Breaking News Today – Friday 13 June 2025

Business & Tech News 

China Indicates African Imports will be Tariff Free:

China has indicated that it is ready to drop tariffs that it charges on imports from all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations. This is understood to be a reactionary move by Bejing as a counter measure to US tariffs. The announcement was made at a China-Africa co-operation meeting, and comes as Africa could be facing the possibility of increased tariffs on its products entering the US. China is the African continents collective, largest trading partner, which has been the case of over a decade with Africa exporting goods to the value of around $170bn to China in 2023. In a joint ministerial statement Beijing criticised efforts by “certain countries’ to disrupt the existing international economic and trade order through the unilateral imposition of tariffs.

Oil Prices Surge on Israeli Attack News

Brent Crude prices have surged by almost 10% this morning after an announcement that Israel had struck Iran, escalating the Middle East region’s already unstable geo-political stability. of tensions The price of the benchmark Brent Crude was up by more than 10% shortly after the news emerged, reaching its highest level since January. Brent crude oil futures surged to around $76 per barrel earlier today, hitting its highest level since February, driven by fears of supply disruptions after the Israeli’s preemptive strike against Iran. Israel declared a special situation (State of National readiness), suggesting Iran could soon retaliate against Israeli targets, fuelling concerns over escalating tensions. The prospect of a broader Middle East conflict threatens to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for about 20% of global oil flows. The cost of crude oil is currently sitting at around the $73 dollar mark.

Tesla Robotic Tussle With Ex Employee

Tesla has sued a former engineer for allegedly utilising trade secrets from Tesla’s Optimus- humanoid robotics program, and applying their technology for a rival start-up company Proception, a Y Combinator-backed company building robotic hands. The lawsuit, filed this week, accuses Zhongjie “Jay” Li of stealing trade secrets regarding Tesla’s development of “advanced robotic hand sensors” to launch his startup. Li formed his new start-up less than a week after he left Tesla with a public announcement of a new successful humanoid robotic hands, announced barely five months later. The timeframee plus alleged evidence of illegal downloading of confidential information and the search history on his personal computer at Tesla, raises the evidence of possible espionage and intellectual property theft. Li, worked at Tesla from August 2022 to September 2024.

Business, Tech & Market News Shorts: 

• Data-labeling company Scale AI announced a “significant” investment from Meta, earlier today, making the current value of the startup at around $29 billion. The startup also said its co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang is stepping down from his role to join Meta and help the bigger company with its AI work.
• According to Statistics South Africa, the country’s mining output decreased by -7.7% year-on-year in April, marking the sixth consecutive monthly decline. Analysts had anticipated a production decline of only 4.3%. The South African Rand (ZAR) is trading around-0,6 lower today at R17.91
• SpaceX is interested in launching SpaceX rockets from the Denel Overberg test site in Arniston, near Cape Town according to Elon Musk. Experts say this location is a good location for deploying satellites over the South Pole and Starlink satellites for consumer broadband services.

Markets by Numbers 

Currencies: 

Currency markets indicate the US Dollar is currently trading against the Euro at 1.15381 and against the Pound at 1.35604. The Yen is currently at 143.74 to the dollar, with the rand currently at R17.91 to the US dollar. 

Commodities:

• Gold futures prices are trending upwards this morning, and are currently at $3424 per ounce.  

• Copper prices are trending lower this morning and are currently at $4.7643 

• Silver futures prices are trading lower this morning and are currently at $36.316 

• Platinum futures have modulated slightly this morning, and are currently trading at $1260, while Palladium prices are currently at $1057

• Brent crude oil prices are surging currently and at $74.25, with WTI trading at $72.95

• Cocoa futures are currently at $9806 per ton. 

• Coffee futures prices are currently at $344.76

Crypto Currencies:

• Bitcoin prices are currently at $105179

• Ether prices are currently at $2527

• $Trumpcoin is trading at $10.04

(All prices quoted at approximately 10H30 – Central African Time) 

Other Breaking News in Africa Today 

Lungu Has the Last Say

In a fascinating rivalry extending beyond the grave, Zambia’s former President Edgar Lungu, who died last week, at the age of 68, had according to his family, left instructions that his successor Hakainde Hichilema “should not be anywhere near” his body, should he die. The rivalry that became a feud, extends back decades, The two leaders were long-standing political rivals, with Hichilema defeating Lungu in the 2021 election after several attempts by Hichilema to defeat Lungu as President. The Zambian government had planned to fly his body back home on Wednesday, but were prevented from doing so due to a dispute with Lungu’s family and his political party, the Patriotic Front (PF), over mourning and funeral arrangements.

However, in a video released from South Africa on Thursday, Mr Zulu said the family had put in place “all logistics” to fulfil Lungu’s wishes to be given a private funeral and that Hichelema “should not be anywhere near” his body. The government was behaving as though the family had “no say” over his burial and the way he should be mourned, Mr Zulu added. It was the family’s desire that the “conscience of the deceased should not be betrayed”, he said.