BusinessLIVE - For Your Ear · TimesLIVE Podcasts

China plugs loopholes to curb risks in $49-trillion financial industry

Beijing — China is tightening rules and imposing capital demands on sprawling empires such as Ant Group and China Evergrande Group in its latest attempt to curb risks in the nation’s $49-trillion financial industry. The new regulations will require licences for nonfinancial companies that do business across at least two…

13 Sep 2020 11AM 4 min

Opec to meet in the shadow of a stalling oil market

It was meant to be the week when Opec nations gathered in Baghdad to celebrate the cartel’s six decades as a dominant force in global oil markets. Instead, Opec and its allies will convene online and reflect on whether the coronavirus has thwarted their best efforts to keep the market…

13 Sep 2020 11AM 4 min

US wildfire smoke blotted out the sun — and solar power

New York/Los Angeles — When deadly wildfires tinted Western skies a Martian hue this week, homeowners with their own rooftop solar systems were able to tell with great precision just how much useful sunlight reached them through the gloom: next to none. Wednesday was “the worst generation day, ever”, said…

11 Sep 2020 12PM 4 min

Myanmar erases name of Rohingya village razed in 2017 ethnic cleansing

Cox’s Bazar — Three years ago, Myanmar’s military burnt the Rohingya village of Kan Kya to the ground and bulldozed over its remains. In 2019, the government erased its name from official maps, according to the UN. About 5km from the Naf River that marks the border between Myanmar’s Rakhine…

11 Sep 2020 12PM 9 min

What the UK breaching the Brexit treaty means

London — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pressing ahead with legislation on trade despite a warning from Brussels that it could wreck any future relationship and an acknowledgment by his government that it violates international law. The Internal Market Bill is aimed at ensuring Britain’s four constituent nations can…

11 Sep 2020 11AM 3 min

Monkeys destined for SA from DRC detained in Zimbabwe

A shipment of 29 primates from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was intercepted in Zimbabwe on Wednesday. The illegal shipment was headed to SA. According to a media release from DRC's minister of environment and sustainable development‚ Claude Nyamugabo Bazibuhe‚ three Congolese and a Zimbabwean national have been arrested and…

11 Sep 2020 11AM 1 min

Mauritius spill caused in part by a lack of awareness and Wi-Fi

Tokyo — A shipping accident offshore Mauritius that polluted its beaches with fuel was partly caused by a lack of crew awareness, according to the Japanese company that chartered the vessel. Mitsui OSK Lines also said the ship was using the wrong type of nautical charts as it veered towards…

11 Sep 2020 11AM 2 min

The US education gap between the haves and have nots is only getting worse

It’s no secret that in this economy the well off, or “haves”, have done very well at the expense of everyone else. We see it in the record-high stock market, the expiration of extra US jobless benefits and the higher death rates among black people from Covid-19, to name just…

11 Sep 2020 10AM 5 min

Microsoft warns of foreign hackers’ spying attempts on Trump and Biden

Washington — Hackers linked to Russia, China, and Iran are trying to spy on people tied to both US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, Microsoft said on Thursday. The report came as Reuters reported that one of Biden's main campaign advisory firms had been warned by the…

11 Sep 2020 9AM 4 min

DINNER PARTY INTEL: Soak up the sun

1. Soak up the sun A Barcelona hospital is letting its Covid-19 patients out into the sun, partly in a bid to increase their vitamin D intake, after a Spanish study suggested it reduces intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. The study was published in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry &…

11 Sep 2020 8AM 2 min

Demand factors count and ignoring them will preclude growth

Following parliament’s standing committee on finance’s near rejection of the supplementary budget, finance minister Tito Mboweni wrote an oped extolling structural reforms as a cure for a moribund economy. His argument centred on three inter-meshed but analytically distinct issues. He reasoned that, with the current high debt levels, SA cannot…

11 Sep 2020 8AM 8 min

Black Italian designer calls out racism in fashion industry

Rome — Stella Jean, the Haitian-Italian designer who has just announced a boycott of Milan Fashion Week, says she has suffered racism all her life. But it was only when she encountered it in Italy’s mainly white fashion industry that she realised just how unwilling people are to talk about…

11 Sep 2020 7AM 3 min

US police open arson probe as more deaths expected in Oregon

Ashland, Oregon — Arson investigators have opened a probe into the suspicious origins of a deadly Oregon wildfire that began in the town of Ashland and destroyed hundreds of homes in nearby communities, Ashland's police chief said on Thursday. The remains of two victims have been found in ruins from…

11 Sep 2020 6AM 3 min

Trump and Biden to commemorate of 9/11 attacks

Washington — US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will commemorate the 19th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Friday, with both candidates separately visiting the rural Pennsylvania field where one of the hijacked planes crashed. Biden and his wife Jill will first attend a morning ceremony…

11 Sep 2020 6AM 2 min

Oil falls for second day as US stockpiles rise again

London — Oil prices fell for a second day and were on track for a second weekly fall after US stock markets tumbled and US stockpiles rose unexpectedly. Brent was down 12c, or 0.3%, at $39.94 a barrel by 8.41am GMT, after falling nearly 2% on Thursday, while US crude…

11 Sep 2020 6AM 2 min

Global shares struggle after US tech stocks fall again

London/Tokyo — European shares struggled for momentum on Friday as doubts about extra monetary stimulus and overnight falls in US big tech shares kept investors on edge. Elevated fears over a messy hard Brexit added to the bearish sentiment, putting sterling on track for its worst week since March after…

11 Sep 2020 6AM 4 min

China likely to halt German pork imports due to case of African swine fever

Kuala Lumpur/Beijing — Nervousness is mounting over whether top pork consumer China will halt imports of the meat from Europe’s biggest producer on concerns about a pig-killing disease. Germany, which counts on China as a key pork market, confirmed a case of African swine fever on Thursday. That’s already caused…

11 Sep 2020 6AM 1 min

Macron should stop talking Turkey because Turkey will just keep talking back

For Emmanuel Macron, the moment of truth is approaching at a rate of knots. The French president has again fired off rhetorical broadsides at his Turkish counterpart over the crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean. But words are not going to break Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s bones, and Macron will struggle to…

11 Sep 2020 5AM 3 min

Trust in a Covid-19 vaccine varies widely, and that could be a deadly problem

Radically different opinions around the world on the safety, effectiveness and importance of vaccines highlight the challenge facing health officials once a Covid-19 shot arrives. In countries such as South Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan and Poland, confidence in vaccines has declined in recent years, according to a study published on Thursday…