Omicron Gives New Impetus to Lagging South African Vaccine Drive

Omicron Gives New Impetus to Lagging South African Vaccine Drive

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Martkets in Africa) – South Africa is ramping up its vaccination drive as the omicron variant threatens to derail a stuttering recovery from the coronavirus crisis, while companies are taking a harder line against those who don’t get shots.  The daily number of Covid-19 infections in the country has jumped five-fold over of the past week following the onset of the new strain, with the rolling seven-day average of cases exceeding 10,000. Despite…

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Dorsey Steps Down as Twitter CEO, Replaced by Parag Agrawal

Dorsey Steps Down as Twitter CEO, Replaced by Parag Agrawal

Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Twitter Inc., is stepping down, ceding the position to the company’s Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal. The move is effective immediately, though Dorsey will stay on the board of the social media company until his term expires in 2022, Twitter said in a statement Monday.“I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said in the statement. “My…

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Bitcoin Stages Bounceback Following Brutal Black-Friday Selloff

Bitcoin Stages Bounceback Following Brutal Black-Friday Selloff

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin is staging a comeback along with other riskier assets on Monday, bouncing back from its Black-Friday lows.  The largest digital asset rose as much as 3.4% during the session to trade around $58,266. Other coins also posted snap-backs, with the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index adding 5.5% at one point. So-called alternative coins like Polkadot and Dogecoin gained too.  A brutal selloff Friday saw investors fleeing a number of…

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What We Know About Omicron, the New Virus Variant: QuickTake

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A new variant of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 has been identified in Botswana and South Africa, where it’s been associated with a steep increase in new cases. The strain — first called B.1.1.529 and later named omicron — poses a “very high” risk, according to the World Health Organization, which added it to its list of variants of concern. Governments around the world have started banning travelers from…

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Kenya’s Bourse Gives Companies One Year to Grasp ESG Reporting

Kenya’s Bourse Gives Companies One Year to Grasp ESG Reporting

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s securities exchange has moved a step closer to requiring companies to start Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, disclosure and introducing an index for the category. The Nairobi Securities Exchange published its ESG guidance manual on Monday, with a view of aligning information reported by companies listed in Kenya with international standards. The NSE and the East African nation’s Capital Markets Authority are in discussions to introduce an ESG index…

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Doctor Who Saw Omicron Early Says Symptoms Milder Than Delta

Doctor Who Saw Omicron Early Says Symptoms Milder Than Delta

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – People infected by omicron in South Africa are showing very different symptoms to those suffering from the delta strain, said the doctor who alerted government scientists to the possibility of a new variant.  Patients who contracted it complain of fatigue, head and body aches and occasional sore throats and coughs, said Angelique Coetzee, who is also chairwoman of the South African Medical Association. Delta infections, by comparison, caused elevated pulse…

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China Cash Flowed Through Congo Bank, Enriching Kabila’s Cronies

China Cash Flowed Through Congo Bank, Enriching Kabila’s Cronies

KINSHASA (Capital MArkets in Africa) – The Chinese businessman had walked out of a bank in Kinshasa with 13,624 hundred-dollar bills, 10,001 fifties and 43,000 smaller U.S. notes, despite explicit instructions to prevent it from happening. “The account has finally been emptied,” Yvon Douhore, head of an in-house audit team in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrote in an email that day, July 5, 2018, after noticing the withdrawal. “I’m at a loss…

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