Business & Tech News
Trump Says China Deal Done
US President Donald Trump has stated that “Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval from President Xi and me,” , the president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social only a few hours ago. Talks over the last few days seems to have achieved its goal in reducing trade war tensions between the US and China that have now ended in a “deal”, according to US President Donald Trump. He said China had agreed to supply US companies with magnets and rare earth metals, while the US would walk back its threats to revoke visas of Chinese students. It followed two days of intense talks in London to resolve conflicts that had emerged since the two sides agreed a truce in May, after a massive consecutive escalation of trade tariffs between the world’s two largest economies.
Coco Delivers More Funding
The innovative robotic last-mile tech company Coco Robotics, a startup building last-mile delivery robots, has announced that it has raised $80 million in a Series B round funding yesterday. The funding round was led by angel investors including Sam and Max Altman, who are returning investors, and also included Pelion Venture Partners and Offline Ventures. The funding round raises their total funding to around $120 million. Coco’s zero-emissions robots have a 90 liter goods carrying capacity and according to statements from Coco have completed over 500,000 deliveries since launch in 2020. Coco fulfils deliveries for major retail chains including Subway, Jack-in-the-Box and Wingstop.
AI Allegedly Infringes Animation Studio Copyright
Movie and entertainment studios, Disney and Universal are seeing generative AI platform Midjourney for what they claim to be copyright infringements by allegedly training its art-generating and -editing models on their content without permission. The lawsuit was filed yesterday and contains details that claim that Midjourney ignored their earlier requests from them to cease violating their intellectual property rights.The suit, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and includes dozens of examples of images generated by Midjourney that closely resembles characters and images produced by their studio’s copyrighted characters, such as Homer Simpson and Darth Vader. The studios are seeking monetary damages, a jury trial, and an order barring Midjourney from further copyright infringement.
Business, Tech & Market News Shorts:
- Meta, according to a Bloomberg report, has been poaching senior AI engineers from multiple tech firms, including Google to create a new team that will be focused on achieving advanced form of AI – artificial general intelligence. The team is apparently being recruited personally by Mark Zuckerberg. Jack Rae, a principal researcher at Google DeepMind, is expected to join Meta’s “superintelligence” team, with several others earmarked for top salary offerings.
- Gold rose in early trade today to reach $3,370 per ounce, with concerns over escalating US-Iran tensions and fresh trade policy signals from the US President, boosted safe-haven demand. The US government ordered embassy staff from Baghdad to leave the country yesterday, after Iran threatened to attack US bases if talks over its nuclear program fall through.
- Global logistics company DHL has announced plans to invest about €500 million ($575 million) in health-care services in Africa and the Middle East over the next five years to capitalise on China‘s push into the regions.
Markets by Numbers
Currencies:
Currency markets indicate the US Dollar is currently trading weak against the Euro at 1.15190 and against the Pound at 1.35519. The Yen is currently at 143.83 to the dollar, with the rand currently at R17.77 to the US dollar.
Commodities:
- Gold futures prices are trending upwards this morning, and are currently at $3372 per ounce.
- Copper prices are trending lower this morning and are currently at $4.7916
- Silver futures prices continue trading lower this morning and are currently at $36.268
- Platinum futures have modulated slightly this morning, and are currently trading at $1247, while Palladium prices are currently at $1075.50
- Brent crude oil prices are currently at $69.21, with WTI trading at $67.66
- Cocoa futures are currently at $9601 per ton.
- Coffee futures prices are currently at $349.67
Crypto Currencies:
- Bitcoin prices are currently at $107876
- Ether prices are currently at $2772
- $Trumpcoin is trading at $10.50
(All prices quoted at approximately 09H00 – Central African Time)
Other Breaking News in Africa Today
Chagos Deal Concerns
The recent Chagos Island deal finalised between the UK and Mauritius, is creating backlash in the UK, with some lawmakers questioning the motive behind the government’s actions, which include agreeing to hand over the island to Mauritius. Revelations that the deal will fund sweeping tax cuts in Mauritius has created a massive outcry in the UK who see this as an inequitable situation. Under the agreement, the U.K. will pay Mauritius an average of $136 million a year to lease back its naval base for at least 99 years.
UK opposition leader Kemi Badenoch expressed concern stating “This morning, we heard that Mauritius is scrapping income tax because of his (Kier Starmer’s) terrible Chagos Deal. Why on earth should the British taxpayer pay £30 billion for tax cuts in Mauritius?” asked Kemi Badenoch, the UK Opposition Leader. The United Nations has urged the UK to renegotiate the deal with Mauritius, as it fails to guarantee the rights of the Chagossian people.
