Crypto News: Talk of revolution in Mozambique

Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven't yet, sign up here.

A fiery preacher-turned opposition leader is live streaming what he's calling a revolution in the gas-rich southern African nation of Mozambique.

Venâncio Mondlane has the country of nearly 35 million on edge as he escalates a showdown with the state after claims of mass fraud in the Oct. 9 elections. He trails ruling Frelimo party candidate Daniel Chapo by a wide margin in the latest count.

When he goes live on his Facebook page, hundreds of thousands watch.

The weekend death-squad-style murder of Mondlane's lawyer has ratcheted up tensions, as he called for two days of national demonstrations. Yesterday, he implicitly advocated revolution.

Many Mozambicans are frustrated with corruption and have lost hope in democracy, with Frelimo set to extend its 49-year rule, longer than most citizens have been alive. A $2 billion loan scandal in 2016 sparked court cases across three continents and led to the imprisonment of the son of Mozambique's former president.

Protesters in Maputo on Monday. Photographer: Alfredo Zuniga/AFP/Getty Images

Mozambique has millions of frustrated, marginalized youth — the median age is about 17 — with little to lose.

Many have abandoned the traditional opposition party, and elevated Mondlane to become their voice — a meteoric rise for an independent presidential candidate.

Home to some of Africa's biggest natural gas troves that have drawn investment plans worth billions from TotalEnergies to ExxonMobil, Mozambique is sitting on top of a potentially explosive cocktail. It has one of the world's poorest populations, which is worse off than a decade ago.

That mix has erupted into fighting in Cabo Delgado province, where an insurgency by an Islamic State-aligned group forced TotalEnergies to halt its $20 billion liquefied natural gas project in 2021.

The nation is still struggling to emerge from a 16-year civil war that left as many as a million dead and is regularly battered by monster tropical storms.

It can hardly afford the wave of unrest that Mondlane is riding. — Matthew Hill

Mondlane addresses the media in Maputo on Monday. Photographer: Alfredo Zuniga/AFP/Getty Images

The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar opens new possibilities for ending the conflict in the Gaza Strip — that much US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree on. But after their 2 1/2-hour meeting yesterday, there was no consensus on post-war scenarios, including a transition to unification of the West Bank and Gaza under the Palestinian Authority, which Israel rejects. Blinken heads to Saudi Arabia today.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are holding their first bilateral meeting since 2022 today on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan. The talks come after Beijing and New Delhi reached an agreement on Monday to allow border-patrolling operations in both countries to resume, completing a disengagement process along their disputed Himalayan frontier.

Floods that killed more than 1,000 people this year across Africa's Sahel region will become a regular occurrence because of climate change, scientists collaborating under the World Weather Attribution initiative say. The torrential rain washed away crops, caused dams to burst and disrupted the lives of millions of people in a region that abuts the southern border of the Sahara Desert.

China's policy in Myanmar for decades has been to have it both ways: maintain influence among armed ethnic groups in lawless border areas while also providing support to military leaders in charge of the Southeast Asian nation. But now the two sides have been angered by recent actions by Beijing, and an attack on China's consulate last week shows that the balancing act is becoming untenable.

Elon Musk's giveaway of $1 million a day to people for signing the free-speech and gun-rights petition in the election swing state of Pennsylvania adds yet another plot twist to the US presidential race between Republican Donald Trump, who the billionaire backs, and Vice President Kamala Harris. While federal law prohibits paying people to vote, experts aren't certain whether writing giant checks to Trump supporters who sign a petition qualifies as a violation.

Russia and Iran may seek to incite violent protests inside the US after the Nov. 5 election as voting results are being tabulated and certified, US intelligence agencies warned.

A recent increase in Russian attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure threatens food shipments to destinations from Gaza to southern Africa, the UK warned.

Argentine President Javier Milei is best known for his radical economic policies, but his opposition to female empowerment and action on climate change is angering Group of 20 leaders who are set to meet in Rio de Janeiro next month.

Trump, who was cleared over allegations that his 2016 campaign coordinated with Russian election interference operations, has accused the UK Labour Party of illegally aiding his opponent.

In a complaint filed with the US Federal Election Commission this week, Trump's campaign cited news reports that senior Labour Party strategists had met with Harris' team and a social media post by a Labour Party official that current and former staff would help the Democratic candidate in battleground states.

The complaint is unlikely to go anywhere; campaigns routinely meet with representatives of foreign governments, and foreign nationals are permitted to serve as volunteers as long as they're not compensated. Yet the filing presents an opportunity for Trump to go on the offense on issues Democrats have deployed against him.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the complaint won't jeopardize their relationship if the former president wins the US election next month.

One thing to watch today: Harris will take part in a CNN town hall in Pennsylvania, while Trump meets with religious voters in Georgia.

Sign up for the Washington Edition newsletter for more from the US capital and watch Balance of Power at 1 and 5 p.m. ET weekdays on Bloomberg Television.

The International Monetary Fund lowered its global growth forecast for next year and warned of mounting risks from wars to trade protectionism, though it gave central banks credit for taming inflation without sending nations into recession. The fund has been cautioning for a couple of years that the world economy will likely expand at its current mediocre pace in the medium term — too little to give nations the resources they need to reduce poverty and confront climate change.

Under the sparkling waters off the Yucatan Peninsula, workers are laying a natural gas pipeline that will fuel Mexican power plants and a proposed trans-continental rail corridor intended to rival the Panama Canal. But while the $4.5 billion project bringing gas from Texas is meant to underpin an economic boom and lift millions out of poverty, it threatens to undo one of President Claudia Sheinbaum's other key goals: slashing carbon emissions. The pipeline will make the country reliant on fossil fuels for years to come, revealing a core tension at the heart of her vision for Mexico.

A fisherman off the shore of Playa Villa del Mar in Veracruz. Photographer: Toya Sarno Jordan/Getty Images

(Our email edition yesterday inadvertently omitted the byline of S'thembile Cele, who wrote the introduction. We apologize for the error.)

Next China for dispatches from Beijing on where China stands now — and where it's going next
Check out our Bloomberg Investigates film series about untold stories and unraveled mysteries
Next Africa, a twice-weekly newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it's headed
Economics Daily for what the changing landscape means for policymakers, investors and you
Green Daily for the latest in climate news, zero-emission tech and green finance
Explore more newsletters at Bloomberg.com.