Category: News
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How a 2012 novel become Netflix’s most-watched African original
From the imagination of award-winning Zimbabwean author Sukoluhle Nyathi comes The Polygamist, a powerful story of love, ambition, family, and the choices that shape our lives. First published as a novel, the gripping tale has captured global attention after its transformation into Netflix’s biggest African original series. Nyathi’s journey from Bulawayo storyteller to international literary…
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South Africa’s bonds now trade like an investment-grade country
South Africa’s fiscal recovery is gathering pace, but the government isn’t chasing approval from credit-rating agencies. Instead, Treasury officials say the real verdict comes from investors, as bond markets increasingly price the country’s debt like investment-grade sovereigns. Stronger public finances, falling borrowing costs and renewed foreign investment are fuelling optimism, even as sceptics question whether…
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FT: Brin tightens grip on Google’s AI push as Hassabis steps back from DeepMind
Google is overhauling its AI leadership, shifting day-to-day control of Gemini development away from Sir Demis Hassabis’s DeepMind lab in London and back to Silicon Valley, where co-founder Sergey Brin has re-emerged as a driving force. Hassabis becomes Alphabet’s chief scientist, freeing him for long-term research, while deputy Koray Kavukcuoglu now runs Gemini day to…
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And the next president will be….. my son?: John Matisonn
Jacob Zuma has removed impeached former judge John Hlophe as Mkhonto weSizwe Party deputy president, replacing him with his son, Duduzane. It is an appointment likely to stick, unlike the party’s many other reversed decisions this year. MK remains a force in KwaZulu-Natal, polling as the largest party in eThekwini on 33%, and holding steady…
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BN Daybreak: SA migration debates; Hormuz shipping deal; Fed rates; Elon Musk on SpaceX
Listen here Today’s episode covers South Africa’s immigration debate as Solly Moeng addresses local employment realities. We examine global tensions, including Iran’s Strait of Hormuz deal and oil market impacts. Plus, updates on Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s inflation strategy, OpenAI’s upcoming 2027 smart device, Elon Musk’s massive SpaceX and Starlink V3 expansion plans, and…
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Understanding Australian Parent Visa options for South Africans
For many parents, retirement brings the opportunity to slow down, spend more time with family, and enjoy the years ahead surrounded by children and grandchildren. But when family lives in Australia and parents remain overseas, retirement can begin to feel divided between two countries. Many parents find themselves travelling back and forth for short visits,…
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School rugby’s problem isn’t diversity – it’s political interference: Martin van Staden
Legal academic Martin van Staden defends AfriForum against a columnist’s claim that it opposes diversity in school rugby. He argues that government imposed race quotas, not AfriForum, are the real threat to fair selection in South African school sport. He points to disputes in athletics, netball, hockey and rugby since 2019, where pupils selected on…
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SpaceX risks its hard-earned credibility with a mobile phone gamble: Thomas Black
SpaceX has built credibility through Falcon 9’s reliability and Starlink’s profits, but its latest ambition, a full mobile phone service to rival AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, has unsettled wireless analysts. Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell outlined plans to use femtocells on existing Starlink antennas, but analysts note these are mostly in rural areas, limiting reach.…
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Fauci on trial: Case for the defence – Political theatre or real reckoning?
Six years after Covid-19 emerged, last week Dr Anthony Fauci faced a US Senate hearing that split opinion sharply — was it overdue accountability, or a political show trial? In this piece, ace investigative health journalist Marika Sboros argues the hearing reveals more about Washington’s appetite for spectacle than it does new evidence of wrongdoing…
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Palantir short sellers lose $3 billion as AI-fuelled rally ignites
Palantir Technologies has handed short sellers a $3 billion paper loss after its stock surged 30% on Tuesday, wiping out the roughly $2.7 billion in gains bearish investors had banked so far this year. The reversal followed Palantir’s decision to raise its full-year revenue and income forecasts, with chief executive Alex Karp pointing to strong…
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Dr Frans Cronjé: Why the ANC now polls at 34%, and what it means for SA
This article was first published by The Common Sense Two years into the Government of National Unity, new SRF/Victory Research/The Common Sense polling shows the ANC has slumped to 34.0% nationally — near its post-VAT-crisis low — while sitting below 20% in Johannesburg, where a rival ANC/EFF/MK bloc governs in practice. The DA holds steady at…
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The Economist: Bond markets warn Governments are making a dangerous bet on AI boom
Bond yields in America, Britain, France and Japan are near their highest since the 2007-09 financial crisis, as investors price in persistent inflation, gaping budget deficits and geopolitical risk. Governments are increasingly betting that AI-driven growth will ease the fiscal squeeze, but AI has yet to lift productivity meaningfully anywhere, and Brookings Institution economists estimate…
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Sasol cashes in on war-driven fuel price surge
Sasol, the world’s largest coal-to-fuel producer, is benefiting from higher oil prices sparked by the Iran war, while its refining output has become central to South Africa’s fuel security. With Middle East imports stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, Sasol’s Secunda plant has ramped up production to its highest level in five years. The company,…
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Fauci on trial: Will silence seal the historical record of the pandemic in darkness?
Not everyone accepts that Anthony Fauci’s Fifth Amendment testimony closes the book on Covid-19’s unresolved questions. This piece, written by Prof Colleen Aldous, a scientist, argues that dissenting voices were sidelined during the pandemic, and that Fauci’s enormous public authority carried an obligation to answer — not just a legal right to stay silent. It…
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BN Daybreak: Google DeepMind shakeup; Joburg election poll; Expropriation; Uber update
Listen here Today’s episode covers Google’s AI leadership shakeup, vishing cyberattacks targeting major Wall Street hedge funds and Meta’s AI testing breach. Locally, Jacob Zuma appoints his son Duduzane as MKP deputy president while Ramaphosa holds back an interim commission report. Plus, SRF polling reveals the ANC collapsing in Johannesburg, Kallie Kriel dives into property…
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There’s now a simpler, more cost-effective way to move larger sums of money internationally
Few financial transactions feel as complicated as moving large sums of money into or out of South Africa. Whether you’re emigrating, purchasing property abroad, receiving a foreign salary or inheritance, or managing import/export payments for your business, the process can quickly become a maze of paperwork, regulatory requirements and pricing structures that make it difficult…
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BizNews Edge: A 29% overnight jump, and CEO Alex Karp says Palantir is only getting started
Listen here Alex Karp just proved that conviction moves markets. Palantir’s overnight 29% jump has Wall Street rethinking what it thought it knew about the company, and Karp isn’t shy about telling you why. Elon Musk lays out exactly how far ahead SpaceX and Starlink already are, and how much further they’re going, while South…
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Solly Moeng: Zuma & Duduzane, Cyril & Madlanga, Bozell & Lamola…
Listen here In their latest weekly chat, Chris Steyn and political commentator Solly Moeng talk about the headline-grabbing actions of former President Jacob Zuma and the headline grabbing non-action of current President Cyril Ramaphosa: Zuma appointing his son, Duduzane, as MKP’s Deputy President while Ramaphosa has been sitting on the second interim report of the…
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Is Johannesburg slipping out of the ANC’s hands for good?
Johannesburg’s 4 November election could mark the ANC’s steepest local decline since 1994. The party has yet to announce a mayoral candidate, is campaigning on the slogan “Fixing Local Government,” an implicit admission of its own record, and faces a DA that has spent over a year building a “Believe in Joburg” campaign under Helen…
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James Galbraith on BizNews: Can ‘Zombie Monetarism’ survive the flaws that killed it the first time?
Economist James K. Galbraith challenges a new paper by Peter Ireland, Stephen Miran and Nouriel Roubini urging incoming Fed chair Kevin Warsh to revive Milton Friedman’s monetarist doctrine through a modern “Divisia” money index. Drawing on his own history helping design the Fed’s 1970s reporting requirements, Galbraith argues the approach fails on two counts: the…