Saudi Arabia’s trade and investment ambitions in Sub-Saharan Africa - Control Risks

IntroductionSoils are the planet’s largest active reservoir of terrestrial carbon1,2. They regulate water and nutrient cycling and provide more than 95% of global food production, a demand projected to rise by 50% by 2050 as the population expands3,4. But the ability of soils to perform these functions is being depleted faster than it can be restored5,6. For decades, soil assessment focused on soil quality, emphasizing short-term productivity and chemical fertility7. That approach improved agronomic yields but overlooked the biological activities that sustain resilience. The shift to soil health has growing recognition, reframing soils as dynamic and living systems defined as “the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans,” integrating soil biological, chemical, and physical properties8,9,10. Despite this shift, many assessment frameworks still use a uniform relationship among indicators across inherently different soils. On top of that, most remain anchored in temperate benchmarks and overlook the ecological diversity, pedogenic, and climatic constraints that define tropical agroecosystems11,12,13.

A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against Toronto-based crypto wallet maker Coinkite Inc., alleging that negligence by the company and its co-founders allowed hackers to steal more than US$140-million worth of bitcoin from users. The lawsuit, filed in Ontario Superior Court last month, also asserts that the company breached its contract with users, failed to warn them about a critical vulnerability and violated Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act. In addition to naming the company, it also lists Coinkite co-founders Rodolfo Novak and Peter Gray as defendants. The allegations have not been proven in court and the class action has not yet been certified. The company declined to comment on the proposed litigation, but said it is preparing to publish a “full postmortem” on the security incident in the coming days.

Open this photo in gallery:Unions have tried to make inroads at numerous Amazon warehouses across North America and Europe. DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian PressAmazon.com Inc. AMZN-Q used an artificial-intelligence tool in Canadian warehouses to assess the likelihood of workers unionizing, assigning a “labour risk” score to each of its facilities. Internal company documents obtained by The Globe and Mail, as part of hearings between Amazon and Unifor at the British Columbia Labour Relations Board, outline the use of an AI tool called Atlas in recent years across more than 50 warehouses in the United States, Canada and Europe. The tool, according to the documents, uses hundreds of data points to design a “labour risk framework,” which then allows Amazon to evaluate “emerging workforce issues,” “labour union targets” and “internal or external labour threats.” The documents do not indicate what exactly the data points are, or how Amazon collects them. In a statement to The Globe, Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson said the information gathered helps the company identify trends and prioritize them accordingly.

Open this photo in gallery:A general view of the West Bank Israeli settlement of Efrat in 2024. The complaint to the Competition Bureau was filed by Global Echo Litigation Center and the Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights. Ohad Zwigenberg/The Associated PressA group of lawyers and civil society members have filed a complaint with the Competition Bureau over Israeli real estate events in Toronto and Montreal, alleging that illegal properties were marketed to Canadians under false pretenses. The complaint alleges at least four Israeli real estate companies and one Canadian marketing firm promoted properties in occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank while misleading consumers to believe they were in Israel. The Competition Bureau says it will review the complaint filed by Global Echo Litigation Center and the Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights and determine if an investigation into the companies is warranted.