Afternoon Coffee: Good/bad of ‘iPhone decade’; Voting machines and third-party risk; Recovery effort for rare earths

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CNBC has an interesting look at the history and impact of Apple’s iPhone, exploring the idea that smartphones revolutionized information-sharing for individuals but also reshaped business and entire industries over the last 10 years, dubbed the “iPhone decade.”

Voting machine parts highlight risk in study

Interos, a third-party risk management platform, today released a study that showed that at least 20% of an electronic voting machine’s components came from China-based companies. The study, said the company, showed the ability to illuminate links between components used in a popular voting machine, and potential global risks in access from other countries, reports the Wall Street Journal.

According to Jennifer Bisceglie, founder and CEO of Interos: “It is nearly impossible to understand any businesses’ comprehensive third-party risk profile without first understanding that company’s full family tree of suppliers. Interos identifies suppliers and potential risk continuously, so that businesses can then determine how to navigate those risks.”

Firms seek to recover rare earths

Exploration company Texas Mineral Resources Corp. and USA Rare Earth LLC have announced their intention to start a pilot process development facility in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. The aim is to separate and purify rare earth and other tech metals leached from ore from the partnership’s Round Top project, located just outside El Paso, Texas. The process development facility will incorporate test equipment, a dedicated CIX/CIC pilot plant and onsite analytical capability.

International Flavors & Fragrances to merge with DuPont's $26.2 billion nutrition unit

The U.S.-based International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF.N) has announced on Sunday said it will merge with DuPont’s $26.2 billion nutrition & biosciences unit. When the deal is formalized, it will create a new consumer giant valued at more than $45 billion. The deal has been unanimously approved by both boards, said IFF. The latter makes flavors and fragrances, and works with global brands to develop scents and tastes for products, reports Reuters.

U.S. to buy old fighter jets from Switzerland

The Swiss are trying to modernize their air force for some time, and now comes the news that the U.S. may buy 22 aging F-5 fighter jets from Switzerland, Bloomberg News reports.

U.S. Navy representatives and Armasuisse, the Swiss defense procurement agency, had first discussed the deal this July, an agency spokesman said by email to Bloomberg News on Sunday. The contract is expected to be signed once U.S. lawmakers approve the fiscal 2020 defense budget, he said. Switzerland now plans to spend about 6 billion francs on new fighter jets, according to Sonntags newspaper and previous Swiss media reports.