China builds Algerian railway

Africa’s first heavy-haul desert railway was completed on December 30, part of China’s global Belt and Road Initiative, Business Insider Africa reported, the “largest single infrastructure built by a Chinese firm in Algeria.” Some 360 miles of rail will now enable the transportation of an estimated 22 million tons of iron ore per year. China is buying economic power in developing countries like Algeria, part of an intensifying economic cold war that will soon turn deadly.