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The world got a little more dangerous today as US president Donald Trump called off his planned nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Citing “anger and open hostility,” Trump cancelled the summit without, it seems, warning South Korea of his intention to do so.
The growth of the internet has been staggering. In just about 25 years – the first widely useful internet browser, Mosaic, launched in 1993 – the internet has grown from its early nerdy b-board era into the full-service shopping and entertainment universe it has become today.
South African media group Naspers is investing $89m in Frontier Car Group, an online marketplace for second-hand cars, in a deal valuing the emerging markets focused start-up at about $270m, reports the Financial Times.
Those who voted Donald Trump into White House in 2016 believed the controversial businessman would show the politicos a thing or two about dealmaking and negotiating the best deal for America. It hasn’t worked out that way. What sounds great on the stump is rarely translatable into policy.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk feels that the media has been giving the electric vehicle company an unfairly rough time. It’s not the first time that Musk has complained about being hard done by in the press, but now, he’s gearing up to do something about it.
It was a good news/bad news day for South Africans yesterday. In the good news column, beleaguered North West premier Supra Mahumapelo announced that he would take early retirement, after many weeks of violence in the province. The ANC welcomed his “voluntary” decision to step down.
Emerging markets have had a brutal year. As the US has raised interest rates, the dollar has strengthened and investors have migrated into American assets – especially its debt and currency – and emerging market debt and equities have been sold aggressively after enjoying strong inflows in 2017.
Whenever the rand falls, there’s an economist somewhere who is reminding us that this is good news for South Africa because exports will become more attractively priced.
America and China lead the world’s army of tech giants, with massive, globe-spanning companies like Google, Tencent, Amazon, Alibaba, and Facebook. Africa, meanwhile, has yet to produce a true tech wunderkind. The continent is limited by its fragmentation, poor infrastructure, and often weak economies.
South African schools face challenges. In a global benchmarking exercise, South Africa placed 75th out of 76 countries on the quality of its schools. Part of the problem is a persistent inequality in resources dating back to apartheid. The corrupt and abusive SADTU must also shoulder part of the blame.