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Today’s briefing:
Hostages Freed
Pentagon Buying Spree
South Africa’s Brewing Start-Up Scene
The Gaza War is “Over” 🇮🇱
President Trump landed in Israel yesterday morning just as the last of 20 surviving Israeli hostages were freed by Hamas, marking a stunning conclusion to the two-year war in Gaza.
Why it matters: The whirlwind of diplomacy ends a conflict that killed more than 67,000 Palestinians and saw Israeli hostages held captive for over two years.
Trump's high-stakes intervention has redrawn the diplomatic landscape ahead of a major peace summit in Egypt.
Driving the news: On Sunday, aboard Air Force One, Trump declared the war "over" and expressed confidence in the ceasefire he personally brokered.
Hamas released all 20 living Israeli hostages by Monday morning. The first group was freed shortly before Trump's arrival.
The deal also requires Hamas to return the bodies of 28 deceased hostages, including two Americans.
In exchange, Israel is set to release 250 Palestinians who were serving life sentences for killing Israelis, along with another 1,700 who were detained in Gaza after October 7th.
Trump believes the ceasefire will last because both sides are tired of the conflict and regional countries support his plan.
"I don't think anybody wants to disappoint me".
How it happened: An extraordinary, direct meeting last Wednesday between Trump envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff and senior Hamas leaders was the final key to unlocking the peace deal per Axios.
"We think that if you meet them and shake their hand there will be a deal".
The sticking point: Hamas leaders feared Israel would simply resume the war after the hostages were freed.
The fix: Kushner and Witkoff had to meet them face-to-face to personally guarantee that Trump would enforce the deal if Hamas held up its end.
Trump had privately green-lit the meeting before they left for Egypt.
Behind the curtain: At the Four Seasons in Sharm el-Sheikh, Qatari mediators told the U.S. envoys the talks had stalled.
The hostages are "more of a liability than an asset for you" and that it is time to "bring people home on both sides of the border".
Minutes after the meeting ended, the Egyptian spy chief returned and told the American envoys: "Based on the meeting we just had, we have a deal".
The willingness of Kushner and Witkoff—two of Trump's most trusted envoys—to meet Hamas leaders directly with the president's explicit blessing showed the group the U.S. was serious about getting a deal done and enforcing it.
"Love and peace for eternity"
He considers the deal potentially his biggest accomplishment.
But critics are already skeptical of the peace deal’s phased structure:
The plan's gradual approach, which pushes the toughest issues to later stages, is seen by some as a recipe for failure.
But history shows this method is often the only viable path to peace in the Middle East—if, and only if, the world's powers stay engaged.
"I have an idea Mr. President, why don't you give him a pardon?"
Trump's Knesset Surprise: During his address to the Israeli parliament on Monday, President Trump went off script and urged President Issac Herzog to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is standing trial on three corruption charges.
It's a stunning intervention in Israel's domestic politics and judicial system, made from the Knesset podium.
What's next: The challenge now is to rally the deal's international backers—including leaders from France, Germany, the U.K., UAE, and Jordan who are expected at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit—to build the framework needed to make it stick, one step at a time.
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⛏️ The Great Mineral Scramble
The Pentagon is launching a $1 billion buying spree for critical minerals, an accelerated and expansive effort to build a national stockpile and counter China's dominance over metals essential to the defense industry.
Why it matters: Critical minerals are crucial for virtually every modern weapons system, from fighter jets to radar and missile detection.
Beijing's control of the supply chain gives it a powerful geopolitical lever that worries Washington.
This follows export restrictions imposed by China on many of the materials, which has fueled fears in the U.S. and Europe about their continued access.
"There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the world 'captive' but that seems to have been their plan."
The big picture: The stockpiling is happening amid a sharp escalation in trade tensions.
The conflict intensified after Beijing unveiled new export controls on rare earths, prompting President Trump to threaten 100% tariffs on Chinese imports.
By the numbers:
🇨🇳 China mines 70% of the world's rare earth concentrates, processes 87%, and refines 91%. It also manufactures 94% of the world's permanent magnets.
💸 The push is backed by Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which allocates $7.5 billion for critical minerals.
🛒 The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has issued expressions of interest to buy up to $500 million of cobalt, $245 million of antimony, and $100 million of tantalum.
This scramble is a haunting echo of the 1970s oil shocks.
Then, OPEC's embargo demonstrated how dependency on a foreign-controlled resource could be weaponized, crippling Western economies.
The Pentagon's current race is a clear attempt to avoid a 21st-century "Mineral Shock" orchestrated by Beijing.
"China's position on tariff wars has been consistent: we do not want to fight, but we are not afraid to fight."
📉 The Bottom Line: The escalating trade war sent immediate shockwaves through global markets.
Asian markets slid, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index falling by more than 3.5% and the CSI 300 dropping 1.8%.
Gold hit a fresh record, soaring to an all-time high of $4,060 per troy ounce.
SA's Fintech Boom 💰
South Africa's fintech sector is seeing a surge in high-value acquisitions, signaling a maturing "scale-up economy" that's creating massive paydays for founders and attracting fresh investment.
Larger financial services companies are snapping up fintechs to gain a foothold in the rapidly expanding digital payments space.
Nedbank recently acquired iKhokha, one of the continent's fastest-growing fintechs, for R1.65bn.
The JSE-listed Lesaka Technologies is buying Bank Zero for R1.1bn to enter the competitive cross-border remittances market.
These deals are part of a larger trend, with 21 exits recorded across Africa in the first half of this year alone.
A key driver is the SA Reserve Bank's imminent overhaul of the payments system, which will allow non-banks into the clearing system and further challenge the dominance of traditional banks.
"When founders succeed, they attract new capital, build global companies, and create thousands of jobs locally."
The big picture: These high-profile exits are crucial for the ecosystem's health.
This is a turning point for African entrepreneurs, who have historically struggled to attract institutional capital due to a lack of successful exits.
The momentum reinforces Africa's appeal as global markets search for new growth areas, even as venture capital shifts its focus toward AI and data infrastructure elsewhere.
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