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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – As the global economy undergoes rapid technological change, leaders worldwide are deeply worried about the future of jobs. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and robotics will spur automation across industries and could undermine job creation at a mass scale. But African countries face a particularly daunting challenge: within the next two decades, the continent will be home to nearly 1 billion working-age people entering the job market….

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Boris Johnson’s Conservatives of seeking to sell out the U.K.’s National Health Service in secret trade talks with the U.S. The opposition leader released a 451-page document, which he said detailed preparatory trade meetings between U.K. and U.S. officials, as he sought to play on voter concerns about creeping privatization in the state-funded health care system. The previously redacted papers show the U.S. seeking “total market access”…

LAGOS(Capital Markets in Africa) – Americans are buying more diamond jewelry than ever before, but prices for most polished gems are falling. Five years ago, the diamond industry’s biggest worry was being forgotten by millennials, who — the theory went — didn’t covet sparkly gems the way their parents had. The concern turned out to be mostly unfounded, but the reality is almost worse. While Americans are buying more diamond jewelry than ever before, most polished…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – China wants to hold more talks this month to hammer out the details of the “phase one” trade deal touted by Donald Trump before Xi Jinping agrees to sign it, according to people familiar with the matter. Beijing may send a delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He, China’s top negotiator, to finalize a written deal that could be signed by the presidents at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe angrily denounced a U.S. government decision to curb imports of diamonds from its Marange field, branding the claim the country uses forced labor at the operations “a shameless lie.” “Invoking the repulsive prospect of alleged forced labor is a new nomenclature for seeking to bar Zimbabwe’s diamonds from the international markets,” the southern African nation’s government said in a statement. “This move constitutes a grave and serious attack…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Angela Merkel’s challenge to Boris Johnson to find a Brexit solution in the next 30 days sounds impossible. But while both sides are talking tough, officials in private say there’s still time to salvage a deal. The latest person to sound skeptical about the British prime minister’s chances of taking the U.K. out of the European Union with an agreement was a senior French official close to President Emmanuel Macron. A no-deal…