Breaking News Today – Monday 18 August 2025

Business & Tech News 

Meta To be Investigated for Allowing “Sensual Chat with Children”

Meta is to be investigated by US Senator Josh Hawley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which he says will commence a probe into whether Meta’s tech harms children, after an internal Meta memo, indicated the major social media giant had allowed its chat bots to have romantic and sensual chats with children on its platforms. Hawley wants to determine “whether Meta misled the public or regulators about its safeguards.”.

In a letter Hawley posted on X, he states that “Reports indicate that Meta approved internal rules for its Al chatbots that would allow “romantic” and “sensual” exchanges with children, while green-lighting other harmful content behind legal word games”. “Your company has acknowledged the veracity of these reports and made retractions only after this alarming content came to light”.

Profit taking Reduces Bitcoin Gains and Crypto Market Share

Bitcoin dropped to around $115,200, in trade this morning extending the drop-off in price from record highs it hit last week. The price was impacted due to profit-taking and lower expectations for US rate cuts that weighed on sentiment. Stronger-than-expected US producer inflation and retail sales reduced the likelihood of aggressive Federal Reserve easing, pressuring risk assets. Additional headwinds came from US Treasury remarks on strategic reserves, which stoked concerns over tighter liquidity. The decline also underscored a broader investor rotation toward alternative cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin’s market dominance slipping to 59.4% of the overall crypto currency market, its lowest since 2020 and below the long-held 60% threshold. Still, Bitcoin remains underpinned by institutional inflows and favourable regulatory signals, including its inclusion in US retirement portfolios, which continue to bolster its mainstream demand.

Indian Index Rises as Auto Industry Advances

The BSE Sensex rose 1,060 points, or 1.3%, to 81,627 in morning trade on Monday, marking its third consecutive session of gains and reaching its highest level since July 24. The rally was primarily driven by auto stocks after reports emerged that the Indian government is considering a reduction in the goods and services tax (GST) on small cars. According to Reuters, citing a government source, the GST on small petrol and diesel cars may be cut to 18% from the current 28%. In response, the Nifty Auto index surged 4.5%—its strongest gain in 10 months—led by sharp advances in Hero MotoCorp (+7.5%), TVS Motor (+7.4%), Maruti Suzuki (+7.2%), Mahindra & Mahindra (+4.6%), and Bajaj Auto (+4.5%). 

Business, Tech & Market News Shorts: 

• Tunisia’s GDP grew by 3.2% year-on-year in Q2 of 2025, this was the fastest pace of expansion since Q3 2022 and accelerating from a 1.6% increase in Q1.The growth was driven by stronger performances across mining – up by 39.5% (vs 17.6% in Q1), construction grew 9.6% (vs 3.0%), agriculture, forestry, and fishing rose by 9.8% (vs 7.3%).
• The Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% to above 3,700 this morning, while the Shenzhen Component jumped 1.3% to 11,785, with the former nearing its highest level since 2015 amid strong buying momentum from both institutional and retail investors.
• An Australian court has fined airline giant Qantas a record $59m for illegally sacking more than 1,800 ground workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.Australia’s Transport Workers’ Union said it welcomed the penalty, which is the largest imposed by a court for violations of industrial relations laws in the country’s history.
• Gold futures rose to around $3,350 per ounce this morning, after touching a more than two-week low earlier in the session, as investors look ahead to US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy aimed at discussing a peace deal with Russia.

Markets by Numbers 

Currencies: 

Currency markets today indicate the US Dollar is currently trading flat against the Euro at 1.17037 and against the Pound at 1.35614 The Yen is currently trading at 147.41 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR)is currently at R17.56 to the US dollar.

Commodities:

• Gold futures prices are currently trading marginally higher this morning, after a drop yesterday, and currently at $3347.58 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are trading upwards today, with prices currently at $4.4758
• Silver futures prices are trading higher today, and currently at $38.076
• Platinum futures are slightly lower this morning, and are currently trading at $1332.40 While Palladium prices are marginally higher this morning and currently at $1100
• Brent crude oil prices are currently slightly lower at $65.90, with WTI trading at $62.92 
• Cocoa futures are trading marginally higher today, and currently at $8235 per ton. 
• Coffee futures are surging this morning and up over 4% with prices currently at $341.65

Crypto Currencies:

• Bitcoin prices are currently around -1,8% down at $115266
• Ether prices are currently down over -3,9%, at $4293.98
• $Trumpcoin is currently trading around -2% lower at $9.00

(All prices quoted at approximately 07H45 Central African Time) 

Other Breaking News in Africa Today

Mali Government Torturing Captives – Report

A report from the BBC indicates that a human rights group in Sudan has accused the country’s army and security forces of torturing people to death and operating “execution chambers”. The human rights group – the Emergency Lawyers group has issued a statement indicating that they have documented hundreds of arrests in the capital Khartoum. It said that in the “worst cases”, some captives had later been found dead with evidence of torture. The Sudanese army recaptured the city from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in March, against which it is fighting a bitter civil war that has killed tens of thousands in two years.The army have so far not responded to the allegations.