Former US President Barack Obama has sharply criticised what he described as Republican attempts at voter suppression in a speech at civil rights leader John Lewis’s funeral. He said people in power were “attacking our voting rights with surgical precision” and called for wide reform. He also decried the police killing of George Floyd and…
South Africa’s economy could contract 8.2% this year and grow just 0.6% in 2021, if it is hit by a second wave of coronavirus infections that also affects major trading partners, the OECD said on Friday. If a second wave of infections is avoided, the economy will probably contract 7.5% in 2020 before rebounding…
The International Monetary Fund said on Monday its executive board approved $4.3 billion in emergency financing for South Africa to help the country address the “severe economic impact” and health challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. The IMF said the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) loan, equal to 100% of South Africa’s IMF quota, or shareholding, will…
US Senate Republicans have proposed spending an additional $1tn (£776bn) to address the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The plan includes $100bn for schools and issuing stimulus payments of up to $1,200 to most Americans. Under the plan, the payment would replace a $600 boost to unemployment benefits during the pandemic. The proposal…
The head of Germany’s public health agency has said he is “very concerned” by rising infections in the country. “We are in the middle of a rapidly developing pandemic,” Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), told reporters. Mr Wieler said Germans had become “negligent” and urged people to wear masks and respect…
A senator for the state of Arkansas has described slavery as a “necessary evil” on which the American nation was built. In a local newspaper interview, Republican Tom Cotton said he rejected the idea that the US was a systemically racist country to its core. He is introducing legislation to ban federal funds for a project…
THE UK economy could take until 2024 to return to the size it was before the coronavirus lockdown, according to analysis from the EY Item Club. The forecasters, who use a similar economic model to the Treasury, suggest unemployment will rise to 9% from 3.9%. They also estimate the economy will shrink by 11.5% this…
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has cancelled the pre-election Republican party convention in Florida, blaming the coronavirus “flare-up”. “It’s not the right time for that,” he said, adding that he would still give a convention speech in a different form. It comes as the number of cases of Covid-19 in the US passed four million. Part…
SOUTH Africa’s MTN Group expects first-half sales to double, beating analyst estimates, the company said on Friday, sending its shares up more than 7%. The telecoms sector has experienced a spike in network data traffic as millions of South Africans were forced to work and entertain themselves from home after the government imposed a lockdown…
Accusations from the US and UK that Russia recently tested anti-satellite weaponry in space are “distorted”, Russia’s defence ministry says. “Tests carried out [on 15 July] did not create a threat for other spacecraft,” the ministry said, adding that it had not violated international law. Moscow said earlier that it had been using new technology…
