BREAKING: Donald Trump wins the Iowa caucus, cementing his status as the clear Republican frontrunner in the race.⁣
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Trump cruised to victory in the Iowa caucus, according to news outlets, warding off a late challenge from rivals DeSantis and Haley and cementing his status as the clear Republican frontrunner in the race.⁣
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News organizations including the Associated Press, CNN and CBS News called the contest for Trump. Read more here: https://trib.al/PuMuJaN
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📷: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Who won in Iowa:

Ron DeSantis came in a distant second after Donald Trump cruised to an early victory in the Iowa caucus, with Nikki Haley finishing a close third. https://trib.al/eJG9YP8

Vivek Ramaswamy, a political novice who gained attention for his outspoken debate performances, ended his long-shot presidential bid. https://trib.al/DEloSlV

About a quarter of Iowa Republican voters ranked immigration as the most important issue facing the US while a third picked the economy as the top issue. https://trib.al/ghFcAwb

$2 billion debt: Kenya is looking into a kind of debt swap that would bolster its finances as it faces a crucial repayment deadline, while channeling funds into basic social services. https://bloom.bg/4aZ6TKD

Nigerian oil: Shell agreed to sell its Nigerian onshore oil business to a consortium of local companies for more than $1.3 billion, a historic shift in a crucial yet controversial part of the energy giant’s global operations. https://bloom.bg/3HqpkKw

No deal, yet: South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana played down the likelihood of a decision soon to tap a 497 billion-rand ($26.5 billion) contingency fund held on behalf of the country by the central bank. https://bloom.bg/3RYw6fB

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

China’s population extended a historic decline in 2023 as deaths rose after Beijing ended strict pandemic curbs and births continued to fall. Read more here: https://bloom.bg/48Vmr0d

China's economy grew 5.2% last year, hitting the government's target despite a weak rebound from Covid and a housing slump. https://trib.al/19czeVv

China’s jobless rate among youths was 14.9% in December when excluding current students, according to the statistics authority. https://trib.al/hjRuWRu

A Chinese measure of economy-wide prices marked its longest slide since 1999, underscoring deep deflationary pressures that are weighing on the world’s second-largest economy. https://trib.al/qjZV2mU

Debt relief: Ghana has won a moratorium with official creditors on debt payments through May 2026, and expects to reach a deal with eurobond investors to revamp $13 billion debt by the end of March. https://bloom.bg/3HnjhXb

Mozambique LNG: A group led by TotalEnergies will likely resume work on a liquefied-natural-gas project in Mozambique early this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. https://bloom.bg/3vMI04D

Angola Inflation: The central bank is “totally committed” to reining in inflation as the government tries to increase local production to cut dependence on imports, the finance minister says in Davos. https://bloom.bg/3vAgtU5

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

Singapore’s Transport Minister S. Iswaran resigned after being charged with corruption, the latest development in the biggest political scandal to hit the city-state in close to four decades. More here: https://bloom.bg/3Snnmkw

It's been PM Narendra Modi's long-standing goal to open a Hindu temple where a mosque once stood in Ayodhya. The site has long created divisions between India's Hindus and Muslims.

The plot is a sprawling temple complex devoted to the Hindu god-king Ram. Devotees believe the temple site is Ram’s birthplace. It was formerly occupied by a 16th century mosque razed in 1992 by Hindu extremists. Click here to read more on the history of the battle over the site: https://trib.al/tjc8wYd

Budget deficit: As Ghana’s debt-restructuring talks approach their final stretch, the country’s leaders are facing a new dilemma. https://bloom.bg/48B0sM9

Cash injection: The International Monetary Fund agreed to immediately disburse $684.7 million to Kenya, boosting the country’s foreign exchange reserves before a critical eurobond repayment due in June. https://bloom.bg/42aJJgw

Trade boost: Zambia plans to build a new rail connection to link a Lake Tanganyika harbor to an existing line that runs to neighboring Tanzania, boosting trade with three other nations. https://bloom.bg/42aZLH5

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

"Please have more babies." That’s China’s message for couples after decades of limiting most families to just one child. Why the turnabout? The reason is that births have now fallen for seven years in a row, leading to a population drop in the last two years. This threatens economic growth, which had been partly supported by a vast labor supply — not to mention there may not be enough able-bodied people to take care of all those seniors.

China already lost its status as the world’s most populous nation to India in 2023, and the upshot is that China’s economy may struggle to overtake the US in size. https://trib.al/HgC9yFp

Debt markets dodge: Ghana’s dollar bonds have dodged the unease in debt markets this week as the nation makes progress with its debt restructuring. https://bloom.bg/47HsK6k

Credit downgrade: Egypt’s credit outlook was cut to negative from stable by Moody’s Investors Service while the pound’s weakening on the black market accelerated, in a sign of the country’s worsening economic plight. https://bloom.bg/3vOBAlv

Rate roulette: Nigeria is sending mixed signals on interest rates even as investors wait to hear from the central bank, which has not held a monetary policy meeting since July. https://bloom.bg/4aVcTEa

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

A familiar visitor has retreated from the world’s skyways and tourist meccas. Chinese travelers, once the biggest spenders on overseas trips, have been staying close to home since the country reopened its borders 12 months ago from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Outbound airline capacity from China stood at about 60% of 2019 levels during the fourth quarter, based on figures from aviation analytics firm Cirium. That’s a much slower recovery than in the US or UK — something that has disappointed airline executives, tourism officials and luxury store owners alike. https://trib.al/T82f9gp

It sounds like something Elon Musk might have cooked up: “Disease X.” The term was coined years ago as a way of getting scientists to work on medical countermeasures for unknown infectious threats instead of just known ones, like the Ebola virus.

The idea was to encourage the development of platform technologies, including vaccines, drug therapies and diagnostic tests, that could be rapidly adapted and deployed in response to an array of future outbreaks with epidemic or pandemic potential. Click here to read everything you need to know: https://trib.al/nqyFayY

Once filled with Thai-owned stores, today the streets in Bangkok’s downtown brim with signs in Mandarin advertising for everything from pork knuckle rice to video-production services.

Thailand is home to as many as 130,000 Chinese migrants, according to an analysis of official data by Sivarin Lertpusit, an assistant professor at Thammasat University. The influx of migrants is also crowding the industrial parts of rural Vietnam and bolstering beach-side villa values in Japan.

Click to read about why the Chinese are migrating out and how the jolt of China’s post-pandemic migration surge is transforming communities around the globe. https://trib.al/Yio0Tdb

Ahead of national elections, the opening of a controversial temple illustrates a religious fault line in India — and how high Modi’s party has climbed. The streets leading to the country's most contested religious site are going full throttle. Hindu priests mix with barefooted pilgrims chanting the names of deities. Armed officials patrol the city of Ayodhya from watchtowers and checkpoints.

The inauguration is symbolic of a changing India and marks the capstone of the prime minister's ten years in power. https://trib.al/2F7zFUQ

Kenya shilling weakens: Kenya is facing a weakening shilling despite new funding pledges of $900m, due to rising import costs and an increased demand for dollars in the country. https://bloom.bg/3u81396

Eurobond revival: Ivory Coast began the process of marketing a eurobond, testing a market that’s been closed to borrowers from Sub-Saharan Africa for nearly two years. https://bloom.bg/48IcMdB

Bond blunder: Niger has missed a growing number of bond payments due to sanctions triggered by its military coup in July, potentially threatening the financial stability of banking in West Africa. https://bloom.bg/494lLpe

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

India’s stock market has overtaken Hong Kong’s for the first time. It's another feat for the South Asian nation, which has become an investor darling due to its growth prospects and policy reforms.

The combined value of shares listed on Indian exchanges reached $4.33 trillion as of Monday’s close, versus $4.29 trillion for Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

That makes India the fourth-biggest equity market globally. Its stock market capitalization crossed $4 trillion for the first time on Dec. 5. More here: https://bloom.bg/47IihHX

📷: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

Rate hike: Nigeria's central bank is expected to raise interest rates by as much as 500 basis points next month and clarify foreign exchange management to attract investors. https://bloom.bg/3SsDz89

Mobile-money slump: Kenya's mobile money transfers have grown slowly since 2007 due to the government's increased excise duty on transaction fees. https://bloom.bg/3SrrUqc

Carbon credit loan: Rand Merchant Bank's loan agreement with a clean cookstove company, backed by Microsoft, helps establish its Africa-focused carbon finance business. https://bloom.bg/3HvnLez

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

There is a growing number of young white-collar professionals trading expensive, cramped quarters in Hong Kong for less pricey and roomier digs in Shenzhen, a sprawling city some 17 miles north that’s often tagged the Silicon Valley of China.

Behind the growing appeal of the commuter lifestyle are a number of factors, including improvements in transportation options and the greater prevalence of remote work. Additional perks include cheaper, round-the-clock food delivery options and cleaner air. Also driving the trend is the sharp increase in Hong Kong rents. Click to read about the concerns for those contemplating the move: https://trib.al/mtCH85a

Naira rises: Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso expects inflation to moderate this year and called the country's naira currency "undervalued." https://bloom.bg/47MB2tJ

Debt demand: Ivory Coast issues $2.6 billion bonds after seven years, which were oversubscribed more than three times. https://bloom.bg/3u6WThP

Inflation down: South Africa's inflation rate falls for the second consecutive month ahead of the central bank's expected decision to maintain borrowing costs at a 2009 high. https://bloom.bg/4b6rXiu

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

Ong Beng Seng has a penchant for schmoozing with the elite. That’s led him to business partnerships with actor Sylvester Stallone and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, while his decades-long friendship with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has been credited with bringing the night race to Singapore.

Now Ong’s ways are taking center stage after an investigation that has already toppled one of the most senior politicians in the city-state, which prides itself on a reputation for clean governance and business-friendly policies.

All 27 charges leveled against former Transport Minister S. Iswaran are related to alleged dealings with the Malaysian-born billionaire and his companies. Ong, who was arrested in July for questioning and then released on bail, hasn’t been charged. https://trib.al/PMOCqQ8