Browse every article
10,681 articles
SA oil law seen unlikely to be finalized for at least another year
South Africa’s draft oil exploration and production law is unlikely to be finalised for at least another year, despite the government’s call for the legislation to be expedited. Parliamentary hearings and amendments to the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Bill published earlier in June could take 12 to 18 months, according to Megan Rodgers, head of
Google is warning users when its search results might be unreliable
Google will now tell users when search results are rapidly changing around a breaking story. Some searches will now bring up a warning that “it looks like these results are changing quickly,” and a subheading will explain that “if this topic is new, it can sometimes take time for results to be added by reliable
Telegram adds group video calling features
Messaging chat app Telegram has added group video chat to its mobile and desktop apps at last, something it promised was coming back in April 2020. Voice chats in any group on the platform can be turned into video calls by tapping the camera icon to turn on your device’s video. Telegram says an unlimited
SARS adopts the 'work from home' rule and temporarily shuts down branches
Owing to the soaring number of Covid-19 infections currently sweeping the country, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) has announced the temporary closure of tax branches from physical visits from 1 July. This comes as the country’s seven-day moving average of positive Covid-19 infections surpassed 12 000 cases. On Wednesday alone, 17 493 infections and
UK bans cryptocurrency exchange
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority issued a consumer warning against Binance Markets Ltd., banning the cryptocurrency exchange from undertaking any regulated activity in the country. Binance has until Wednesday evening to confirm that it has removed all advertising and financial promotions, according to the FCA’s register. The exchange must also make clear on its website, social
New Level 4 lockdown rule – what's permitted and what is not
Minister of Cooperative Governance and Corporate Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has published the updated alert level 4 lockdown regulations for South Africa. This follows an address by President Cyril Ramapahosa last night where he announced that much stricter restrictions are needed due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in South Africa. One of the major reasons for the
Eskom to implement 1.5% wage increase offer for workers
Eskom said that it has decided to implement its final offer of a 1.5% salary increase for workers.Talks began with unions in the sector in May, with trade union Numsa, NUM and Solidarity demanding a 15% wage hike. Eskom said that the final wage increase and changes to the conditions of service offer, which were
Zimbabwe foreshadows 10 renewable energy projects coming online by year-end
Zimbabwe expects 100 megawatts of electricity to be added to the national grid from renewable energy projects by the end of this year, with an additional 50MW in thermal power, a government minister said on Tuesday. “Cabinet advises that one thermal power project and ten renewable energy projects will come on board this year,” Information
Microsoft is now a $2 trillion company
Microsoft can add ending the day as a $2 trillion company to the list of things it’s accomplished today, alongside announcing Windows 11. That makes it the second American publicly traded company ever to have a market capitalization of over $2 trillion (the other member of the club being Apple, which achieved it in August
Instagram testing a desktop posting feature
Instagram is testing the ability to create posts using the web browser on a desktop computer. The feature was spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra, who captured some screenshots demonstrating the functionality. Facebook confirmed the test in a statement to Bloomberg. “We know that many people access Instagram from their computer,” spokesperson Christine Pai
Panasonic sells Tesla stake for $3.6 bln
Panasonic Corp (6752.T) sold its stake in electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) for about 400 billion yen ($3.61 billion) in the year ended March, a spokesperson for the Japanese company said on Friday. The sale comes as the bicycles-to-hair dryers conglomerate is seeking to reduce its dependence on Tesla and raise cash for investments.
South African emergency power deal blocked
Karpowership has been blocked from providing emergency power to the debilitated South African grid after the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment refused to authorise the powerships on environmental grounds. This is according to Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment spokesperson Albi Modise, who was speaking to eNCA on Thursday. “The competent authority
Improving food security for African poultry farmers through technology
Johannesburg, 24 June 2021: IBM today announced that startup, Omniolytics, has turned to IBM to help transform poultry farming through digital platforms that use sensors and IBM Watson running in the IBM Cloud. Omniolytics develops smart farming solutions for emerging and commercial poultry farmers. The local poultry industry today has a number challenges ranging from the quality and origins
New commercial & industrial solar venture set for launch in West Africa
RP Global, a leading renewable energy developer and investor, and OOLU, leader in energy access solutions in West Africa, announce the launch of Westa.Solar, a Commercial & Industrial (C&I) Solar Venture in West Africa, and the deployment of its first solar PPA project in Nigeria. The 500kWp solar installation will supply Petrichor Industries with almost a quarter of its
Takealot to start selling groceries
Takealot has an opportunity to start selling groceries in South Africa thanks to its extensive delivery and warehouse infrastructure and technology. This is the view of Naspers and Prosus chief financial officer, Basil Sgourdos. Naspers owns 100% of Takealot. News24 quoted Sgourdos as saying perishable goods will be something new for Takealot and a “completely
Old Mutual investors to share R10.4bn of Nedbank stock
South African insurer Old Mutual said on Wednesday it would distribute $734 million in shares in lender Nedbank among its shareholders, reducing its stake in the bank to 7.2% from 19.4%. The insurer once held a more than 50% stake in the lender, one of South Africa’s big four banks, but sold off most of
Lenovo makes a wireless charger for laptops
Lenovo has announced a new product called the Go Wireless Charging Kit, which lets you retrofit wireless charging functionality to a wide variety of laptops. It makes use of “Power by Contact” technology from Energy Square, rather than the more common Qi standard. The kit consists of a 3.2mm-thick brushed metal charging mat that you
R54-billion crypto ‘hack’ shocker hits South African investors
While hundreds of thousands of investors were scrambling to find out what happened to funds they had invested in failed crypto scam Mirror Trading International (MTI), a far bigger crypto disappearing act has been playing out without hardly anyone paying attention. Africrypt, which reportedly counts several high-profile South Africans and celebrities among its investors, was hacked
South African consumer price inflation takes a huge jump
South African consumer price inflation accelerated to a 30-month high of 5.2% year on year in May, moving above the midpoint of the central bank’s target range for the first time since Covid-19 struck. The jump in headline inflation, from 4.4% in April, was in line with forecasts of economists polled by Reuters and the
Twitter now lets iOS users easily share tweets as Instagram Stories
Twitter’s iOS app has been updated to let anyone quickly and easily share tweets to their Instagram Story, Twitter has announced. The feature works using the iOS share sheet: just tap the share icon underneath any tweet, and select “Instagram Stories” from the list of apps. Once in Instagram, the tweet can be resized, re-positioned, and