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Treasury said the government planned to take on 254 billion rand ($14 billion) of Eskom's 423 billion rand debt it said was at risk of default, to enable the utility to pay down the debt and interest obligations. South Africa has been struggling for years to overhaul Eskom, which is plagued by corruption and mismanagement and has received 263.4 billion rand in bailouts since 2008/09. Treasury said about 168 billion rand of Eskom’s debt relief will be in capital and 86 billion rand in interest payments over the next three years. Eskom's debt relief has strict conditions, Treasury said. A proposal to address the debt municipalities owe Eskom, at 56.3 billion rand as of end December 2022, was being finalised.

"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" premiered in theaters on February 17. How to watch 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" is now available to watch exclusively in theaters. When will 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' be available on Disney Plus? "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" is expected to start streaming on Disney Plus later this year. With this range in mind, "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" should hit Disney Plus in April or May.

☆ NHL roundup: Auston Matthews' return boosts Leafs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] Feb 15, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs right wing William Nylander (88) battles for the puck with Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Caleb Jones (82) in front of Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek (34) during the third period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY SportsFebruary 16 - Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist in his return after missing five games with a sprained knee, helping the Toronto Maple Leafs earn a 5-2 win over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. The Maple Leafs went 2-3-0 while Matthews was out. Conor Timmins added a goal, and the Maple Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves. Lazar and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson left due to lower-body injuries, and goalie Arturs Silovs stopped 22 shots in his NHL debut.

☆ Nigeria's Buhari grants 60-day extension to turn in old banknotes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Felix Onuah | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nigeria's central bank decided last year to start circulating newly designed 1,000 ($2.17) 500 and 200 naira notes. The deadline to turn in old notes has already been extended once to Feb. 10, after which they would no longer have been legal tender. Buhari said in a television broadcast that old 200 notes would continue to circulate in the economy alongside new 1,000, 500 and 200 notes until April 10. But the old 1,000 and 500 notes could only be swapped at the central bank and "designated points", he said. The comments contrasted with last week's Supreme Court interim ruling that said all old notes remain legal tender until it hears a challenge brought by some state governments.

☆ MTN commits to $1 bln Ghana investment after government scraps tax claim
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The investment comes on the heels of the Ghana Revenue Authority exempting the company's bill for back taxes earlier this month after the incident sparked a diplomatic reaction by the South African foreign minister. The tax claim was initially issued after the revenue authority audited the company for the years 2014 to 2018 and inferred that it under declared its revenue by about 30% during the period. MTN Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita said the company was committed to investing in Ghana despite short-term headwinds. That said we are focused on the medium and long term and we are seeing growth," he said in a statement. MTN intends to invest the amount in 5G technology which it believes would spur faster growth across sectors, he said.

☆ How rising-star athletes balance sports and content creation, even as the tech implosion disrupts lucrative brand deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Elaine Low | Ashley Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Social media, content creation, and lucrative branding deals offer a new path to fame and fortune. Top agents and managers working with athletes on content said it can be tricky to balance with training. Chasing content deals can be a distraction from the sport, and the industry-wide layoffs across tech companies from Twitter to Meta to Amazon mean that opportunities for influencer revenue are facing a slowdown. Fresno State basketball stars Haley and Hanna Cavinder, for instance, have a number of lucrative brand deals under their belts. A lot more athletes may not get deals if they don't have content creation, social media followings, or brand building."

☆ 'Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania' reviews: The villain is good, but the movie is bad
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

DisneyAre the pint-sized heroes of Disney's "Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania" enough to take on the newest — and baddest — villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Marvel Studios' "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." "Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania" held a 53% "rotten" rating from 148 reviews, as of Wednesday afternoon. "Sometimes the weight of all this responsibility causes 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' ... to buckle at the knees," O'Sullivan wrote. Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) in "Ant-Man and The Wasp in Quantumania."

[1/4] Director Peyton Reed poses at a premiere for the film "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" in Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 6, 2023. "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is the first movie in phase five of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. It takes the superhero and his resizing powers into the Quantum realm, a subatomic world where he meets new challenges. Reality melted away and brought her into the fantasy world that many children grew up reading about in the Marvel comic books, she noted. Disney artists assembled new environments, creatures, buildings and an entire internal history and logic to make the Quantum realm come to life.

☆ NHL roundup: Tim Stutzle helps Senators rally past Flames
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

February 14 - Tim Stutzle scored 1:55 into overtime to cap off a four-point night and give the Ottawa Senators a 4-3 comeback win over the visiting Calgary Flames on Monday. Stutzle had assists on all three of the Senators' earlier goals, and the forward matched a personal best with four points in a game. The Flames are 12-9-11 in one-goal games this season, with the 20 combined one-goal losses leading the NHL. Roman Josi and Colton Sissons scored goals for the Predators, who lost for the second time in their last three games. Sheldon Dries replied for the Canucks, who have just one win in their past five games (1-3-1).

☆ South Africa declares national state of disaster over floods
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 13 (Reuters) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a national state of disaster to enable an intensive response to widespread flooding that has affected seven of the country's nine provinces. Invoking the national disaster act gives the government additional powers, including in the procurement and delivery of goods and services and the ability to bypass restrictions under current law. The national police and defence force may be called on to help respond to the flooding, the statement said. Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster last week over South Africa's power crisis, as daily rolling power cuts are paralyzing businesses. The national disaster act was also invoked in March 2020 to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, and last April to respond to floods in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal.

☆ Equatorial Guinea confirms country's first Marburg virus disease outbreak -WHO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious and deadly disease similar to Ebola, following the deaths of at least nine people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. The small Central African country quarantined more than 200 people and restricted movement last week in its Kie-Ntem province after detecting an unknown hemorrhagic fever. In addition to the nine deaths, Equatorial Guinea has reported 16 suspected cases of Marburg virus with symptoms including fever, fatigue and blood-stained vomit and diarrhea, the WHO said. Marburg virus disease can have a fatality rate of up to 88%, according to the WHO. The deaths have been preliminarily linked to a funeral ceremony in the Kie-Ntem province's Nsok Nsomo district, Equatorial Guinea Health Minister Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba said on Friday.

[1/4] South African President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks during his 2023 state of the nation address in Cape Town, South Africa, February 9, 2023. "We are in the grip of a profound energy crisis," Ramaphosa said in his annual State of the Nation Address to parliament. State electricity utility Eskom is implementing the worst rolling blackouts on record, leaving households in the dark, disrupting manufacturing and hurting businesses of all sizes. Declaring a national state of disaster gives the government additional powers to respond to a crisis, including by permitting emergency procurement procedures with fewer bureaucratic delays and less oversight. Ramaphosa said on Thursday he would appoint a minister of electricity within the presidency to focus solely on the crisis.

☆ Hope for jobs drives recruitment by militant groups in Africa - report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Nellie Peyton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

While worldwide deaths from terrorism have declined in the last five years, deaths in sub-Saharan Africa have risen, making it now the global epicentre of attacks, the UNDP report said, citing an annual survey called the Global Terrorism Index. Countries from east to west Africa have seen Islamist militant groups take over large swathes of territory, displacing millions, eroding faith in democratic government and causing widespread hunger. The UNDP report found that 25% of voluntary recruits to such groups cited job opportunities as their primary reason for joining, while 22% cited wanting to join with family and friends and 17% cited religious ideas. An additional year of schooling reduced the likelihood of voluntary recruitment to extremist groups by 13%, it found. The Global Terrorism Index is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace think-tank, which draws its data from the Terrorism Tracker database of Dragonfly, a private sector security and intelligence service.

☆ Nigeria asks social media giants to curb fake news ahead of election
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Felix Onuah | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannABUJA, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Nigeria has asked Google (GOOGL.O) and Meta (META.O) to control the spread of fake news on their platforms ahead of a presidential election this month, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said on Friday. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, has been exploring ways to regulate social media usage. The country is home to millions of internet users and platforms like YouTube, Twitter , Facebook and Tiktok are popular. Mohammed's request comes after he asked Google last year to block the use of YouTube channels and livestreams by secessionist and Islamist militant groups in the country. "These actions, if executed, will go a long way in checking the proliferation of fake news and disinformation on social media ahead of, during and after the elections," Mohammed said.

☆ How Tom Brady's robust trademark and brand strategy that spans cookbooks to skincare is setting him up for life after the NFL
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Ashley Rodriguez | Madeline Berg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Tom Brady is retiring from football, but his trademark applications could set up his second act. Brady's trademarks speak to his range of business interests, from health and wellness products to digital collectibles and NFT marketplaces. He also has a swath of trademark applications for consumer goods, like eyewear, clothing, skincare, bags, and water bottles. This story was originally published in August 2022 and has been updated in light of Tom Brady's retirement announcement. Here's a breakdown of the pending trademark applications for Brady's personal brand (condensed and categorized by Insider):

☆ Zimbabwe cuts policy rate to 150% after inflation falls
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

HARARE, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's central bank has cut its policy rate by 50 percentage points to 150%, it said in a statement on Thursday, driven by a downward trend in inflation since late last year. Monthly inflation fell to 1.1% in January from 2.4% in December, while yearly inflation dipped to 229.8% from 243.8%. "The moderation in interest rates is important and necessitated by the downward trend in the month-on-month inflation since the last quarter of 2022," said the bank, adding it expects the trend to continue into 2023. "The Bank will continue its tight monetary policy stance," it added. Reporting by Nellie Peyton and Nyasha Chingono Editing by Alexander WinningOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Rwanda shoots at Congolese military jet over alleged airspace violation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A video shared widely on Congolese social media showed a projectile shooting towards an airborne military plane, before exploding in the air near the plane, which continued to fly. Congo denied Rwanda's accusation that the jet had been in Rwandan airspace - the latest dispute between the two countries whose relationship has been strained by a rebel insurgency. Earlier the Rwandan government said Rwandan forces had fired at the jet after it violated Rwandan airspace in Rubavu - the same area as previous alleged violations, "prompting the government to take defensive measures." Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said last week that the rebels had not fully withdrawn from those areas. In December, Rwanda said another fighter jet from Congo had briefly violated its air space.

"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is coming to theaters on February 17. Where can I buy 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' tickets? 'Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania' Movie Tickets The first film in Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” premieres in theaters on February 17. Are there any 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' movie ticket promotions? Disney/Marvel StudiosThough no date has been confirmed yet, "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" will stream on Disney Plus after its run in theaters.

☆ Gabon's foreign minister dies of heart attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Gabonese Foreign Minister Michael Moussa Adamo poses for a picture during a Reuters interview at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, Rwanda June 24, 2022. REUTERS/Ayenat Mersie/File PhotoLIBREVILLE, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Gabon's Foreign Minister Michael Moussa Adamo died on Friday of a heart attack, President Ali Bongo said in a statement. Three government sources said that he was in a council of ministers meeting when he suffered the cardiac attack. He was rushed to the hospital and died shortly after midday despite specialist treatment, said a government statement. Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome Writing by Nellie Peyton Editing by Frances KerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The Blueprint That Turned Around the New York Giants and Their Quarterback
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Andrew Beaton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Shortly after Brian Daboll was hired as the head coach of the New York Giants last year, he reached out to the one person whose unique wisdom could help him turn around his team. Former Duke coach David Cutcliffe, a quarterback guru who once molded Peyton and Eli Manning in college, had helped turn the Blue Devils’ Daniel Jones into an improbable top draft prospect before the Giants took him in the first round four years ago. After Jones struggled in his first few years in the NFL, unlocking his potential became Daboll’s top task—which is why he peppered Cutcliffe with questions about the young quarterback he inherited.

☆ NHL roundup: Connor McDavid leads streaking Oilers past Kraken
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/4] Jan 17, 2023; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) carries the puck up ice during the first period against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY SportsJanuary 18 - Connor McDavid scored his NHL-leading 38th goal of the season as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the visiting Seattle Kraken 5-2 on Tuesday night. Derek Ryan, Warren Foegele, Ryan McLeod and Zach Hyman also tallied for the Oilers, who extended their winning streak to four games. Kyle Connor scored for the Jets, who had a three-game win streak come to an end. Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell and Josh Mahura also scored goals for Florida.

The 2022-23 NFL season enters the playoffs with the Wild Card round on January 14 to 16. NFL Playoffs Wild Card scheduleGame Date and time Channel Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers January 14, 4:30 p.m. ET ESPN, ABC, ESPN+How to watch the NFL PlayoffsEvery game of the NFL Playoffs will be broadcast on national television, with matchups spread across CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN, and ABC. ESPN games will also be available to stream on ESPN+, Sling TV Orange, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and FuboTV. The NFL Playoffs use a single elimination tournament to decide the season's champion.

☆ Congolese artist paints politicians' portraits in plastic
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Crispin Kyala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Congolese artist Patrick Cikuru Cirimwami applies finishing touches on portrait images of Congolese leaders, made from plastic waste, which he melts after collecting it near the banks of the Ruzizi I hydroelectric plant, in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo December 15, 2022. REUTERS/Crispin KyalangalilwaBUKAVU, Democratic Republic of Congo, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Near the banks of Lake Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, artist Patrick Cikuru Cirimwami wades knee-deep through a mountain of plastic bottles, scooping as many as he can carry into a large sack. Later he will melt down the plastic to make a thick liquid which he uses to paint portraits of politicians - intended to be a condemnation of what he says is their inaction in protecting the environment. As a Congolese artist, I can send a message," said the 26-year-old. Congo, like other African nations, has insisted on its right to develop its economy by exploiting its vast natural resources.

☆ Fanatics is divesting its 60% stake in NFT company Candy Digital
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Michael Rubin's sports platform company Fanatics is divesting its 60% stake in NFT company Candy Digital, according to an internal email obtained by CNBC. Candy Digital was founded in June 2021 in the middle of the sports NFT boom, competing with companies like Dapper Labs in the digital sports collectible space. It also released digital collectibles with Netflix 's Stranger Things, WWE , and several Nascar teams. Dapper Labs, the company behind NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day digital trading platforms that ranked No. "Over the past year, it has become clear that NFTs are unlikely to be sustainable or profitable as a standalone business," Rubin wrote.

☆ PHOTOS: Ice-coated planes end up stranded at airports after winter storm
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Taylor Rains | Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

“Our pilots at Alaska Airlines are very well-versed in operating in wintertime conditions, and we will not operate an aircraft unless it’s safe,” Peyton said, assuring passengers. “Suffice it to say if the aircraft is moving, it’s safe to do so.”Ice on an Alaska Airlines plane in 2016. Alaska AirlinesSource: Alaska Airlines

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