Breaking News Today – Thursday 29 May 2025

Business & Tech News

US Federal Trade Court Suspends Tariffs for now:

Asian shares and Wall Street futures have surged today after a finding by a U.S. federal court blocked President Donald Trump’s international import tariffs from going into effect, pushing the dollar up against safe-haven currencies. The little-known Manhattan-based Court of International Trade ruled that Trump had overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from U.S. trade partners on 2 April this year. The White House immediately appealed the decision, and this may well see the case go as far as the Supreme Court. It does provide a little bit more stability in the markets and could result in the level of tariffs having to be reviewed. Meanwhile, US delegations continue to proceed with trade negotiations with multiple countries. All the Asian markets have shown improvements this morning following the decision by the trade court.

GameStop Makes Major Crypto Investment:

Major gaming retailer group GameStop announced yesterday (27 May) that it had purchased 4,710 bitcoin, worth over $500 million at the time of the purchase. This, according to the company, was a strategy to support their financials as a treasury reserve asset. The group had been struggling to maintain growth, with online gaming purchases wiping out a significant portion of their sales. In March this year, GameStop told investors that it was changing its investment policy to add crypto as an asset on the company’s books. The establishment of a US Strategic Crypto reserve by the current administration has made cryptocurrency a more stable asset, with several major corporations having added it to their asset listings recently.

Capitec Connect Drops Data Prices

The South African Mobile Virtual Network Operator, owned by Capitec bank, has cut its consumer data costs and introduced several new purchase options that are very competitive and making data in the country more affordable. Dr Dalene Steyn, head of Capitec Connect, says Statista projects that South Africa’s mobile internet user numbers will grow from 13.82 million in 2024 to 25.83 million by 2029, underscoring the critical role data access plays in citizens’ daily lives. A recent Capitec poll involving thousands of South Africans revealed that 87% of respondents feel the high cost of data limits their access to crucial work, education, and other opportunities. When asked what consumes most of their data, 62% pointed to social media, with 27% citing streaming music and videos.

Cryptocurrencies See Big Value Surges:

Bitcoin traded at 108006 this morning, increasing by 0.18% since the previous trading session’s close. Looking back, over the last month, Bitcoin has gained 14.52% while over the last 12 months, its price rose by 57.55%. Ether has been the star performer in the past month, gaining a significant 52% in value, and is up by over 2% this morning. Solana, while losing 4% value this week, has gained 16,83% in the last month.

Business, Tech & Market News Shorts:

• As part of Google’s 10 years of Google Photos anniversary, they have just launched a new version of their redesigned editor. The redesign feature comes with new AI features — Reimagine and Auto Frame — which were previously only available on Pixel devices. The Reimagine feature uses generative AI to transform objects and backgrounds in photos with text prompts. 1.5 billion people use Google Photos every month.  
• The South African Monetary Policy Committee will meet today to determine if interest rates should be reduced. Analysts anticipate that the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Lesetja Kganyago, is expected to cut interest rates cautiously again by only 0,25%, despite the consumer inflation rate being below the targeted 3%-^% inflation rate for some time now.
• Tesla Motors is set to deliver its first self-driving Model Y car this June, according to CEO Elon Musk, who posted on X today. Musk stated that Tesla has successfully tested the self-driving Model-Y cars on public streets in Austin, Texas, for the past several days “with no incidents.”

• DeepSeek, the AI disruptor of 2025, has released a new update of its R1 reasoning AI today, stepping up competition with rivals such as OpenAI and Microsoft’s Gemini. DeepSeek launched R1-0528 on the developer platform Hugging Face but has yet to make an official public announcement. It has not yet published a description of the model or comparisons.

Markets by Numbers

Currencies:

Currency markets indicate the US Dollar is currently trading stronger against the Euro at 1.12758 and against the Pound at 1.34657. The Yen is currently at 145.42 to the dollar, with the rand currently trading upwards at R17.93 to the US dollar.

Commodities:

• Gold futures prices are making a small recovery this morning and are currently at $3276 per ounce.
• Copper prices are also trending upwards this morning and are currently at $4.6844.
• Silver futures prices are trading over 1% upwards this morning, and are currently at $33.225
• Platinum futures are trading upwards this morning, and are currently trading at $1073, while Palladium prices are currently at $969
• Brent crude oil prices have surged over 1,5% this morning and are currently at $65.87, with WTI trading at $62.86.
• Cocoa futures are clawing back some losses seen yesterday and are currently at $9682 per ton.
• Coffee futures prices are trending slightly higher today, after a drop yesterday, and are currently at $351.77.

Crypto Currencies:

• Bitcoin prices are currently trading at $108006
• Ether prices have surged  just over 2% this morning, and are currently at $2738.
• $Trumpcoin is trading -2,57% lower today, and is currently trading at $12.48

(All prices quoted at approximately 09H20 – Central African Time)

Other Breaking News in Africa Today

Security Summit in Russia Attracts African Leaders:

Several African leaders, including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, alongside the African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki, were among the representatives at the 13th international meeting of high-level security representatives from over a hundred countries that got underway in Moscow on yesterday. The security summit, which is being held over several days, is attended by 126 delegations from 104 countries that are members of BRICS, SCO, ASEAN, CIS, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the CSTO and other international organizations. Several African leaders expressed the hope that there would be constructive discussions on ways to move forward on peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine

Making Africa Great Again

Abimbola Ogundairo, the 28-year-old, lead campaigner at Africa No Filter is leading an African-led campaign to get more of global institutions and schools to immediately stop using the Mercator Map projection – the most common version of the world map that is generally recognised – because it shrinks Africa, and much of the Global South, while disproportionately enlarging the rich and powerful regions of the world. As an example of this, Greenland is depicted on global maps to appear as approximately the same size as Africa, but, in reality, it can fit within the African continent 14 times over. Europe, which is portrayed as bigger than South America, is in reality half its size.