Former president moves to inject dollop of ‘good news’ into debate about the state of the country amid hardening perceptions due to labour unrest More »FW de Klerk takes swipe at ‘prophets of gloom’
Association believes court decision to grant interdict will add impetus to the overall case against urban and peri-urban tolling in South Africa More »AA pleased at high court interdict on Cape tolls
LILONGWE (Reuters) - Malawi's luxury presidential jet, bought by late leader Bingu wa Mutharika, has been sold for $15 million to raise cash for the impoverished African country, a government official said on Wednesday. Mutharika, who left the economy on the brink of collapse after he picked a fight with donors whose support accounted for almost 40 percent of the budget, bought the jet for $22 million in 2009. He said the plane matched his status and was cheaper than flying commercially. ... More »Impoverished Malawi sells presidential jet for $15 million
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The rand weakened near a four-year low against the dollar early on Wednesday, stung by concerns about labour unrest, but market players said it was unlikely to fall much further while investors awaited domestic inflation data. The rand fell 0.4 percent to 9.5900 early in the session. It hit a four-year low of 9.61 on Tuesday, dragged down by worries about labour tension in the mining industry and a firm dollar. Dealers expect a rebound from the sharp fall of the past 9 sessions, with the 9.61 level seen as resistance for dollar bulls. ... More »S.Africa's rand under pressure, focus on CPI data
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudan's foreign minister said on Wednesday a reduction in oil production was due to technical problems and a pumping station, which had been closed, would be reopened on Wednesday. "We have just received information that these technical problems apparently are being addressed and the pumping station number two apparently is going to open sometime in the course of today," Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial told Reuters on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa. ... More »S. Sudan oil output cut due to technical issue, pump to reopen
The increased influence of government over South Africa’s media is cause for concern More »EDITORIAL: State media influence grows
ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland proposed on Wednesday a new law to make it easier to freeze assets stolen and salted away by foreign leaders and return them to their countries of origin. The draft law would allow Switzerland to freeze the assets of so-called politically exposed persons, or PEPs, as a preventative measure and would set up a framework to confiscate and return assets to the countries from which they were taken. "The focus is on making the restitution of stolen assets more efficient," the Swiss Foreign Ministry said in a statement. ... More »Swiss seek to facilitate restitution of dictator loot
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's central bank kept the price of the country's currency steady against the dollar at a special $800 million foreign exchange auction on Wednesday, called to help importers pay for wheat, meat, cooking oil and other essential imports. It did not say how much currency it actually sold. Egypt has used up its foreign currency reserves, reducing them to critical levels to support the pound in the wake of the 2011 popular uprising that chased away tourists and investors - and the foreign currency they brought with them. ... More »Egypt keeps currency price steady at special auction
Michael Jordaan to step down as First National Bank CEO at the end of this year after nearly a decade at the helm More »Michael Jordaan to step down as FNB CEO
President Jacob Zuma last week ordered steering committee to implement anti-drugs strategy in township that could act as national pilot project More »Drug lounges shut as Zuma’s plan to save Eldorado Park takes shape
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Wage hike demands of up to 60 percent put to South African coal and gold producers by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) are "extremely high" but agreements will be hammered out, the head of the country's chamber of mines said on Wednesday. "For us, the negotiations are going to be difficult, but they are going to be in good faith though, and I know that however long it takes, we shall reach an agreement," Bheki Sibiya, chief executive of the chamber, told Reuters. "NUM's proposals are extremely, extremely high. ... More »S.Africa mines chamber expects wage deals after tough talks
By Yeganeh Torbati and Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's clerical rulers may have sought to remove any challenge to their grip by barring two vivid contenders from next month's presidential election, but they risk alienating voters already disillusioned by the violent aftermath of the 2009 poll. The June 14 vote will have little bearing on the policies that have long put Iran at odds with the West - ranging from its nuclear programme to its support for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah guerrillas. ... More »Iran's rulers risk alienating voters by candidate bans
By Carmel Crimmins and Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's finance minister said the country would not be the "whipping boy" for what he called a flawed U.S. Senate report that said Irish loopholes helped technology giant Apple shrink its tax bill. Ireland has been forced to defend its corporate tax rate after the Senate said on Monday that Apple paid little or no tax on tens of billions of dollars in profits channelled through Irish subsidiaries and that it had negotiated a special corporate tax rate of less than 2 percent. ... More »Ireland says will not be U.S. "whipping boy" on tax
By Andrew Osborn and Costas Pitas LONDON (Reuters) - Google Inc's tax affairs came under renewed scrutiny in Britain on Wednesday when the leader of the opposition Labour party accused the Internet company of wrongly going to "extraordinary lengths" to avoid paying tax. In comments designed to politically outflank Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of next month's G8 summit on what has become a high-profile issue, Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said he was disappointed that Google paid so little tax. "I can't be the only person here who feels disappointed that such a great company as Google ... More »Miliband says Google tax behaviour 'wrong'
By Olesya Dmitracova and Christina Fincher LONDON (Reuters) - British retail sales dropped at their sharpest pace in a year last month, a reminder of weakness in the country's economy after some recent signs of recovery. Sales of food plunged 4.1 percent from March, the worst showing in almost two years. As the government prepared to face a call from the International Monetary Fund to do more to help growth, official data also underscored the size of the budget deficit, which hit a record high on one measure last month. Retail sales volumes including automotive fuel fell 1. ... More »Plunge in retail sales points to fragile economy
By Matt Scuffham and Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - State-backed British lenders Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland have agreed plans to shore up their capital with the financial regulator, removing a barrier to the government offloading its shares. The regulator said on Wednesday it had finalised capital requirements for the two banks and the lenders had submitted their plans. Both banks said they did not need to issue new equity and could raise the necessary capital by selling assets and through their restructurings, which are already under way. ... More »State-backed banks gain approval for capital plans
By Ulf Laessing NEAR SOFIYA, Sudan (Reuters) - In a hangar-shaped factory hall in central Sudan a dozen workers rush to pack refined white sugar gushing from a funnel into paper bags to be loaded on three trucks parked outside. Next year, the management at Kenana Sugar Company hopes the plant will be even busier as it plans to boost its output as the African country seeks to increase sugar exports. Faced with the loss of most oil production after South Sudan seceded in 2011, Sudan has been scrambling to find new sources for state revenues and dollars to pay for imports. ... More »Sudan dreams of becoming global sugar player
By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain, France and Germany called for stricter rules to stop companies such as Google, Apple and Amazon aggressively avoiding taxes in austerity bitten Europe, while acknowledging they had done nothing unlawful. At a summit to discuss energy and tax policy, the leaders of the three largest EU countries took the opportunity at news conferences to lament the impact of corporate tax avoidance, following several cases involving U.S. firms. ... More »EU leaders talk tough on tackling Amazon, Google over taxes
By Jim Finkle (Reuters) - Twitter Inc unveiled technology to boost security for its users, following a spate of attacks on accounts of prominent media outlets including the Associated Press, the Financial Times and The Onion. The micro blogging site, which transmits some 400 million messages a day, said on Wednesday that it had begun rolling out an optional "login verification" service to thwart hackers seeking to hijack accounts with stolen passwords. ... More »Twitter beefs up security after hacking spree on media
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European leaders meet on Wednesday to discuss tax policy and specifically their concerns over how a number of high-profile international companies have managed to pay next to no tax on their vast sales revenue generated in Europe. Following is a summary of several recent cases and links to the Reuters stories on each one. APPLE INC. An investigation by the U.S. ... More »Factbox - Apple, Amazon, Google and tax avoidance schemes
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