Breaking News Today – Wednesday 23 July 2025

Business & Tech News 

Amazon gets BEE

According to a social media post from Bee co-founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo, Amazon has acquired the AI wearables startup Bee. Amazon confirmed the acquisition process is in place, however it said that the deal had not yet closed. BEE produces wellness and fitness wearable items such as bracelets and watches that also literally spies on the owner by recording all their conversations with the goal of creating lists of things they need to do or reminders and to-do-lists for the user. The company charges a monthly subscription for the service and recently raised $7million in funding last year.

Trade Deals with The US Concluded

US President Donald Trump has just announced that the US has reached trade deals with Japan and the Philippines, in a major development in bringing stability to Japans markets as well as indicate progress is being made in resolving the trade deficit issues the US is focussed on. Japan, who are one of the US’s largest trading partners, also confirmed it had reached a deal which would see tariffs and vehicle import levies cut from 25% to 15%. True also announced a deal with the Philippines, that will see a 19% tariff charged on imports and gave more details on an agreement with Indonesia that was announced last week.

There have been several additional deals concluded prior to the 1 August implementation date set by the US, including Israel, Vietnam, the UK, and China. Japan’s 10-year government bond yield surged nearly 10 basis points to around 1.59% after the announcement, approaching its highest level since 2008.

Asian Share Prices Spike on Announcement of Tariff Deal

Asian shares saw a surge in prices this morning, with Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index up more than 3% after the announcement of a tariff deal between Japan and the US. The agreement as announced calls for a 15% import duty on goods imported from Japan, apart from certain products such as steel and aluminum that are subject to much higher tariffs. That’s down from the 25% Trump had said would kick in on Aug. 1 if a deal was not reached.  Trump commented on social media platform Truth Social,: This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it,” Trump posted noting that Japan was also investing $550 billion into the U.S. He said Japan would also “open” its economy to American autos and rice. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.1% to 25,397.81, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.8% to 3,608.58.

Japan to Move on Chinese Steel Imports

Japan trade and finance ministries have announced it is to launch an anti-dumping commission into nickel-based stainless cold-rolled steel sheets and strips from China and Taiwan. This follows a petition from major steel manufacturer Nippon Steel, who have claimed that falling domestic demand has forced them to lower prices due to the markets being flooded with cheaper imports. The industry commission is anticipated to take a year to conclude its investigation that, will determine whether anti-dumping duties should be imposed on China and other nations.

According to the petition, imports were priced 20–50% below Chinese domestic levels and as much as 20% below Taiwanese prices. The probe comes amid global concerns over Chinese steel overcapacity and subsidized exports, which have distorted global markets. While other countries have imposed anti-dumping measures against China, Japan has yet to act. Meantime, Taiwan’s economy ministry said it would support affected firms to protect export interests.

Business, Tech & Market News Shorts: 

• Nigeria’s economy expanded by 3.13% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, following a major rebasing of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Monday.
• Trump to announce the US AI action plan today with expectations of a new AI legislation that will aim to improve the infrastructure development of data centres and energy supply needed for AI developments and also assist with promoting US AI products across the globe.
• Alibaba Group has just announced the launch of its latest open-source AI model Qwen3-Coder, an artificial intelligence model for software development that is believed to be its most advanced coding tool to date.
  

Markets by Numbers 

Currencies: 

Currency markets today indicate the US Dollar is flat this morning after loosing ground yesterday and trading against the Euro at 1.17353 and against the Pound at 1.35274 The Yen is currently at 147.01 to the dollar. The rand is currently at R17.55 to the US dollar. 

Commodities:

• Gold futures prices are currently trading softer and currently at $3421 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are trading upwards today, and currently at $5.7470 
• Silver futures prices are also trading lower today, and currently at $39.240
• Platinum futures are around 0,5% higher this morning, and are currently trading at $1467 While Palladium prices are trading over 1% higher this morning and currently at $1325.50
• Brent crude oil prices are currently at $68.89, with WTI trading at $65.55. 
• Cocoa futures have modulated this morning, and currently at $8129 per ton. 
• Coffee futures are currently at $295

Crypto Currencies:

• Bitcoin prices are trending slightly softer today, and currently at $118906
• Ether prices are trending slightly lower this morning and currently at $3722
• $Trumpcoin is currently trading around $11.06

(All prices quoted at approximately 07H20 Central African Time) 

Other Breaking News in Africa Today

Mozambique Confirms Military Relations with Russia:

Russia and Mozambique have reaffirmed their defence relations during a visit from the African country’s foreign minister to Moscow on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Maria Manuela Lucas expressed concern over the ongoing war in Ukraine, but praised the “resilience” of the Russian people. She said Mozambique had been following the situation “closely” and that her country “would very much like for this matter to be resolved in a peaceful way.” while also highlighting the war’s impact on food security in Africa.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in his evening address that there would be another round of talks between Russia and Ukraine today.  Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov confirmed Russia’s commitment to provide defence assistance to Mozambique. “We have confirmed our readiness to consider all requests from our friends in Mozambique on issues related to the need to strengthen their defence capability, strengthen their potential in the anti-terrorist sphere”, Lavrov said.