Business & Tech News
Diamond Price Slump Hits Lesotho Mine
Lesotho’s largest producer of diamonds, the, Letseng mine, has reportedly laid off 240 workers, equalling a fifth of its workforce, as it deals with ongoing low gem prices due to weak demand and an uncertain global economic environment, parent company Gem Diamonds said on Thursday. Diamonds are vital to Lesotho’s economy, with the sector contributing up to 10% of its GDP and providing employment for thousands in the country of just over 2 million people.
Diamonds are also one of Lesotho’s major export commodity, along with textiles and clothing. Gem Diamonds said its Letseng mine, which produces some of the world’s largest and most valuable gems such as the 910-carat “Lesotho Legend”, had revised its mine plan and cut jobs to reduce costs. “Sustained pricing pressure, softer demand in key markets, ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, and tariff uncertainties in respect of India, combine to create difficult trading conditions,” Gem Diamonds CEO Clifford Elphick said in a statement.
Google Gets Giant Fine for Snooping
A US federal jury has ordered Google to pay $425.7 million for improperly snooping on people’s smartphones during a nearly decade-long period of intrusions.The verdict reached late Wednesday in San Francisco federal court followed a more than two-week trial in a class-action case covering about 98 million smartphones operating in the United States between July 1, 2016, through Sept. 23, 2024. That means the total damages awarded in the five-year-old case works out to around $4 per device. Google had denied that it was improperly tracking the online activity of people who thought they had shielded themselves with privacy controls. The company maintained its stance even though the eight-person jury concluded Google had been spying in violation of California privacy laws.
Sierra Sets Sights on Further Expansion
Sierra, the Customer Service – AI Agent Tech company, was founded less than two years ago, and took an early bet that AI agents would transform the enterprise software industry. Yesterday the company announced that they had raised $350 million (US) additional capital to set a company valuation of $10B. The funding round was led by Greenoaks, which is doubling down on it’s initial Sierra Investment. Sierra has established hundreds of customers, including some of the most recognisable brands in Financial Services, Healthcare, Telecommunications, Retail, and Consumer Services.
The company that has a presence in San Francisco, New York, London, and Atlanta, now plans to expand with a larger presence in Europe and Asia. Co- Founder and CEO Bret Taylor, is ex Slaesforce and co-founder Clay Bavor, said that “We’re deeply grateful to our earliest design partners and customers, and to the incredible group of builders and entrepreneurs who’ve joined us to help build Sierra into what it is today”.
Breaking News Shorts:
- President Donald Trump, yesterday announced, his administration would look to impose tariffs on semiconductor imports from companies not shifting production to the U.S. Trump was addressing media ahead of a dinner with major technology company CEOs. “We will be putting tariffs on companies that aren’t coming in,” he said.
- BMW’s Chief Executive Oliver Zipse, has called for a more balanced approach to emission measurement in Europe that should take a view across the entire supply chain of the vehicle’s production. Zipse said that the European Union’s planned phase-out of combustion engines by 2035 was a “big mistake”.
- The Indian rupee is trading around 88.15 per dollar, near its record low, as concerns over the impact of steep US tariffs offset India’s GST reforms. The revised GST rates, cutting the four-tier system to two slabs—5% and 18%—and introducing a 40% rate on luxury items, is effective September 22,
- OpenAI is set to produce its first “home grown” artificial intelligence processor chip next year, in partnership with U.S. semiconductor giant Broadcom, that will be used exclusively on its own AI computer configuration and will apparently not be made available for sale to other companies.
- Mark Zuckerberg is suing Mark Zuckerberg – a US lawyer who is bankrupt is suing Meta’s CEO due to his social media pages being regularly disabled by Facebook, and thus loosing revenue, as it is constantly flagged as a fake impersonator of Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Markets by Numbers
Currency markets today indicate the US Dollar is currently trading stronger against the Euro at 1.16693 and against the Pound at 1.34510. The Yen is currently trading at 148.19 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR) is currently at R17.73 to the US dollar.
Commodities:
- Gold futures prices are trending 0,3% higher this morning, hitting new highs today, and are currently trading around $3558.69 per ounce.
- Copper prices are trading upwards today, with prices currently at $4.5255
- Silver futures prices are almost 0,5% higher today, and is currently trading at $40.852
- Platinum futures are trading around 0.3% higher this morning, and are currently trading at $1382.90 While Palladium prices are trading level this morning and currently at $1128.00
- Brent crude oil prices are currently trading lower, and currently at $66.87, with WTI trading at $63.40
- Cocoa futures have dived today trending almost -4% lower this morning, and are currently at $7177.00 per ton.
- Coffee futures are marginally higher today, and currently at $386.80
Crypto Currencies:
- Bitcoin prices are currently trending over 1% higher today and currently at $111677
- Ether prices are currently trending upwards today and at $4339.30
- $Trumpcoin is currently trading upwards today and currently around $8.33
(All prices quoted at approximately 07H35 Central African Time)
Other Headline News in Africa Today
Zambian Ex-minister Sentenced
Zambia’s former Foreign Minister Joseph Malanji, has been sentenced to four years hard labour in prison after being convicted of corruption. Malanji was found guilty on seven counts of acquiring properties and helicopters suspected to be the proceeds of crime, according to reports from the state broadcaster. His co-accused, the former treasury secretary – Fredson Yamba, received a three-year jail term for approving the transfer of more than $8m (£6m) to Zambia’s diplomatic mission in Turkey without justifying the expense. President Hakainde Hichilema promised to root out corruption when he swept to power four years ago after defeating Edgar Lungu in the presidential elections.
US Foreign Aid Assistance Announced
The United States appears to be resetting its foreign aid policy and has approved $32.5 million in assistance to Nigeria to help address hunger, in a shift in U.S. foreign policy since President Donald Trump cut aid through the U.S. Agency for International Development, that was suspected of utilising aid funds for political purposes not aligned to US policy. The funding will provide food assistance and nutritional support to internally displaced people in conflict-affected areas, the U.S mission to Nigeria said in a statement Wednesday.
Yesterday saw an announcement that The U.S. is purchasing enough doses of a new, twice-a year HIV prevention inoculation that will be made available for up 2 million people in poor countries by 2028, the State Department announced Thursday. Gilead Sciences, had already announced it would sell that supply of the protective drug lenacapvir at no profit for use in low- and middle-income countries that are hard-hit by HIV. the U.S. will purchase the doses under the PEPFAR program and work with governments in hard-hit countries on how to distribute them. “The priority will be to protect pregnant or breastfeeding women”, said Jeremy Lewin, a State department senior official.
