Business & Tech News
Egyptian Wheat Win: Egypt is one of the world’s largest importers of wheat and subsidises the cost to allow for the production of low priced bread, a society benefit available to tens of millions of people in the country. Egypt’s state grains buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), has struck one of its largest ever direct wheat deals for monthly supplies from November 2024 to April 2025, according to a Reuters report. The 510,000 metric tons to be supplied every month wheat will be shipped to (GASC) every month sourced from Black Sea origins. The state buyer usually purchases the wheat via an open tender process through transparent international tenders that move the global grains market. It has however opted to buy wheat privately through direct deals in recent years to garner more competitive prices, with this newest deal marking its largest agreement ever made.
Ai Aiding Airline Efficiency: Ever sat in an Aircraft after landing waiting for a parking allocation to be finalised? Well a new Ai innovation ischanging all of that and busty driving enhanced airline efficiencies by reducing gate waiting times at airports. Last year, American Airlines was the first to introduced Smart Gating at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
The system uses machine learning to assign arriving aircraft to the nearest available gate with the shortest possible taxi time. In the case of the American Airlines system, the real-time flight information and other data is used to choose which gate to send an aircraft to. Traditionally, air controller team members, manually assigned gates using a legacy computer system. At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, this process took around four hours to complete the planning, according to an American Airlines spokesperson. The new Ai system can complete that process in 10 minutes, which has resulted in reducing aircraft taxi times by 20%. The savings in fuel costs equate to around 1.4 million gallons of jet fuel each year.
Electric Vehicle Import Conflict: The European Commission has proposed a new Electric Vehicle Import tariff to be imposed on Chinese produced EV’s. According to a report, Germany is set to vote against this measure today when the EU parliament is set to vote on the implementation of the proposal. This follows after discussions were held in Germany with various Industry bodies. The Commission’s proposal is set to be implemented unless a qualified majority of 15 EU members vote against it, in what is believed to be unlikely. France, Greece, Italy and Poland will reportedly be voting in favour of the tariffs, which would be enough to confirm adoption of the new policy. The Commission says duties are needed to counter cheap loans, land and raw materials and other subsidies and the goal is to create a level playing field.
Market News
Markets: Us Indices were all in the red by less than half a percent at close of trade yesterday while the Nikkei was a touch higher this morning at 38589 and the Hang Seng is currently slightly down at 22113.
Currencies: The US Dollar is currently trading flat at 1.1033 against the Euro, at 1,315 against the Pound, and at 146,21 against the Yen. The rand has stabilised against the dollar and is currently trading at R17.44 to the US dollar.
Commodities: Gold prices are gaining momentum and currently trading at $2,660,. Platinum has maintained above the $1000 level and is currently trading at $1007, with Palladium currently trading at $1016. Brent crude prices continue to gain steam and is currently trading at $78.09 with WTI also trading upwards at $74.21 currently.
Other News in Africa Today
Chagos Islands Sovereignty Returned: Displaced Islander inhabitants of the small group of Indian Ocean Inland group will finally be able to return home after five decades. This is a result of the announcement by the UK that it is giving up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal that will secure the future of a key US military base on the atoll of Diego Garcia while allowing islanders displaced a right of return. The deal, announced jointly by the UK and Mauritius on Thursday, gives Mauritius full sovereignty over the remote archipelago, while guaranteeing the operation of the United States base for the next 99 years.
“This government inherited a situation where the long-term, secure operation of the Diego Garcia military base was under threat, with contested sovereignty and ongoing legal challenges,” British Foreign Minister David Lammy said in a statement. “Today’s agreement secures this vital military base for the future. It will strengthen our role in safeguarding global security, shut down any possibility of the Indian Ocean being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK, as well as guaranteeing our long-term relationship with Mauritius.”
Ghana- Three days of Protests: Yesterday marked the first day of a planned three-day protest in Ghana with the street of capital Accra full of protestors demanding the release of 53 activists who were detained by police last week Demonstrations rocked the streets of Accra on Thursday, with protesters calling for the release of 53 activists who were arrested last week during an anti-galamsey demonstration. The demonstrations are aimed at wide ranging concerns over extensive illegal mining, known locally as “galamsey” that has caused extensive destruction of natural forest reserve area throughout Ghana and is also destroying farmlands and has caused water sources and rivers to become toxic.
Tanzania Media Freedom Under Threat: In another cynical move by the Tanzanian government, the communications regulator has suspended the online platforms of Mwananchi Communications Ltd, accusing the media company of publishing content that violates the country’s media regulations. The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) announced on Wednesday that the company’s online content licenses will be suspended for 30 days, citing material published on October 1 that allegedly “harmed the nation’s image”. In a formal announcement, TCRA referenced the Online Content Regulations of 2020, stating that the content posted on Mwananchi’s social media platforms disrupted “unity, peace, and national harmony.”
Specific content was however not referenced but is believed to relate to an animated video posted by The Citizen, one of Mwananchi’s publications. The video depicted people expressing concerns about missing or murdered relatives. The video followed the discovery of an opposition official’s body in Dar es Salaam in September, which heightened fears of targeted political violence. There is now growing concern that press freedoms are being rolled back and that criticism of the government is now being silenced via censoring of the media.
