Global Zoom: Ethiopian Fighting, Venezuelan Outrage, and a London IPO
Global Zoom reviews key world events: escalating civil conflict in Ethiopia, a contentious photo of Venezuela's acting president with Donald Trump, a major London IPO by an African payments firm, and a 6-year-old girl breaking a Rubik's Cube world record.
Globes’ "Global Zoom" column presents international stories making headlines around the world, ranging from major news to stories that might have slipped under the radar. This week: fierce fighting in Ethiopia, a controversial meeting in New York involving Venezuela, a major IPO in London, and a 6-year-old girl setting a new world record in China.
Ethiopia
Fierce clashes threaten to drag all of Africa into war
Less than four years after a peace agreement was reached to end one of Africa's deadliest civil wars, Ethiopia is once again on the brink of a full-scale conflict. Forces in the northern Tigray region launched a large-scale offensive against the federal government on Wednesday, in a move that threatens to spill over national borders.
The conflict originally erupted in 2020, developing into a bloody civil war between Ethiopian federal forces and the TPLF (Tigray People's Liberation Front) — the party that ruled the Tigray region and previously governed all of Ethiopia for years. The fighting claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and led to a severe humanitarian crisis, until a peace agreement brokered by the African Union (the Pretoria Agreement) was signed in 2022, bringing temporary quiet.
This week, that quiet is collapsing. Tigray leaders announced they have entered a "defensive war" in response to what they describe as escalating aggression by government forces. The night before, their forces took control of the airport in Mekelle, the regional capital, and Ethiopian Airlines immediately suspended all flights to the region.
Sources on the ground report that fighting has already spread beyond Tigray itself into the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, where Tigrayan forces are cooperating with local militias. This cooperation comes just days after the TPLF announced the formation of a coalition with six other armed groups, with the declared aim of overthrowing the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
In the background, historical rival Eritrea also looms, with the government in Addis Ababa accusing it of funding the Tigrayans' new allies — an accusation Eritrea denies.
Data from the international research institute ACLED, which documents and analyzes violence and armed conflict worldwide, shows that the Ethiopian army has carried out a series of drone strikes against Tigrayan forces in recent months amid the current escalation.
Venezuela
"Devoid of conscience!": The photo that sparked outrage in Venezuela
Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez marked a "historic meeting" with Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday, posing for a photo with him where both flashed thumbs-up signs on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The catch: the photo was taken just about 11 kilometers away from the federal detention center in Brooklyn, where her former boss, Nicolás Maduro, has been held since being captured following a special forces raid on Caracas in January.
Timing and location turned the photo into a focal point of outrage. Observers noted signs of discomfort in Rodríguez's body language, with her left hand clenched into a fist throughout the photo session. Critics in Venezuela called the meeting a "uncompromising humiliation" for a socialist politician who built an entire career on criticizing American imperialism, and the opposition described her as a "shameless and conscience-free puppet."
Since Maduro's capture, Rodríguez has made a series of concessions to Washington, including handing over control of Venezuela's oil revenues to the United States and agreeing to a controversial oil deal involving 65 billion barrels — a deal Trump called "the largest in history." In a 133-word statement released after the meeting, Rodríguez did not mention Maduro even once.
Britain
The African company heading for a historic London IPO
A pan-African payments company controlled by Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal has announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange, in what could become one of the largest listings on the exchange in recent years.
Airtel Money, the financial services arm of Airtel Africa, plans to raise about $800 million in an initial public offering (IPO) at an estimated valuation of $8 billion to $9 billion. The company serves approximately 53 million monthly active users across 13 sub-Saharan African countries, including Uganda, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, allowing customers to load money onto phones, withdraw cash, and access other financial services via a network of branches and service kiosks. In the last financial year, the company posted revenues of nearly $1.4 billion.
The parent company, Airtel Africa, is a telecom provider already traded on the FTSE 100 index and part of the Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises, controlled by billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal. However, the company now seeks to float Airtel Money separately. CEO Ian Ferrao noted that several exchanges were considered — including in the Middle East, where the company's regional headquarters is located in Dubai — but London was ultimately chosen, partly due to the British market's deep understanding of emerging markets, and Africa in particular.
China
A 6-year-old girl breaks a new world record
A 6-year-old Chinese girl has managed what most adults would never dream of: setting a new world record in solving the Rubik's Cube. Lian Yongji, who has already shown extraordinary talent, broke the previous record in her age category this week — for the second time in less than a month.
Lian's path to the record began earlier in the month when she registered an average time of 4.52 seconds at an official competition certified by the World Cube Association, held in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. But this achievement was not enough for her: at another competition held in the southern city of Guangzhou, she improved her time to a staggering average of just 4.27 seconds, according to Chinese state television CCTV.
Lian's achievement joins a growing trend in China of young children specializing in cognitive-motor challenge fields, driven by a competitive culture and an educational system that encourages excellence from a particularly young age. The Rubik's Cube, originally invented in Hungary in the 1970s, has turned into a full-fledged competitive sport over the past decade, featuring official world championships, advanced training methods, and even professional coaches specializing in developing solving speed for young competitors.
