TimesLIVE Podcasts BusinessLIVE - For Your Ear

BusinessLIVE - For Your Ear

Listen to the latest BusinessLIVE articles from the news desk of Business Day, Financial Mail and the Business Times.

This audio is produced directly from the text article.
Daily English South Africa Business News · News
12,931 Episodes
740 – 760

Somalia bill may approve marriage for girls as young as 10

Mogodishu — Hafsa was married off at 13 by her father to a man who paid $100. She and her mother say she was beaten and raped for two years before they convinced him to divorce her. “The man just slept with me, beating me always,” she said, sitting by…
20 Aug 2020 6AM 2 min

Kim Jong-un reveals North Korea is reeling from a poor economy aided by the virus

Seoul — Kim Jong-un has said North Korea’s development goals have been “seriously delayed”, a rare acknowledgment that shows the country’s already anaemic economy is under severe strain from sanctions, flooding and the pandemic. At the first gathering of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s central committee in eight months,…
20 Aug 2020 6AM 3 min

Oil prices fall as fuel demand drops and on oversupply concern

London — Oil prices fell on Thursday on demand concerns driven by cautious views from oil cartel Opec and its allies (Opec+) and the US Federal Reserve regarding economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Brent crude was down 44c, or 1%, at $44.93 a barrel at 8.26am GMT, and West…
20 Aug 2020 5AM 1 min

California battles hundreds of wildfires on top of Covid-19

San Francisco/Los Angeles — Californians are in their sixth month of sheltering in place because of a pandemic that’s killed more than 11,000 residents. Now a new crisis is forcing people to prepare to flee their homes at a moment’s notice — hundreds of wildfires. “This really is unprecedented,” said…
20 Aug 2020 5AM 4 min

Zambia’s lockdown lock-in

Since recording the first Covid-19 case in March 2020, Zambia has been fighting the spread of the pandemic using various preventive measures recommended by the local ministry of health and the World Health Organisation. But with an accumulative total of 8,501 with 241 deaths and 7,004 recoveries, as of August…
20 Aug 2020 5AM 4 min

Europe set to shed more jobs as economic rebound flags

Zurich/Geneva — European workers may be about to get another batch of bad news after a summer of job cuts and with the economic recovery threatened by fresh virus outbreaks and localised lockdowns. Even as some governments consider extensions to job-protecting furlough programmes, the back-to-school period as the continent returns…
20 Aug 2020 5AM 3 min

US Fed minutes push Asian and European markets down

London — Asian and European share markets fell on Thursday, after the US Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes highlighted doubts about the recovery of the world's largest economy and knocked Wall Street from recent record highs. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan had its biggest daily decline in…
20 Aug 2020 5AM 3 min

US halts Hong Kong agreements over Beijing’s new security law

Washington — The US state department said it notified Hong Kong on Wednesday that Washington has suspended or terminated three bilateral agreements with the semi-autonomous city following China’s imposition of a sweeping national security law. The ending of the agreements follows US President Donald Trump’s order in July to end…
20 Aug 2020 3AM 2 min

DEON GOUWS: Two-timing the market

Let me tell you about Tom*. He is a client, a high net worth individual who has been an entrepreneur all his life. He’s a self-made man. Tom is a smart guy; when he talks, I listen. He does lots of business with China. He travels there at least once…
20 Aug 2020 3AM 4 min

Dovish Fed sparks slump in Asian stocks

Tokyo/New York — Asian equities and US futures fell on Thursday, hurt by the US Federal Reserve’s cautious view of the economy, tensions with China and new clusters of coronavirus infections. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 1.79%, the biggest daily decline in five weeks. US stock…
20 Aug 2020 2AM 3 min

Oil slides amid warnings of slow demand recovery

Tokyo — Oil prices fell on Thursday as major producers warned of a risk to demand recovery if the coronavirus crisis is prolonged, while US crude inventories dropped less than expected. Brent crude was down 36 US cents, or 0.8%, at $45.01 a barrel by 4.42am GMT, having slipped 0.2%…
20 Aug 2020 2AM 2 min

Gold regains traction amid Fed fears over Covid-19 recovery

Bengaluru — Gold on Thursday bounced back from the previous session’s hefty losses after the US Federal Reserve raised concerns that a recovery from the coronavirus-induced economic slump faced a highly uncertain path, weighing on risk sentiment. Spot gold was up 0.9% at $1,946.09/oz by 3.07am GMT, after falling more…
20 Aug 2020 1AM 2 min

Sketchy darknet websites are taking advantage of Covid-19 – buyer beware

Underground markets that sell illegal commodities like drugs, counterfeit currency and fake documentation tend to flourish in times of crisis, and the Covid-19 pandemic is no exception. The online underground economy has responded to the current crisis by exploiting demand for Covid-19-related commodities. Today, some of the most vibrant underground…
19 Aug 2020 4PM 5 min

GIULIETTA TALEVI: The $2-trillion club

As Groucho Marx famously once said, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” It’s one of the best one-liners of all time, but I’m not sure Apple CEO Tim Cook would share the sentiment. Yesterday, Apple’s shares traded above $468 for the first time,…
19 Aug 2020 4PM 2 min

How grants eased the Covid pain

To minimise the pain of the Covid-19 lockdown, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a R502bn stimulus package on April 21 — R50bn of which was directly for vulnerable households. The transfers were meant to last six months, and include an increase in existing social grants (covering 18-million beneficiaries). There was also…
19 Aug 2020 1PM 3 min

Trade & industry department downplays delays in ventilator rollout

The government on Wednesday downplayed the delayed production of ventilators, saying that even if the need for them eases locally as Covid-19 infections drop, there will still be a huge demand for them across the continent. Ventilators are crucial in the fight against Covid-19. They keep Covid-19 patients in the…
19 Aug 2020 1PM 3 min
740 – 760