Executive Secretary, Khalil Nur Khalil, alongside MD of the Kaduna Mining Development Company, led the team on a visit to Mararaban Jos to appreciate ongoing construction of the FIRST Lithium processing plant in Nigeria by Ming Xin Mineral Separation Nig Ltd.

Lithium is the ideal element to make powerful, portable batteries.

With this plant planned for commissioning in April this year, Kaduna is further strengthening her position as the ideal investor destination in sub-Saharan Africa.

India has set green hydrogen consumption targets for some industries, so as to generate demand for cleaner fuel in its quest to reach net zero by 2070, the government said on Friday, as it unveiled its policy for green energy.

One of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, India approved a plan of incentives worth more than $2 billion last week to develop a green hydrogen production capacity of 5 million tons a year by 2030.

Asia’s third-largest economy wants to use green hydrogen to replace grey hydrogen, produced using gas, as it moves to decarbonize sectors such as oil and fertilizers.

Green hydrogen is a zero-carbon fuel made by electrolysis, using renewable power from wind and solar to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

India’s top refiner Indian Oil Corp, top power utility NTPC Ltd. and conglomerates including Reliance and Adani group have announced plans to build green hydrogen projects.

To gradually build a hydrogen-powered shipping lines, India has set a goal for its largest fleet operator, the state-run Shipping Corp. of India, to retrofit at least two ships to run on green hydrogen-based fuels by 2027.

All the state-run oil and gas companies that charter 40 vessels for fuel transport will also have to hire at least one ship powered by green hydrogen each year from 2027 to 2030.

Angola is ready to work with Saudi Arabia in the field of mining as the African country looks to excavate minerals including copper, nickel and lithium, according to its ambassador.

The Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, Frederico Manuel dos Santos e Silva Cardoso talked up the relationship between his country and the Kingdom, saying investment could flow between the two nations.

As well as the mining sector, he also flagged up infrastructure developments as a possible area of cooperation.

His comments came just days after the Federation of Saudi Chambers and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Angola signed a Memorandum of Understanding to boost economic ties between the countries.

The MoU includes plans for delegation visits, and exchanging information on markets and investment opportunities.

“Angola is also engaged in diversifying the economy,” said Cardoso, referencing Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 drive to move the Kingdom’s economy away from oil.

“We can work in several fields on mining. For example, Angola has copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, diamonds, and also has ornamental rocks that could be areas that we could work (on) together,” he added.

On infrastructure work, the ambassador said: “We have opportunities for projects of PPP – Public-private partnership.

“This is one of the areas that we are working on in order to put both countries working together.”

Relations between Angola and Saudi Arabia have strengthened in recent years, with the Southern African country opening an embassy in Riyadh in 2021.

Bilateral relations between the Kingdom and Angola began in 2007 and were reinforced in 2019 with the visit of a high-level delegation from Saudi Arabia to the Southern African nation.

Germany is in talks with Iraq over the possibility of importing natural gas from the oil-rich country, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday, as Berlin scrambles to diversify its energy sources to replace a drop in Russian fossil fuel shipments.

“We also talked about possible gas deliveries to Germany and agreed to stay in close contact,” Scholz told journalists in a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in Berlin.

Scholz did not give further details on the volumes of gas Germany hopes to import from Iraq.

Baghdad has offered opportunities to German companies to invest in using Iraq’s natural gas and the gas generated as a byproduct from oil production, Al-Sudani said, adding that Iraq wants to deliver gas through a pipeline via Turkiye to Europe.

Iraq continues to flare some of the gas extracted alongside crude oil because it lacks the facilities to process it into fuel for local consumption or exports.

Europe’s largest deposit of rare earths – which are used from mobile phones to missiles – has been found in Sweden.

No rare earths are mined in Europe at the moment and a Swedish minister hailed the find as a way of reducing the EU’s dependence on China.

The discovery is also being seen as “decisive” for the green transition, given the expected rise in demand for electric vehicles and wind turbines.

Some 98% of rare earths used in the EU in 2021 were imported from China.

Over one million tonnes are reported to have now been found in Sweden’s far north.

The term rare earth refers to a group of 17 elements that are used to make a range of products and infrastructure which are increasingly important to everyday life.

They can be found in mobiles, hard drives and trains. But they are also important for green technology including wind turbines and electric vehicles. Some are essential for military equipment like missile guidance systems.

The Arch of Triumph is, as the name suggests, one of the many triumphal archs around the world, however, this one is located in the capital city of Pyongyang, within the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and most commonly known as North Korea.

Inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, Pyongyang’s arch is the second tallest in the world, right after Mexico’s Monumento a la Revolución, and with 60 meters (200 feet) in height it is one of the tallest structures in the North Korean capital.

Built in 1982 to commemorate the Korean resistance to Japan from 1925 to 1945, it is right on the Triumph Return Square, which is at the foot of Moran Hill. Nonetheless, it was also dedicated to the President Kim Il-sung, to honor and glorify his role in the military resistance for the independence of Korea, while the country was under Japanese occupation.

This majestic monument was inaugurated on the occasion of his 70th birthday, and with the 25,500 finely-dressed white granite blocks with which the arch was made, it represents a day of Kim’s life up to that point.

With dozens of rooms, balustrades, observation platforms and elevators, there are also four vaulted gateways on each side of the arch, each one 27 meters (89 feet) high. The impressiveness is great once one will be able to see the azaleas which are carved in their girth.

Also, on the walls is inscribed the revolutionary hymn “Song of General Kim Il-sun”, together with the year 1925, and 1945 when the country was finally liberated from Japanese rule.

Serving as a great monument in Pyongyang, nowadays, the Arch of Triumph is visited by many daring foreigners who are willing enough to spend their vacation in one weird, yet very beautiful country.