🚨 LIVE: India begins voting in the world's biggest election, with Prime Minister Modi aiming for a historic third term.

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DEVELOPING: An explosion was heard early Friday in Iran’s central city of Isfahan, a news agency reported, citing local sources https://bloom.bg/3JsA8Jn

Israel launched a retaliatory strike on Iran less than a week after Tehran’s rocket and drone barrage, according to two US officials, raising fears of a widening conflict across the Middle East.

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📷: ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

South Africa coalitions: Polls show that the country — which votes on May 29 — could enter uncharted political terrain. https://bloom.bg/3UoAcjy

Rwandan meddling: Conflict in eastern Congo has reached a peak not seen in at least a decade, spurred allegedly by Rwandan support for a brutal rebel group. https://bloom.bg/3UowUwG

Cholera vaccine: An oral vaccine for cholera that is more simple to make than existing versions has been approved by the World Health Organization. https://bloom.bg/3Q8lISv

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Change of plans: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledges his longstanding promise to send deportation flights to Rwanda by the spring has fallen by the wayside, and now the first flight is set to take off in July. https://bloom.bg/49OWRKq

Weight-loss drugs: Africa’s biggest drugmaker could potentially help ease a growing supply crunch for the world’s hottest obesity medications. https://bloom.bg/4aZJIQd

Oil findings: Galp’s shares jump after the Portuguese oil company says a well test “potentially” indicates Mopane could be an important commercial find in Namibia. https://bloom.bg/4aItPxn

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Index rally erased: Zimbabwe’s new currency, the ZiG, has wiped out a gain of more than 330% on the nation's main stock market this year, leaving investors dealing with the fallout. https://bloom.bg/4b8oxLa

Surprise tax: A high-stakes standoff between Congo and the country’s biggest telecom operators ended with the companies paying an extra $5.8 million a month to the government. https://bloom.bg/4d3nLB7

Set sail: An Egyptian wheat ship has been allowed to sail after waiting three weeks for the correct paperwork, as a dispute between one of Russia’s top grain traders and a local regulator continues to disrupt exports. https://bloom.bg/3WgVzVv

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BREAKING: The Senate passed a long-delayed $95 billion emergency aid package for Ukraine and other besieged US allies, clearing the way for resumed arms shipments to Kyiv within days. https://bloom.bg/49WnDjP

📷: Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg

BREAKING: The US Senate has voted to ban TikTok’s ownership by Chinese parent ByteDance. This now sets the stage for a constitutional clash over whether the prohibition deprives US users of their First Amendment free speech rights. https://bloom.bg/44h4ybc

📷: Bing Guan/Bloomberg

Naira drops: Nigeria’s currency plunged, heading for its worst four-day losing streak since the naira was devalued in January as domestic dollar liquidity evaporated. https://bloom.bg/3vX9LrX

Green insurance: The World Bank is advising South Africa’s National Treasury on a climate risk strategy after floods in recent years caused billions of dollars of damage. https://bloom.bg/4aR7IF4

Chocolate crisis: Cocoa resumed gains in New York, with prices the most volatile in almost five decades amid uncertainty over a historic supply crunch. https://bloom.bg/4d5ATpr

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Big deal: BHP proposes a takeover of Anglo American that values the smaller miner at $38.9 billion, a deal that would create the world’s top copper producer and spark the industry’s biggest shakeup in over a decade. https://bloom.bg/4b5lvYN

Tech matters: Lawyers hired by the Democratic Republic of Congo have questioned Apple about the use of conflict minerals in their supply chain sourced from the country. https://bloom.bg/3JzOYh6

First fall: Zimbabwe’s gold-backed currency the ZiG weakens for the first time since its debut earlier this month. https://bloom.bg/49NmHOZ

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BREAKING: King Charles III will return to public-facing duties next week for the first time since revealing his cancer diagnosis in February. Read more here: https://trib.al/gp7etMx

📷: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Zambia mines: Vedanta Resources has approached trading houses as it seeks to raise capital to revive the Konkola copper mining and smelting complex in Zambia. https://bloom.bg/4dl4cEC

Family dynasty: Togo President Faure Gnassingbé is set to secure power for life if his party retains a majority in elections this week, cementing a West African dynasty as the region tilts away from democracy. https://bloom.bg/3wbzEUY

El Niño floods: More than 100 people have been killed in mudslides and floods in Kenya as heavy rainfall caused by El Niño weather conditions hit the East African nation. https://bloom.bg/3JCdAFU

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HSBC CEO Noel Quinn is unexpectedly stepping down, and the lender has started a search for a successor. More here: https://bloom.bg/3Qpny1l

📷: Lam Yik/Bloomberg

ZiG hits streets: Zimbabwe starts circulating ZiG notes among the public, a day after the central bank kept interest rates unchanged at its first meeting since unveiling the gold-backed currency. https://bloom.bg/3xYZWu8

Not out yet: Investors shouldn’t discount South Africa over continental peers as it has strong institutions that can buttress its economy if it focuses on accelerating growth, said Razia Khan, the head of Africa research at Standard Chartered Bank. https://bloom.bg/3Qovno7

KitKat program: Nestle is expanding a program that boosts the income of poor farmers in Ivory Coast supplying cocoa for KitKat bars, but which still leaves pay well short of growers’ needs. https://bloom.bg/49Tdgxm

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ZiG inflation fight: Zimbabwe’s new gold-backed ZiG currency will banish sky-high inflation that’s hamstrung the economy and made the country a poster child for runaway price pressures, the central bank says. https://bloom.bg/4a0R2tu

Starlink persists: Elon Musk’s Starlink service is still operating in multiple unauthorized regions, defying warnings issued by the company last month that its satellite internet will be shut down by May 1 in areas where it doesn’t have a license to operate. https://bloom.bg/44FSnVD

BHP CEO in South Africa: BHP sends a senior team to South Africa, as the company ramps up efforts to win over government officials that could determine the outcome of its bid for rival Anglo American. https://bloom.bg/3Wi30vw

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Drought to deluge: East Africa is bracing for more deadly floods, as torrential rain after years of biting drought deliver a brutal reminder of the threat posed by extreme weather brought about by climate change. https://bloom.bg/3QtG5ti

Mining antitrust: BHP’s bid for Anglo American stands to reshape the global mining industry if it succeeds, and antitrust authorities from China to South Africa are likely to play as important a role as shareholders in deciding the final outcome. https://bloom.bg/3QvcRu3

Lights on: South Africa is enjoying a rare streak of uninterrupted electricity right before elections, drawing more suspicion than praise in a nation accustomed to daily power cuts. https://bloom.bg/4dm1eQ1

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When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad in 2010, he said it would usher in a post-PC era. But despite years of tweaking the device, Apple still hasn't managed to convince consumers to ditch laptops, or phones, as their primary computer.

Could a new iPad reveal finally make Jobs' vision a reality? Read more in Mark Gurman's free Power On newsletter: https://trib.al/9eMV01h

📷: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

Elections: Chadians began voting Monday in an election that military leader Mahamat Déby is widely expected to win, an outcome that would help legitimize his power grab after his father’s death three years ago. https://bloom.bg/3JKUzkW

Currency slumps: Zimbabwe’s gold-backed ZiG has weakened to its lowest level against the US dollar since it was launched a month ago. https://bloom.bg/3y1F710

Political succession: Mozambique’s ruling party chooses Daniel Chapo as its new leader, making the little-known provincial governor the clear frontrunner to succeed President Filipe Nyusi after Oct. 9 elections. https://bloom.bg/3UNwrVa

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Many Russians reacted with anger and shock to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Now, as he begins another six-year term as president, he faces little domestic pressure to end the fighting, as nationalist appeals rally support and harsh crackdowns stifle protests. Here's how the Kremlin is using the conflict to reshape Russia: https://bloom.bg/4b7Mvqf

📷: Getty Images

Port control: Billionaire Enrique Razon's firm won a huge contract to run and expand Durban's container port. Now shipping giant Maersk is challenging that decision. https://bloom.bg/3WuiIne

Young voters: South Africa’s youth, a key voting constituency in this month’s elections, are less optimistic about the future of their country than their peers in 15 other African nations, a survey shows. https://bloom.bg/3QBsHDE

Crypto bans: Nigeria vows to ban person-to-person cryptocurrency trading in the naira, taking its latest step to regulate the industry which the West African nation blames for harming the battered local currency. https://bloom.bg/3JREutK

Sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter on where sub-Saharan Africa stands now — and where it’s headed at https://bloom.bg/3OsOf3y. Next Africa publishes every Tuesday and Friday