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☆ An entrepreneur who has used Shopify since it was in beta shares how he built an app to solve the biggest problem he faced on the platform while scaling to $1 million in sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Thomas Bertrand built a Shopify app after years of selling on the e-commerce platform. He launched his Shopify store, Bento&co, where he sells bento boxes and related accessories, in 2008. But he also created an app on Shopify's App Store that was directly inspired by his years as a merchant. Shopify's app store is home to more than 7,000 apps to help merchants with tasks like store design, product sourcing, SEO, marketing, and shipping. Shopify's merchants made $46.2 billion in sales on the platform in the third quarter of 2022 alone.

The U.S. food index, including meals eaten at home and in cafes and restaurants, increased 10.4% for the year ended in December. RETAILER PUSHBACKConsumer goods manufacturers - will continue to raise prices until they recover their profitability, said Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne. In December, the CEO of Walmart (WMT.N), the world's biggest retailer, warned that some "packaged goods suppliers are still pointing us towards more inflation next year on top of the mid-double digits this year". Tesco CEO Ken Murphy said last month he was hopeful inflation would peak by mid-2023 and then start to ebb. Barclays analyst Warren Ackerman said although food commodity prices on average were down 20% from March peaks, it will take time for this to reflect in companies' costs.

☆ Shuttered South African airline Comair sues Boeing over 737 MAX purchases
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A shuttered South African airline sued Boeing Co (BA.N) for fraud over its agreement to buy eight 737 MAX planes and seeks damages of at least $83 million. The airline said Boeing refused to return $45.2 million in advance payments it made on seven MAX planes. Polish national airline PLL LOT sued Boeing in late 2021 in Seattle on similar grounds over 737 MAX purchases and the suit is pending. LOT in October asked a U.S. judge in Texas to declare it was a crime victim in the Boeing 737 MAX criminal case and said it has at least $250 million in damages. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled in October people killed in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes are legally "crime victims."

☆ Make these 4 undervalued investments now while the stock market rally unwinds after a red-hot jobs report, according to the investment chief at Cambria Funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The economist continued: "And it's not the level of the unemployment rate that matters as far as the economic cycle is concerned — it's the change in the unemployment rate. He told Insider in a recent interview that investors should target value stocks and foreign equities, specifically Chinese stocks and those in emerging markets. For most of the past decade, value stocks were unloved while growth names went on an explosive rally. But now value stocks have made a major comeback, while growth picks have melted down. When picking stocks, Faber said he's especially interested in two qualities: a stock's valuation and momentum.

☆ The energy giant whose boss was poisoned with cyanide is looking for a new CEO — a role described as 'impossible' and the 'worst job in global energy'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

South Africa's energy giant Eskom has published a job advert for a new chief executive officer. Eskom's current CEO was poisoned with cyanide in December after submitting his resignation. The role was described by current CEO Andre de Ruyter as "impossible." The ad makes no specific mention of the strange circumstances in which the company's current CEO, Andre De Ruyter, announced his departure from the role. The role was described by Bloomberg as the "worst job in global energy," while South African publication BusinessTech called it "the worst job in South Africa."

☆ One peacekeeper killed in Congo after U.N. chopper comes under fire
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo Feb 5 (Reuters) - One U.N. peacekeeper from South Africa was killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday when a helicopter operated by the peacekeeping force came under fire while in mid-air, the U.N. mission in Congo and South Africa's military said. The helicopter came under fire after taking off from the city of Beni in the early afternoon. The U.N. peacekeeping mission of around 18,200 personnel has been deployed in eastern Congo since taking over from a previous U.N. operation in 2010. Eight peacekeepers were killed last year when their helicopter crashed in a part of North Kivu province, where the Congolese army was fighting a rebel group known as the M23. Reporting by Fiston Mahamba, Erikas Mwisi Kambale, Sonia Rolley Editing by Alessandra Prentice and Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Meet Maye Musk, the Sports Illustrated cover model and the glamorous mother of one of the richest men in the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Despite her support for her children, Maye Musk has been a celebrity in her own right for decades. Maye Musk Maye Musk attended the Met gala with Elon Musk last year. "They followed their passions, and they all went in different directions," Maye Musk told Insider in a 2020 interview. Elon Musk, in particular, had tried his hardest in school, but only in the subjects he liked, Maye Musk said. Even at 14 years old, Maye Musk said Elon Musk had shown a passion for investing.

☆ Black Friday, holiday sales spur demand at South Africa's Shoprite
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 31 (Reuters) - South Africa's biggest supermarket group Shoprite (SHPJ.J) reported a 16.8% jump in half year sales on Tuesday, supported by a record Black Friday and festive season as both cash-strapped shoppers and upmarket consumers went after deals. But the offerings would hurt margins of its South Africa supermarkets business, the company said. The retailer, with over 2,100 stores across Africa, said group sales for the six months ended Jan. 1 jumped to 106.3 billion rand ($6.10 billion). The group's core business, Supermarkets South Africa, which contributes up to 80% to the topline, grew sales by 17.5%, with like-for-like sales growth of 11.1%. Its rest of Africa business grew sales by 17.5% in rand terms.

☆ Top U.S., Chinese and Russian officials tour Africa as global charm offensive gathers pace
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Janet Yellen, US Treasury secretary, during a news conference with Enoch Godongwana, South Africa's finance minister, at the National Treasury in Pretoria, South Africa, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Yellen met with South African officials including President Cyril Ramaphosa last week, just days after the country's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor stood alongside Lavrov and vowed to strengthen bilateral relations between Pretoria and Moscow. South Africa was one of 17 African nations to abstain from the U.N. vote in March to condemn Russia's war of aggression. As such, many African nations desire a strong relationship with both the U.S. and China, and U.S. diplomacy will be more effective when not framed as an "us-or-them" proposition. What's more, the BRI projects were "largely uncoordinated and unplanned," he said, with competing Chinese lenders offering credit to African nations, challenging the notion of a coherent centralized "debt trap" policy from Beijing.

You can get many thousands of dollars in value from Aeroplan points even if you never step foot on an Air Canada plane. Earn Aeroplan points with credit cards and points transfersThe Aeroplan® Credit Card is the only US credit card that earns Aeroplan points directly. So if you transferred 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, you'd end up with 20,000 Aeroplan points, plus a 5,000-point bonus for a total of 25,000 Aeroplan points. Earn Aeroplan points flying Air CanadaThe next easiest way to rack up Aeroplan points is by actually flying Air Canada, but the earning formula is going to change later this year. As far as we know, it will look like this:Basic fares: Earn 2x points per (Canadian) dollarStandard fares: Earn 3x points per (Canadian) dollarFlex/Comfort fares: Earn 3x points per (Canadian) dollarLatitude fares: Earn 3x points per (Canadian) dollarPremium economy fares: Earn 3x points per (Canadian) dollarBusiness fares: Earn 3x points per (Canadian) dollarEssentially, everything but basic economy fares will earn 3x per dollar.

☆ Eight killed in mass shooting at birthday party in South Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Gunmen killed eight people and wounded three others at a birthday party in South Africa's Eastern Cape province, police said, adding that manhunt was underway to find the killers. The latest incident follows a spate of mass shootings last year that shocked the nation. In July, gunmen killed 19 people in random shootings within hours of each other. South Africa has one of the world's highest murder rates, with around 20,000 people killed every year out of a population of 60 million. According to campaign group Gun Free South Africa, there are about 3 million guns registered in the country, though there are many more unregistered.

☆ Janet Yellen Warns South Africa About Breaching Russia Sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Andrew Duehren | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

EMALAHLENI, South Africa—Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned South African officials about the consequences of violating U.S. sanctions, as the Biden administration tries to balance its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a broader effort to deepen ties with African governments. Ms. Yellen and some of her senior international-affairs and sanctions staff have been meeting this week with top South African officials, including President Cyril Ramaphosa , on the final stop of a three-country tour in Africa. The trip, which overlapped with visits to Africa’s most developed economy by the foreign-policy chiefs of both Russia and the European Union, comes after U.S. officials raised concerns over the South African government’s ties to Moscow.

☆ Immelman expects Woods to be ready for Masters return
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Steve Keating | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 26 (Reuters) - Tiger Woods will not be at his favourite hunting ground of Torrey Pines this week but former Masters winner Trevor Immelman expects to see the 15-time major champion back at Augusta National in April. 2008 Masters champion Immelman said that despite Woods's inactively he fully expects to see the five-time Green Jacket winner in the field for the year's first major from April 6-9. "I do anticipate him playing the Masters," added Immelman, who makes his debut as CBS Sport's lead golf analyst on Friday at the PGA Tour stop at Torrey Pines, where Woods has won eight times. "He has to make sure he is really ready to walk that course four or five days in a row. "I think a lot of it will depend on how the major golf courses are set up for him."

☆ Yellen says South Africa needs action to maintain energy transition momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen attends media briefing ahead of bilateral talks with South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana (not pictured), at the treasury offices in Pretoria, South Africa, January 26, 2023. REUTERS/Siphiwe SibekoJOHANNESBURG, Jan 27 (Reuters) - South Africa needs concrete action soon if it is to maintain momentum on an energy transition program backed by the United States and other countries, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday after visiting the coal mining region of Mpumalanga. She expressed hope that Washington's focus on a just energy transition would underpin donor interest in backing the nearly $100 billion project aimed at supporting South Africa's gradual phasing out of fossil fuels. The United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union have backed South Africa's "Just Energy Transition Partnership" with a combined $8.5 billion, which Yellen called a "substantial down payment" designed to mobilise additional money. "An energy transition that is not just will simply not work.

[1/4] U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana attend bilateral talks, at the treasury offices in Pretoria, South Africa, January 26, 2023. Nevertheless Lavrov made a stopover after visiting South Africa, which his counterpart Thulisile Dladla described as a "profound honour." Eswatini relies on the United States for aid, but its absolute monarchy has suffered U.S. criticism on human rights. South Africa, alongside Russia and China, is pushing for a "multipolar" world in which geopolitical power is less concentrated around the United States. "It hasn't delivered the kind of benefits South Africa was hoping to get."

South Africa has been struggling for years to overhaul its state-power company which is plagued by corruption and mismanagement and reeling under a 400 billion rand ($23.3 billion) debt pile. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told Reuters last week he was "sharpening his pencil" to provide details, so far scarce, for taking on between one- and two-thirds of Eskom's debt in his Feb. 22 budget presentation. Eskom's debt pile is not just big, it is also complex. Another 15% is international bonds, held by global asset managers such as PIMCO, BlackRock and Fidelity, according to recent filings. Eskom's international bonds could rally if the government takes on two-thirds of the debt, Wolman said, while limiting that to one third or carrying out the debt transfer over a long period of time could be negative.

[1/4] U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana attend media briefing ahead of bilateral talks, at the treasury offices in Pretoria, South Africa, January 26, 2023. He said Yellen's visit was a "momentous" occasion, noting the previous visit by a U.S. Treasury secretary was in 2014. South Africa has remained one of Moscow's most important allies on a continent divided over Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year. The Treasury secretary, who meets with South Africa's central bank governor later on Thursday, singled out South Africa's "Just Energy Transition Partnership," which was backed in late 2021 by the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union. They pledged a combined $8.5 billion to accelerate South Africa's transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, but the total bill will be much higher.

☆ Russia, South Africa and a 'redesigned global order': The Kremlin's hearts and minds machine is steaming ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Pretoria as part of an African tour, his second since the invasion, which will also reportedly take him to Botswana, Angola and Eswatini. On Feb. 24 2022, shortly after the Ukraine invasion, South Africa urged Russia to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine. South Africa was one of 15 African nations to abstain from the subsequent U.N. vote in March to condemn Russia's war of aggression. watch nowShe emphasized the multilateral responsibilities of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc of leading emerging economies in a changing global landscape. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that "the United States has concerns about any country … exercising with Russia as Russia wages a brutal war against Ukraine."

☆ Prosus, Naspers cutting 30% of jobs at corporate offices
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationAMSTERDAM, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Prosus NV (PRX.AS) and its South African parent Naspers (NPNJn.J) are cutting up to 30% of jobs at their corporate offices, the Dutch technology investor said. "We are adapting to a changing macro environment and have been working for some time to strengthen our cost structures," a Prosus spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday. Prosus and Naspers have around 15 corporate offices around the world, with the largest ones in Johannesburg and Amsterdam. There is no figure available for the number employed at corporate offices located around the globe, a spokesperson said. There was no schedule for the cuts to the corporate offices.

As Africa struggles with economic headwinds caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and, notably, Washington's own monetary policy, Africans are asking for proof the United States will stay the course this time. African countries have become collateral victims of this year's rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, aimed at curbing inflation at home. African countries are also finding it harder to access capital markets to meet their fiscal needs and refinance maturing debt. The United States, meanwhile, has largely failed to offer viable alternatives to cheap Chinese credit, officials said. One senior U.S. Treasury official said the United States had long been engaged in Africa, funding anti-HIV work and working on other health issues.

☆ South African retailer TFG posts 17% third-quarter sales jump
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 23 (Reuters) - South African retailer TFG (TFGJ.J) on Monday reported a 17.3% rise in third-quarter sales after Black Friday sales and holiday specials spurred demand for summer clothes and furniture. "TFG achieved a record Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with turnover exceeding 1 billion rand ($58.14 million) over these two days," the owner of Foschini and Markham clothing brands said. ($1 = 17.1985 rand)Reporting by Nqobile Dludla Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russian warship armed with hypersonic missiles to join drills with China, S.Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 23 (Reuters) - A Russian warship armed with new-generation hypersonic cruise weapons will participate in joint exercises with the navies of China and South Africa in February, the Russian state agency, TASS, said on Monday. The missiles fly at nine times the speed of sound, with a range of more than 1,000 km (620 miles), Russia says. They form the centrepiece of its hypersonic arsenal, along with the Avangard glide vehicle that entered combat duty in 2019. On Thursday, the South African National Defense Force said the drills, to run from Feb. 17 to Feb. 27 near the port city of Durban and Richards Bay, aim "to strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China." The exercise will be the second involving the three countries in South Africa, after a drill in 2019, the defence force added in its statement.

☆ Ken Griffin has built two of Wall Street's most powerful firms. His next target could be influencing politics.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel. It's good to be Ken Griffin. Plenty of people find success on Wall Street that most can only dream of. But Ken Griffin seems to be winning in ways that even his peers can't fathom. Click here to read more about Ken Griffin rise to the top of Wall Street and what could be next for the billionaire.

☆ Russia's Lavrov visits ally South Africa amid Western rivalry
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Carien Duplessis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor shakes hands with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, ahead of their bilateral meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, January 23, 2023. Lavrov met his South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor, after flying in earlier in the day on a trip some South African opposition parties and the small Ukrainian community have condemned as insensitive. President Cyril Ramaphosa's government regards South Africa as neutral in the Ukraine conflict and has expressed a desire to mediate. The South African armed forces said last week the exercise is a "means to strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China". There was no official public comment from the Ukrainian embassy but officials said it had asked the South African government to help push President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's 10-point peace plan, which he proposed to the G20 in November.

☆ South Africa's Eskom says worst power cuts over for now but urges less use
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Tim Cocks | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But outgoing CEO Andre De Ruyter also re-affirmed that power cuts would continue for two more years at least. South Africans were braced for worse, with the risk of "stage 8 load shedding" - more than half a day with no power. "We would really urge South Africans to plan (evening) consumption such that ... we have reduced demand," he said. Creaking coal-fire power stations, corruption in coal supply contracts, criminal sabotage and failure to ease up regulation to enable private providers to swiftly bring renewable energy on tap have all left South Africa in a deep power deficit. Eskom's Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer said that by the end of March the firm should be able to bring 1,862 megawatts back online, and that it would focus on keeping its top six power stations running smoothly.

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