BusinessLIVE - For Your Ear

Trump eyes liberal stronghold in re-election battle

Washington — Donald Trump’s campaign is pouring resources into winning Minnesota, betting that rising public opposition to Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests will tip an historically Democratic state the president narrowly lost four years ago. Trump won the White House in 2016, in part, on narrow victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania…

6 Sep 2020 2PM 5 min

UK does not fear no-deal, chief negotiator warns EU

London/Brussels — Britain will not blink first in Brexit trade negotiations with the EU and is not scared of a no-deal exit at year’s end, the country’s top Brexit negotiator has warned the bloc. Britain left the EU on January 31 but talks have so far made little headway on…

6 Sep 2020 1PM 2 min

Achmat Dangor, author and political activist, dies

Achmat Dangor, an author and political activist who served as CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, has died, his brother said on Sunday. “It is with sadness that we announce the passing of our brother Achmat Dangor. He is mourned by his wife Audrey Elster, his children Yasmin, Zane and…

6 Sep 2020 1PM 1 min

MPs pick through the details of cannabis bill

MPs have questioned the allowable quantity of cannabis that individuals can legally possess in terms of proposed legislation. According to the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill, the maximum quantity allowed for possession for personal consumption will be 600g of dried cannabis or cannabis equivalent per adult, or 1,200g per dwelling…

6 Sep 2020 11AM 3 min

Concerns abound as recovery of world economy runs out of steam

The world economy’s rebound from the depths of the coronavirus crisis is fading, setting up an uncertain finish to the year. The concerns are multiple. The coming northern winter may trigger another wave of the virus as the wait for a vaccine continues. Government support for furloughed workers and bank…

6 Sep 2020 11AM 3 min

LETTER: Colour bans in cricket should set off warning bells

SA’s racial policies have continuously brought the country closer to dissolution rather than solution. A fixation on race is the consequence of such policies and their practices, and though it goes against the grain to hear that a certain team must have a fixed percentage or number of black African…

6 Sep 2020 10AM 1 min

Southern Japan braces for impact as Typhoon Haishen barrels toward mainland

Tokyo — Typhoon Haishen drew closer to Japan’s southern mainland on Sunday, cutting power and prompting authorities to recommend evacuation and warn of potentially record rainfall, unprecedented wind, high tides and large ocean swells. Authorities urged early evacuation for more than 100,000 households in the southern island prefecture of Okinawa…

6 Sep 2020 5AM 2 min

‘Invest in China’: Regulators vow to deepen market reforms to draw investors

Chinese regulators vowed to accelerate the opening up of its capital markets and deepen reforms to attract more foreign investors. The regulator will expand the scope of investments allowed in the stock connect program link with Hong Kong, and allow foreign investors to trade more commodities futures products, China securities…

6 Sep 2020 5AM 2 min

Steve Madden comes off as an improbably effective C-suite manager in his memoir

New York — At 6am on June 20 2000, police and federal agents in riot gear swarmed into shoe designer Steve Madden’s apartment on Mercer Street in New York with a warrant for his arrest. Madden, then in his early 40s, had been implicated in the firm Stratton Oakmont’s “pump…

6 Sep 2020 2AM 5 min

Abused women in the DRC reconstruct their lives, with compassion

Goma — Teenager Aline, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was left destitute at only 15 after she was raped, left pregnant, then accused of bringing dishonour to her family and made to leave her home. But just two years later, her life is back on track, thanks…

6 Sep 2020 1AM 3 min

True transformation of corporate structures needs a plurality of views, skills and ideas

How do we adequately address societal prejudice? This question, and its various derivatives, has become recurrent on the agendas of management meetings throughout corporate SA. For many within their structures, however, this question is actually stripped of the weight of its required efforts and presents more like, how do we…

6 Sep 2020 1AM 7 min

DA adopts nonracialism at its first policy conference

SA’s official opposition party, the DA, has rejected race as a way to categorise people. The party took the stance for nonracialism as opposed to multiracialism at its first ever policy conference on Saturday. The conference dealt with the values and principles of the party as well as its policy…

5 Sep 2020 8AM 3 min

Tanker with two million barrels of oil ablaze off coast of Sri Lanka

An oil tanker loaded with two million barrels of Kuwaiti crude was towed further away from the Sri Lankan coast on Saturday, as rescuers continue to fight a fire that started Thursday morning. The blaze has been reduced, and so far, no oil slick has been reported, the Indian Coast…

5 Sep 2020 5AM 2 min

AU-backed app seeks to speed up border reopenings

Two major African public bodies are promoting a new technology that could connect the continent’s Covid-19 testing centres and ease a reopening of travel across the region. The African Union (AU) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention are encouraging member states to integrate the mobile-based PanaBIOS…

5 Sep 2020 2AM 2 min

Fast-tracking a vaccine has even some in the medical world spooked

Finding a vaccine against Covid-19 that works and can be distributed widely enough to help stop the pandemic is a global priority. Given the urgency, governments are doing all they can to fund research and incentivise firms to ramp up trials — pre-ordering doses, lowering regulatory barriers to market and…

5 Sep 2020 2AM 4 min

Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams to face ANC integrity body to deal with corruption

Communications and digital technologies minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said she would subject herself to the ANC’s integrity committee after reports that her husband allegedly had business dealings with a SA Post Office (Sapo) board member. “This comes after the publication of a series of speculative media reports in recent weeks alleging…

4 Sep 2020 11AM 1 min

Covid-19 closes 12 French schools just days into new year

Paris — Covid-19 has forced the closure of a dozen schools in mainland France just days into the new academic year, the government said on Friday, as coronavirus cases surge in parts of the country. Education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said the overwhelming majority of France’s 12-million pupils had returned without…

4 Sep 2020 11AM 1 min

Celebrate milestones and move to the next sustainability goal

Most of us who have been involved in sustainable business remember when 2030 seemed a distant — and thus wholly attainable — goal for a low-carbon future with food, water and energy security. But 2030 is now less than a decade away, and businesses that haven’t already committed to, and…

4 Sep 2020 10AM 5 min

Russia hails Lancet review of early-stage trials of Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccine

Moscow — Russia's “Sputnik-V” Covid-19 vaccine produced an antibody response in all participants in early-stage trials, according to results published on Friday by The Lancet medical journal that were hailed by Moscow as an answer to its critics. The results of the two trials, conducted in June-July and involving 76…

4 Sep 2020 9AM 4 min

LETTER: FM should articulate a plan for SA

We have gone over the edge; we are in the abyss. If we are ever going to have a chance of climbing out of the hole South Africans have dug for themselves, we need to focus on the real challenge that presents itself. That is not what the inconsequential musing…

4 Sep 2020 8AM 1 min