Latest news with #JOHANNESBURG
Arab News
3 days ago
- Sport
- Arab News
Sudanese clubs seek league title amid civil war
JOHANNESBURG: A civil war in Sudan has not prevented clubs competing to be national champions and qualify for the 2025/26 Confederation of African Football (CAF) competitions. For the latest updates, follow us @ArabNewsSport
Reuters
4 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
South African rand subdued as investors await tariff updates and local data
JOHANNESBURG, July 11 (Reuters) - The South African rand took a knock against a firmer dollar in early trade on Friday, as global markets remained on edge over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats. At 0713 GMT, the rand traded at 17.8550 against the dollar , about 0.7% weaker than Thursday's close, as traders shunned riskier markets. The greenback last traded about 0.2% stronger against a basket of currencies. Domestically-focussed investors will keep close tabs on updates from the government as it tries to negotiate a trade deal before an extended deadline of August 1, after which it faces a 30% trade tariff on its exports to the United States. South Africa also faces an additional 10% tariff because of its membership of the BRICS group of developing nations which Trump has described as "anti-American." This could further compound pressure on the already risk-sensitive rand, even as an ETM analytics research note said the currency was poised to benefit from an expected recovery in commodity prices. "South Africa's terms of trade have improved courtesy of the buoyancy of gold and platinum prices and the recent surge in copper prices," ETM analytics said in the note. "A study of commodity prices relative to the USD shows that the market is ripe for a USD correction and a recovery in commodity prices." South Africa is a major producer of precious metals and its rand like other commodity-linked currencies will be closely tracking developments from Washington following Trump's threat to impose a 50% tariff on copper imports to the U.S. Next week, the statistics agency will release mining output (ZAMNG=ECI), opens new tab and retail sales (ZARET=ECI), opens new tab data which will provide clues on the health of Africa's most industrialised economy. South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond was also weaker in early deals, with the yield rising 4.5 basis points to 9.83%.
Malay Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Malay Mail
HIV infections could surge worldwide as US pulls funding from global treatment programmes, says UN
JOHANNESBURG, July 10 — The halt to US foreign aid is a 'ticking time bomb' that could reverse decades of hard-fought gains in the fight against AIDS, the United Nations warned today. Around 31.6 million people were on antiretroviral drugs in 2024 and deaths from AIDS-related illnesses had more than halved since 2010 to 630,000 that year, the UNAIDS agency said in a new report. But now infections were likely to shoot up as funding cuts have shuttered prevention and treatment programmes, it said. The United States has been the world's biggest donor of humanitarian assistance but President Donald Trump's abrupt slashing of international aid in February sent the global humanitarian community scrambling to keep life-saving operations afloat. 'We are proud of the achievements, but worried about this sudden disruption reversing the gains we have made,' UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima told AFP ahead of the report's launch in Johannesburg. The agency in April warned that a permanent discontinuation of PEPFAR, the massive US effort to fight HIV/AIDS, would lead to more than six million new infections and an additional 4.2 million AIDS-related deaths in the next four years. This would bring the pandemic back to levels not seen since the early 2000s. 'This is not just a funding gap — it's a ticking time bomb' whose effects are already felt worldwide, Byanyima said in a press release. Over 60 per cent of all women-led HIV organisations surveyed by UNAIDS had lost funding or had to suspend services, the report said. In a striking example, the number of people receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs to prevent transmission in Nigeria fell by over 85 per cent in the first few months of 2025. The 'story of how the world has come together' to fight HIV/AIDS is 'one of the most important stories of progress in global health,' Byanyima told AFP. 'But that great story has been disrupted massively' by Trump's 'unprecedented' and 'cruel' move, she said. 'Priorities can shift, but you do not take away life-saving support from people just like that,' she said. Key medical research affected Crucial medical research on prevention and treatment have also shut down, including many in South Africa which has one of the highest HIV rates in the world and has become a leader in global research. 'Developing countries themselves contribute very much towards the research on HIV and AIDS, and that research serves the whole world,' Byanyima said. In 25 out of 60 low- and middle-income countries surveyed by UNAIDS, governments had found ways to compensate part of the funding shortfall with domestic resources. 'We have to move towards nationally-owned and financed responses,' Byanyima said, calling for debt relief and the reform of international financial institutions to 'free up the fiscal space for developing countries to pay for their own response'. Still, the global HIV response built from grassroots activism was 'resilient by its very nature', she told AFP. 'We moved from people dying every single day to now a point where it is really like a chronic illness,' she said. 'There is no question that the investment has been worth it, and continues to be worth it. It saves lives.' — AFP
Reuters
19-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
South African rand weakens ahead of local inflation data, Fed decision
JOHANNESBURG, March 19 (Reuters) - The South African rand softened early on Wednesday ahead of the release of local inflation figures and an interest rate decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve later in the day. At 0723 GMT, the rand traded at 18.21 against the dollar , more than 0.4% weaker than its previous close. Domestic investors will look to the statistics agency at 0800 GMT for the release of South Africa's February inflation data. Economists polled by Reuters estimate inflation rose 3.3% year-on-year last month. Local retail sales figures are due at 1100 GMT. The Fed is widely expected to keep rates steady later on Wednesday, amid investor worries over an economic slowdown due to President Donald Trump's tariffs. On the stock market, the Top-40 (.JTOPI), opens new tab index was last trading 0.4% higher. South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was stronger in early deals, with the yield down 2.5 basis points to 9.10%.
