SOUTH African power utility Eskom slightly narrowed its net loss to 20.5 billion rand ($1.3 billion) in the financial year that ended in March 2020 but expects a larger loss this year because of the impact of COVID-19, it said on Friday. The state company also said its debt rose to about 484 billion rand…
TANZANIA’S two main opposition parties have demanded fresh elections, after denouncing Wednesday’s presidential vote as fraudulent. The Chadema and ACT-Wazalendo parties, in a joint news conference, also called for mass protests from Monday. Incumbent President John Magufuli was declared victor in Wednesday’s election with 84% of the vote. Chadema alleges ballot boxes were…
TO THINK we began 2020 supposing the US presidential election would be the foremost news event of year: the story that would monopolise our journalistic attention; the travelling carnival that would see us clocking up tens of thousands of miles; the democratic spectacle that would distance us from our families. As we entered election year,…
The economies of the eurozone bounced back in the third quarter of the year, according to new official figures. Economic activity for the region as a whole was 12.7% higher than in the previous three months. But the growth was not enough to reverse the declines in the first half of 2020 due to the pandemic….
TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has secured a £1.8bn government bailout, to keep Tube and bus services running until March 2021. The funding will ensure TfL can address its financial shortfall due to the loss of passengers as a result of Covid-19. The exact amount of money involved is subject to passenger revenue in the coming…
Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s largest opposition party, has elected John Steenhuisen as its new leader. The 44-year-old, who has acted as interim party leader since its first Black leader Mmusi Maimane stepped down more than a year ago, secured a whopping 80 percent of Sunday’s virtual vote over his competitor, Mbali Ntuli. Steenhuisen’s triumph…
A SENIOR aide to President Donald Trump has conceded that the US is “not going to control the pandemic”. Instead White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said coronavirus (Covid-19) could only be defeated by “mitigation areas” like vaccines and therapeutics. His remarks come as coronavirus cases surge in the US, nine days before the…
THE news last week was dominated by the imposition of Tier 3 lockdown across swathes of the country as efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus turn an evergrowing area of the United Kingdom into an economic wasteland. Coronavirus (Covid-19) is successfully strangling the life out of UK businesses just as the debt spiral shows…
JUST hours after South Africa health minister Zweli Mkhize warned of a possible “resurgence” in Covid-19 cases, his ministry said on Wednesday night that 2 055 cases of the respiratory illness had been recorded in 24 hours. This is only the third time that South Africa breached 2 000 cases in a 24-hour period since…
THE Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) yesterday arrested Shepherd Bushiri, leader of the popular Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church, and his wife, Mary, over a R100-million fraud case. Without mentioning the Bushiris by name, Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said four people “including a pastor aged between 25 and 39” have been arrested for…
