(Adds latest prices, analyst prices) JOHANNESBURG, Dec 13 (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand was flat against the dollar on Friday, struggling for direction after surprise gains in the face of a darkening growth outlook following a week of nationwide power cuts and ongoing uncertainty over U.S.-China trade talks. At 1530 GMT, the rand was 0.07% firmer at 14.4790 per dollar, hardly budged from the morning’s open as investors awaited details of a cabinet decision on how to deal with a crisis at power utility Eskom. South Africa’s government on Friday asked industry for the cheapest and quickest options to ease a power crunch, as cabinet held an emergency meeting to try to resolve a crisis threatening growth in Africa’s most industrialised economy. Eskom, which cut power for a ninth straight day on Friday, is choking under a massive 450 billion rand ($30.6 billion) debt burden and struggling to meet demand because its creaking coal-fired power stations … [Read more...] about UPDATE 1-South Africa’s rand hands back early gains to end flat
Foreign investor real estate
Will the Brussels Attacks Tip the Brexit Scales?
British Prime Minister David Cameron arrives at the Council of the European Union in Brussels last month. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Three months from today Britain will hold a referendum on whether to leave or remain in the European Union. Two of the primary concerns of those who favor leaving are immigration and terrorism, and so yesterday’s terror attacks in Brussels provided an opportunity for cries of “Brexit!” Allison Pearson — columnist for the conservative Telegraph, best-selling novelist, and wife of New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane — put it plainly in a tweet: “Brussels, de facto capital of the EU, is also the jihadist capital of Europe. And the Remainers dare to say we’re safer in the EU! #Brexit.” Among her 1,500 retweeters was Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing nationalist U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), who in his own tweet on the matter was more tastefully vague: “I’m very upset by events in … [Read more...] about Will the Brussels Attacks Tip the Brexit Scales?
E-stonia: the country using tech to rebrand itself as the anti-Russia
It’s not often that a European head of state uses the “radical postmodernist philosophy” of Jacques Derrida and Jean Baudrillard to bash a hostile superpower. But then Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonia’s defiantly erudite president of nearly 10 years, is no ordinary head of state. Ilves is trying to reinvent Estonia as the brightly lit antithesis of Russia, and in today’s confessional age of Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks and the Panama Papers, claims he is baking transparency and accountability into a new kind of digital civic operating system. Ilves is known for his controversial opinions on everything from Snowden and internet privacy to cyberwarfare and Vladimir Putin’s postmodernist state, which have apparently, transformed the 63-year-old into a “regional sex symbol”. Aivar, my Uber driver, chatters enthusiastically about Ilves as his grey Volvo sedan drops me outside Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn. “Enjoy our president. He’s quite a … [Read more...] about E-stonia: the country using tech to rebrand itself as the anti-Russia
Boris win to ‘burst dam’ on £50bn wall of property cash
A “wall of money” will pour into UK property from foreign investors following Boris Johnson’s stunning election win in a huge vote of confidence for the country, senior industry figures have said. Overseas buyers are expected by agent Knight Frank to snap up as much as £50bn of real estate in coming months as they bet that political stability has returned after more than three years of turmoil. The boom will be accompanied by a jump in British business investment after a lengthy freeze, economists said, albeit tempered by lingering concerns over a hard Brexit at the end of 2020. Investment sales in the key London commercial property market have worse than halved this year amid a shortage of stock... … [Read more...] about Boris win to ‘burst dam’ on £50bn wall of property cash
ProPublica Interviews Glenn Simpson For ‘Trump, Inc.’
By Andrea Bernstein, WNYC, ProPublica Originally published on Wednesday, November 27 For Wednesday's "Trump, Inc." episode, we spoke to a person who has a lot to say about business corruption and Russian influence in the U.S. He's also become a central figure in the very story he's been researching for years. He's Glenn Simpson. Simpson first came to these issues as an investigative journalist at The Wall Street Journal. Then in 2010, he co-founded Fusion GPS, a research firm. During the 2016 campaign, he began to research Donald Trump for two clients: first for a Republican opposed to Trump and then for a lawyer for Democrats. Fusion is the research firm most famous — or infamous — for hiring Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the so-called Steele dossier. Simpson is now the author, with Peter Fritsch, of the new book, "Crime in Progress: Inside the Steele Dossier and the Fusion GPS Investigation of Donald Trump." This interview has been edited and … [Read more...] about ProPublica Interviews Glenn Simpson For ‘Trump, Inc.’
