By Alec Hogg
In today’s global headlines:
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- US president Donald Trump held his first oval office television broadcast in almost two years last night in an attempt to gather popular support for a proposed $5bn wall along the country’s southern border. Dispute over the wall, funding of which is being blocked by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, has resulted in a partial shutdown of the US government. Trump says the wall is critical for border security while the Democrats say there are better ways of achieving the same result. As a result of the dispute, about 420,000 US federal government employees in jobs deemed essential are currently working without pay while another 380,000 have been sent home on unpaid leave.
- Trump’s personality is also a major influence on critical trade talks in Beijing which have just ended after an unscheduled third day of meetings between US and Chinese officials. Pundits say the extension of the talks and Trump’s positive tweets on progress, are positive signs. Insiders say Trump is keen for a resolution to help stock markets recover ahead of his scheduled trip to Davos in two weeks, where last year he pointed to booming stock markets as proof his policies were working. The trade war has hit stock markets where its impact on an already weakening global economy are increasingly apparent. US tariffs on Chinese imports, hiked to 10% at the start of this year, are planned to jump to 25% in March.
- Computer hardware and services company IBM yesterday unveiled the world’s first commercially produced Quantum Computer at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. Encased in a nine-foot glass cube, the IBM Q System One is the new poster product for innovation that’s attempting to unleash the power of quantum mechanics into computerisation. Scientists say quantum computers would be a massive leap ahead, making today’s products obsolete. IBM Research chief operating officer Dario Gil called the unveiling “an iconic moment”. The share price of what was once the world’s most valuable company gained 1.5% on the news, trimming IBM stock’s fall since September’s peak to 20%.
- In South African-related news, one of the central figures in Mozambique’s imaginatively named and rapidly developing Tuna Bond scandal was yesterday denied bail by the Kempton Park magistrates court. Manuel Chang, Mozambique’s former finance minister who is alleged to have received at least $5m in bribes, was arrested 12 days ago. The US Department of Justice wants him extradited to America to be charged alongside three incarcerated senior executives of Credit Suisse. The charges relate to at least $200m which went missing from $2bn in sovereign bonds sold to investors four years ago to fund a Mozambique’s national tuna fishing fleet. Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, who took the job in 2015, has radically changed the way the bank operates in Africa. Thiam, who was previously CEO of Prudential, was born and raised in Cote d’Ivoire.
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