Category: News
-
Russia funded escape bid by Benin coup suspect, SA prosecutors allege
South African prosecutors allege that Russia helped finance an attempted escape by Kemi Séba, a social media influencer wanted in Benin over an alleged coup attempt. Court papers claim Séba worked with Bittereinders leader Francois van der Merwe to cross the Limpopo River into Zimbabwe before Hawks officers, posing as private security, arrested both men…
-
The Economist: How much would you pay for a smarter baby?
A wave of Silicon Valley startups, including Nucleus, Orchid and Herasight, are selling embryo screening that goes well beyond checking for disease. For up to $50,000, parents undergoing IVF can now see predicted scores for height, intelligence and eye colour alongside genetic risk. Backers such as Peter Thiel have poured money into the sector, and…
-
Ivo Vegter: State funding won’t save journalism, it will finish it off
Daily Friend columnist Ivo Vegter takes aim at Daily Maverick CEO Styli Charalambous’s call for state funding to fix journalism’s “market failure”. Vegter counters that South Africa already has two data points on state-backed media: the SABC, reliant on repeated bailouts, and The New Age, which helped launder the Gupta family’s image while state entities…
-
Standard Bank CEO warns Temu and Shein could gut SA manufacturing
Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala has warned that South Africa risks losing entire industries to a flood of cheap Chinese imports, including from platforms like Temu and Shein, unless the country builds its own manufacturing capacity. Speaking on GIBS Business School’s Fate, Luck, and Choice podcast, Tshabalala pointed to the collapse of South Africa’s…
-
Nvidia enlists Wall Street titans to bankroll $500 billion AI buildout
Nvidia has partnered with six of Wall Street’s largest investment firms, including Apollo, Blackstone, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, to source $500 billion in financing for artificial intelligence infrastructure. The financing will primarily take the form of debt, using compute power as collateral, and is aimed at helping Nvidia’s biggest customers access chips and build data…
-
BN Daybreak: Oil rallies; Anthropic deal; Intel $20B sale; Berkshire buybacks
Listen here Today’s BizNews Daybreak covers Donald Trump’s stance on Iran and rising oil prices driving Brent crude past $87. Tech highlights include Anthropic’s $9.1 billion data center deal with Riot Platforms, Intel raising $20 billion through share sales, and security risks of rogue AI models. Plus, Berkshire Hathaway accelerates share buybacks to $4.5 billion.…
-
Financial challenges facing women and how to overcome them
By Leslie Greyling* Women face distinct financial hurdles, so it’s not surprising that survey data from Money Stress Tracker reveals that South African women are 10-15% more financially stressed than men. With overall financial anxiety increasing notable as women shoulder heavier burdens across home life, personal health, and workplace demands. Key financial challenges: Cumulative wealth…
-
Ian Bremmer on BizNews: Trump is sabotaging his own party’s re-election chances
US President Donald Trump faces the November midterms with historically low approval ratings, worse than any second-term president in 80 years bar Richard Nixon. Rather than shoring up support, Trump has pushed loyalist candidates over stronger incumbents, clashed with his own party’s leadership and focused on personal projects instead of inflation. Analyst Ian Bremmer argues…
-
John Matisonn: Coalition deals – Tshwane gives DA leverage
With 85 days until South Africa’s local elections, polling from the Social Research Foundation suggests the DA could govern Tshwane alone alongside the Freedom Front Plus, giving Helen Zille unexpected leverage in coalition talks. The DA now polls at 42% in Johannesburg and 43% in Tshwane, against an ANC low of 18%. Zille says any…
-
The Economist: China is now the world’s great oil power
China has quietly become the world’s most powerful oil market player. Facing the largest supply shock in petroleum history after the Iran war shut the Strait of Hormuz, Beijing halved its crude imports, cutting 5.5 million barrels a day between February and June. Analysts reckon this move shaved $30 or more off Brent crude, doing…
-
A $20m wedding shows who’s really running Zimbabwe
A $17.5 million wedding gift from a sanctioned tycoon to his son has laid bare who really holds power in Zimbabwe. President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term has been extended to 2030 after parliament scrapped the presidential vote, a move critics say entrenches a small clique of politically connected businessmen who now bankroll the ruling Zanu-PF party.…
-
The US ammo crunch leaves Trump’s war options crippled: Kluth
The US has used up most of its stock of high precision missiles after the Iran conflict, according to Reuters, with roughly two in three Patriot interceptors and nearly half its THAAD systems also depleted, per the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Replenishing arsenals will take years, constraining Donald Trump’s options against Iran and…
-
YouTube stars emerge as a new investment asset class: Lionel Laurent
Investment firms are racing to fund YouTube’s “creator middle class,” treating channels once seen as hobbyist side-gigs as a genuine asset class. British firm Nuggit has launched a £5 million fund for YouTubers, offering upfront cash in exchange for a slice of future ad revenue, plus tools to help creators scale. It joins bigger players:…
-
The “Constitutional Coup” – less violent, equally dangerous: Corrigan
Zimbabwe is advancing a constitutional amendment that would scrap direct presidential elections and extend the president’s term from five to seven years, potentially keeping Emmerson Mnangagwa, 83, in office until 2030 rather than 2028. Analysts describe this as part of a wider African pattern of “constitutional coups”, where leaders such as Rwanda’s Paul Kagame use…
-
NdB Sunday Show: A year without Neil de Beer – remembering the man who never backed down
Nearly a year after Neil de Beer’s death, the NdB Sunday Show looks back at the moments that made him impossible to ignore. From tearing into the NHI Bill to naming his own “ten most wanted” list of state capture figures, de Beer never softened a line for anybody. What most of his audience didn’t…
-
Bheki Mahlobo: SA economy’s dirty picture – Mandela’s warning, ignored
South Africa’s post-apartheid fiscal story splits into two eras. Between 1994 and 2008, the ANC government, heeding Nelson Mandela’s warning about losing sovereignty to foreign creditors, nearly halved debt (from 50% to 28% of GDP) and turned a deficit into a surplus — while simultaneously expanding social grants and basic services, proving prudence and welfare…
-
A silent resignation has fallen across Zimbabwe: Cathy Buckle
In her latest Letter From Zimbabwe, writer Cathy Buckle describes a country settling back into quiet endurance. Days before Heroes Day, workers hand painted roads and graded dirt tracks for visiting dignitaries. Activist Jacob Ngarivhume, who had called for a national stayaway, received a threatening parcel and later found a death threat spray painted on…
-
Ramaphosa notes Madlanga Commission’s second interim report as Sibiya faces criminal referral
Ramaphosa has noted the Madlanga Commission’s second interim report, which confirms earlier SAPS findings and refers Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya, Witness G, Sgt Fannie Nkosi and Brown Mogotsi for criminal investigation, as O’Sullivan’s testimony and critics question the pace of disclosure. BizNews Reporter President Cyril Ramaphosa has noted the recommendations and referrals in the second interim…
-
Bordeaux’s wildfire smoke puts the 2026 vintage in doubt
As wildfire smoke drifts across one of the world’s most celebrated wine regions, a troubling question hangs over Bordeaux’s 2026 vintage: will the grapes carry the scars of the fires? Drawing on conversations with sommeliers, winemakers and wine experts, this fascinating exploration uncorks the science of smoke taint, the delicate art of winemaking and the…
-
Why the Gulag Archipelago is more relevant than ever
By Rob Neufeld The Gulag Archipelago is not a book. It is an earthquake in printed form, a slow-motion detonation that went off in 1973 and has never quite stopped shaking the foundations of respectable opinion. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, freshly expelled from the Soviet Union like a bad conscience the regime could no longer stomach, sat…