakaway state of Somaliland, amid international pressure to defuse regional tensions over the proposal, sources say. https://bloom.bg/3PeJJql

Child abductions: Armed men abducted hundreds of children from an elementary school in northern Nigeria, triggering a new security challenge in the West African nation that's dealing with a cost-of-living crisis. https://bloom.bg/4c8sgde

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Oppenheimer, the biographical film about the inventor of the atomic bomb, picked up a total of seven Academy Awards, including best picture and a first-ever Oscar for director Christopher Nolan.

Cillian Murphy won the best actor award for his portrayal of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Robert Downey Jr. picked up the best supporting actor award for playing his nemesis Lewis Strauss.

The three-hour film from Comcast’s Universal Pictures led the nominations with 13. It also won for film editing, cinematography and score. See who else won here: https://bloom.bg/4a7nVoQ

📷: Rich Polk/Variety via Getty Images

Equity surge: Egyptian stocks resumed a world-beating stock rally after the North African nation devalued its currency and secured fresh funding to ease pressure on its economy. https://bloom.bg/43f0Huo

Losing power: Support for South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has fallen below 40%, less than three months before the country holds elections, a new opinion poll shows. https://bloom.bg/3TexFGY

Stormy weather: Tropical Storm Filipo is bearing down on Mozambique’s coast, where it’s forecast to make landfall south of the port city of Beira on Tuesday, bringing winds of up to 120 kilometers (75 miles) an hour and torrential rain. https://bloom.bg/3vcH89x

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

From banker to president: Former Credit Suisse Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam signaled his intention to run for president of Ivory Coast in October next year. https://bloom.bg/43btf8h

Delay vote: Senegalese opposition politician Karim Wade asked the nation’s top court to annul a decision to schedule elections for March 24, arguing there’s not enough time to prepare for the ballot. https://bloom.bg/3TyCpZt

Thunder strikes: Filipo made landfall on Mozambique’s south-central coastline as a severe tropical storm, and the authorities say may impact more than half a million people. https://bloom.bg/3wMYIl3

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Donald Trump clinches the Republican presidential nomination, capping off a stunning political comeback fueled by grievance and vengeance. He formally enters what’s poised to be the longest and costliest general election in recent memory.

The former president on Tuesday night crossed the threshold for the number of delegates needed to become the GOP nominee, the Associated Press reported. This allows Trump a free rein to consolidate the Republican Party’s political operation and fully turn his attention toward a rematch with President Joe Biden.

If elected, Trump has vowed to root out the so-called “deep state” of civil servants, crack down on illegal immigration, enact protectionist trade policies and curtail the US’s role in the world. More here: https://bloom.bg/3Ti5oz4

Big moves in crypto: South Africa will license about 60 cryptocurrency platforms by the end of the month, putting it among the first nations on the continent to require digital-asset exchanges to have permits to operate. https://bloom.bg/4cdEoti

Helping hand: The European Union is working toward an aid package for Egypt that will provide some €7.4 billion ($8.1 billion) in a mix of grants and loans as the country copes with fallout from the Israel-Hamas conflict. https://bloom.bg/4atNoZR

African exclusives: Billionaire Sunil Mittal’s Airtel Africa is considering an initial public offering for its mobile money unit that could value it at more than $4 billion, said people familiar with the matter. https://bloom.bg/48UsSjM

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Australia is grappling with a deepening housing crisis. Yet when it comes to the most obvious solution, city dwellers just don’t want it. https://bloom.bg/3PmDW2a

Ports failure: As vessels avoid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, African ports stand to capitalize on changes in shipping routes. But they’re too inefficient, warn logistics experts. https://bloom.bg/3TiBxXf

Scrapped deals: South Africa terminates a deal to sell a controlling stake in its flagship airline after failing to agree on a value and other terms after three years of negotiations. https://bloom.bg/4aeKA2C

Africa's biggest lender: Standard Bank slumps the most in more than six months after the lender’s earnings outlook for 2024 disappointed some investors. https://bloom.bg/3IARh2T

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Off-grid: Damage to four subsea cables off the west coast of Africa is disrupting mobile and internet services across the continent. https://bloom.bg/3v178VC

Out of jail: Senegal's authorities free two key opposition leaders from prison, boosting the anti-establishment campaign before this month’s presidential elections. https://bloom.bg/4agDD0D

$21 billion for power: South Africa needs to build and fund a 390-billion-rand expansion of the national grid so it can connect more power plants and end years of rolling electricity outages. https://bloom.bg/4ckugyT

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

BREAKING: US prosecutors have widened their probe of India’s Adani Group to focus on whether the company may have engaged in bribery as well as the conduct of the company’s billionaire founder, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.⁣
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Investigators are digging into whether an Adani entity, or people linked to the company including Gautam Adani, were involved in paying officials in India for favorable treatment on an energy project, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the confidential effort.⁣
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The probe, which is also looking at Indian renewable energy company Azure Power Global, is being handled by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Justice Department’s fraud unit in Washington, said people familiar with the matter. “We are not aware of any investigation against our chairman,” Adani Group said in an emailed statement. Read more: https://trib.al/IZVRzMy
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📷: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

A defiant Vladimir Putin said Russia won’t be stopped from pursuing its goals after he swept to a record victory in a presidential election whose outcome was pre-determined.

“No matter how much anybody wanted to suppress us, our will, our consciousness, nobody in history has ever succeeded, they have not succeeded now and they will never succeed,” Putin told supporters in Moscow. All the major “and in some areas grandiose plans” that he set out before the election “will certainly be achieved,” he said.

Putin spoke after preliminary results showed him with 87.2% support in the election that ended Sunday, giving him another six years as president to step up his war in Ukraine and conflict with the West. The outcome far exceeded his previous record of 77% in 2018 elections. More here: https://bloom.bg/49Xy4EJ

📷: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP

Boeing’s disastrous start to 2024 is spilling over to airlines and their passengers as production delays exacerbate a shortage of single-aisle jets.

Airbus, Boeing’s main competitor, is largely sold out through the end of this decade, so there isn’t an obvious place for airlines to turn.

For passengers, this will mean fewer flight options and potentially higher prices on at least some popular routes. See which routes and airlines may be impacted: https://bloom.bg/3IIwTgk

📷: Bing Guan/Bloomberg

Bloomberg breaks down the multi-phase national elections that kick off on April 19, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term. https://bloom.bg/49SCtsw

Apple is in talks to build Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence engine into the iPhone, sources say, setting the stage for a blockbuster agreement that would shake up the AI industry.

The two companies are in active negotiations to let Apple license Gemini, Google’s set of generative AI models, to power some new features coming to the iPhone software this year, sources said.

Apple also recently held discussions with OpenAI and has considered using its model, the sources added. More on what this could mean for the two companies: https://bloom.bg/4chtHWG

📷: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg