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BusinessLIVE - For Your Ear

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Daily English South Africa Business News · News
12,931 Episodes
700 – 720

Asian stocks falter on mixed data

Singapore/New York — Asia’s stock markets bounced on Friday after Wall Street’s lead, but were set for their softest week in about a month as investors grapple with tepid economic data and lofty valuations after a huge rally that has wiped out coronavirus losses. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares…
21 Aug 2020 2AM 3 min

Gold gains ground on fears of slower economic recovery

Gold prices rose on Friday after bleak US jobless claims data reinforced fears of a slower recovery from the coronavirus-induced economic crisis, denting the dollar and US Treasury yields. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,945.45/oz by 2.36am GMT. Gold is up 0.2% so far this week, having shed 4.5%…
21 Aug 2020 1AM 2 min

Oil climbs for third consecutive week

Melbourne — Oil prices rose in early trade on Friday, on track for a third straight week of gains, buoyed by major oil producers’ efforts to hold back output amid concerns about the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures inched up 8c, or…
21 Aug 2020 1AM 2 min

Eskom suspends load-shedding on Friday morning

Power utility Eskom has announced the suspension of load- shedding from Friday morning due to the return of additional capacity. Three generators were returned to service at the Lethabo, Medupi and Kusile power stations while another unit at Kusile was taken offline for repairs. Unplanned breakdowns stand at 8,750MW of…
21 Aug 2020 1AM 1 min

Canada extends emergency income support for another four weeks

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government plans to extend Canada’s emergency income support for another four weeks, beef up the country’s employment insurance plan and introduce new temporary programmes at a cost of C$37bn over the next year in an effort to keep stimulus flowing into the economy. Canadian…
20 Aug 2020 5PM 2 min

SHIRLEY DE VILLIERS: A Covid lightbulb moment

In the early 1920s, the average incandescent household lightbulb burned for about 1,500-2,000 hours. By 1925, it would burn for a markedly shorter 1,000 hours – the result of an astounding display of cross-continental corporate collusion. The Phoebus Cartel – including luminaries such as Osram, Philips and General Electric –…
20 Aug 2020 4PM 6 min

Angela Merkel warns Europe against reimposing lockdowns ‘at any cost’

Paris— German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on European leaders to work together to avoid reimposing lockdowns as a resurgence of the coronavirus threatens already battered economies. “Politically, we want to avoid closing borders again at any cost, but that assumes that we act in co-ordination,” Merkel said on Thursday during…
20 Aug 2020 3PM 2 min

Former Republican CIA and FBI officials form 70-strong group to endorse Biden

Los Angeles — More than 70 former Republican national security officials including CIA and FBI chiefs will endorse Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday while launching a scathing indictment of President Donald Trump, calling him corrupt and unfit to serve. The group, called Former Republican National Security Officials for…
20 Aug 2020 3PM 3 min

Iran seizes UAE ship and its crew after clash at sea

Dubai — Iran seized a United Arab Emirates-registered ship violating its territorial waters this week, Iran's foreign ministry said on Thursday, adding that UAE coastguards killed two Iranian fishermen on the same day. Tensions have risen between the two countries, which face each other across the Gulf, since last week's…
20 Aug 2020 3PM 1 min

Government considers risk allowance for health-care workers

Health minister Zweli Mkhize is considering a union proposal to incentivise health-care workers at the front line of the fight against Covid-19, as they prepare to embark on rolling mass protests across the country from Friday. Zola Saphetha, general secretary of National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), said…
20 Aug 2020 2PM 2 min

EDITORIAL: SA laws lagging in cybercrime fight

Just over a month after the law governing the protection of personal data came into force, South Africans were rattled by one of the biggest data breaches when Experian, one of the world’s top credit bureaus, became the latest cyber attack victim. The hack of Experian’s SA division exposed the…
20 Aug 2020 1PM 4 min

ECB uncertain about economic outlook but will know more in September

Frankfurt — European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers expressed uncertainty at their latest policy meeting about the economic outlook and the extent to which they’ll have to deploy monetary stimulus. The account of their July session showed officials were reluctant to draw conclusions from early signs of economic recovery after pandemic…
20 Aug 2020 12PM 2 min

Consumer debt owed to municipalities soars to R191bn

The debt owed to municipalities by ratepayers soared to R191bn at the end of the past financial year, with collection of the bulk seen as unrealistic, says a Treasury report on local government finances. SA’s already ailing municipalities have been hit hard by a national lockdown imposed to combat the…
20 Aug 2020 12PM 2 min

US jobless claims rise unexpectedly to above 1-million mark

New York — The number of Americans filing a new claim for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly back above the 1-million mark last week, a setback for a struggling US job market crippled by the coronavirus pandemic. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.106-million for the…
20 Aug 2020 11AM 2 min

Zimbabwe summons Vatican envoy to explain Catholic bishops’ criticism

Zimbabwe’s government has sought a meeting with the Vatican representative to understand whether Catholic bishops who accused it of human rights abuses and cracking down on critics were speaking on behalf of the Holy See. Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi on Wednesday described a pastoral letter written by the Zimbabwe Catholic…
20 Aug 2020 11AM 1 min

The state needs to see the wine industry as a national treasure

Covid-19 has left the SA wine industry in a state of chaos. Radical action is necessary to prevent long-term retardation. The multi-pronged agenda of the government’s alcohol ban needs a counterbalance to address the severe demand shortfall and its far-reaching effects. The following is a way forward, using the international…
20 Aug 2020 11AM 5 min

GENEVIEVE QUINTAL: Ramaphosa’s promise of a cleaner ANC is a joke

“Ethical and moral leadership, in both the public and private sector, will be critical if our collective fight against corruption is to succeed.” These were the words of the ANC national executive committee (NEC) on August 4 after reports of corruption related to Covid-19 procurement, which implicated some of its…
20 Aug 2020 11AM 4 min

Russia to start phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trials on 40,000 people

Moscow — Mass testing of Russia’s first potential Covid-19 vaccine to get domestic regulatory approval will involve more than 40,000 people and will be overseen by a foreign research body when it starts next week, backers of the project said on Thursday. These were the first details on the shape…
20 Aug 2020 11AM 4 min
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