Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 01 October 2018

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 01 October 2018

 


 

 


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*  IMF disburses $245 mln loan tranche to Tunisia - official source

*  Randgold faces pushback from Congo over Barrick takeover of Kibali mine

*  Sudan to print 100-pound banknotes to ease liquidity crunch

*  Nigerian oil unions aim to resolve dispute with Chevron in two weeks -
union official

*  Egypt halts gas imports after final shipments arrived - minister

*  S&P says stimulus plan doesn't affect stable South Africa outlook

*  Egypt receives final $500 mln tranche of African Development Bank loan

*  South African investors back Steinhoff class action lawsuit

*  South Africa's rand gains, in line with emerging markets

*  Botswana's economy rebounds in second quarter of 2018

*  US and Canada reach new trade deal to replace Nafta

*  Facebook security breach: Up to 50m accounts attacked

*  Elon Musk reaches deal over tweets about taking Tesla private

*  Bula! Fiji fights US bar's trademark on a national greeting

*  Australian banking inquiry: Misconduct 'driven by greed'

 


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IMF disburses $245 mln loan tranche to Tunisia - official source

TUNIS (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved the
payment of a $245 million loan tranche to Tunisia, the fifth under its loan
programme with the North African country, an official source told Reuters.

 

The loan programme is tied to Tunisia’s pursuing economic reforms aimed at
keeping its deficit under control. The IMF approval will open the way for
Tunisia to sell $ 1 billion bonds next month.

 

An official source told Reuters this month that the sale will be early next
month after the IMF approval.

 

Tunisia expects economic growth to accelerate to between 3 and 3.5 percent
next year from an expected 2.9 percent in 2018, driven by a recovery of the
tourism industry and an expanding agricultural sector, officials told
Reuters last month.

 

The government aims to reduce its budget deficit to 3.9 percent of gross
domestic product next year from the 4.9 percent it is forecasting for 2018.

 

The North African country’s economy has been in crisis since the toppling of
autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, with unemployment and inflation
shooting up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Randgold faces pushback from Congo over Barrick takeover of Kibali mine

DAKAR (Reuters) - Randgold Resources Ltd has run into opposition from the
Democratic Republic of Congo’s government, which is insisting that it
authorise the acquisition by Canada’s Barrick Gold Corp of Randgold’s stake
in a Congolese gold mine.

 

Barrick agreed to buy Randgold this week in a deal to create the world’s
largest gold company with an aggregate market valuation of $18.3 billion.

 

As a result of the takeover, Barrick will become the owner of Randgold’s 45
percent stake in the Kibali mine in Congo but Congolese Mines Minister
Martin Kabwelulu said the shareholder change would need to be approved by
the government in accordance with Congo’s new mining code.

 

The ministry’s statement backs the position taken earlier in the day by
state miner Sokimo, which owns a 10 percent stake in the mine and vowed to
“assert its rights” regarding the takeover. AngloGold Ashanti owns the other
45 percent stake in the project, one of Africa’s biggest gold mines.

 

Sokimo said the transaction represented an effort by the foreign companies
“to impose themselves, without any prior discussion, in the countries from
which the resources that make up their wealth are extracted”.

 

Randgold said that the takeover would not introduce a new partner in the
Kibali project, as suggested by Sokimo.

 

“There are no provisions in the joint venture agreement and the related
documentation which give Sokimo any rights resulting from the proposed
merger,” Randgold said.

 

Randgold, which has fallen out with the Congolese authorities this year over
the new mining code that hikes taxes and cancels exemptions, said it had
consulted with Sokimo, the minister of mines and other parties, in the days
following the merger announcement.

 

Congo has earned hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts from
international miners in similar instances in the past few years.

 

The same language Sokimo used about asserting rights was echoed by another
Congolese state miner, Gecamines, against Freeport, when in 2016 it
announced the sale of its stake in the Tenke copper mine to China
Molybdenum. Gecamines received $100 million in a settlement.

 

Meanwhile, Gecamines in June agreed to drop legal proceedings to dissolve a
joint venture with a subsidiary of Glencore after reaching a settlement that
included Gecamines getting a $150 million payment.

 

Shares of Randgold were up 3.6 percent at 5,360 pence at 1807 GMT.

 

Randgold has a stake in several projects in Congo, including the Kibali
mine.

 

 

 

Sudan to print 100-pound banknotes to ease liquidity crunch

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan’s central bank will start printing 100 pound bank
notes for the first time to ease a liquidity crisis exacerbated by rampant
inflation, state news agency SUNA said on Sunday.

 

Sudan’s economy has been struggling since the south of the sprawling
northeast African country seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of
oil output and depriving Khartoum of a crucial source of foreign currency.

 

In recent months local currency liquidity at commercial banks has dried up,
with long queues outside of banks and daily withdrawal limits falling to as
low as 500 Sudanese pounds ($17.06) in some places.

 

The previous largest banknote in Sudan was 50 pounds.

 

“Printing the 100-pound banknote is a step in the right direction, because
the high inflation rate has dropped the value of the 50-pound banknote,”
Abdullah al-Ramadi, a Sudanese economist, said.

 

The decision “will help solve the liquidity shortage that harmed the
Sudanese economy and the central bank has to increase the money supply to
overcome the liquidity crisis,” al-Ramadi added.

 

Restrictions on how much cash is available to commercial banks are among
measures aimed at curbing rampant inflation and addressing an economic
crisis that could derail President Omar al-Bashir’s plan to extend his
nearly three decades in power.

 

Early in September, 11 months after the United States lifted 20-year-old
trade sanctions, Bashir dissolved his government, citing Sudan’s “state of
distress and frustration”, and slashed a third of ministries to cut costs.

 

At over 60 percent, Sudan’s inflation rate is among the world’s highest,
while its currency buys fewer than half as many dollars on the black market
— which has effectively replaced the formal banking system — as it did a
year ago.

 

Sudan’s central bank has devalued its pegged currency from 6.7 to about 29
pounds per dollar in the last year, but the black market rate is still
lower, at about 45 pounds on Sunday.

 

 

 

Nigerian oil unions aim to resolve dispute with Chevron in two weeks - union
official

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian oil unions will try to resolve a labour dispute
with the U.S. firm Chevron within two weeks, a union official said on
Friday, after the unions threatened last week to go on strike nationwide.

 

Nigeria, an OPEC member, is Africa’s largest oil producer and West Africa’s
largest economy.

 

Crude sales make up around two-thirds of government revenues, but the
dilapidated state of refineries means the country has to import most of its
refined fuel.

 

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria
(PENGASSAN) and Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG)
have accused Chevron of attempting to sack thousands of workers in violation
of their contracts.

 

The unions, Chevron and the government held talks on Thursday to try to
resolve the dispute.

 

“At the end of the talks, it was resolved that the unions and Chevron should
go back and resolve all outstanding issues within two weeks and come back to
the Ministry of Labour for, hopefully, the last meeting, where the
resolutions would be ratified,” said PENGASSAN General Secretary Lumumba
Okugbawa.Chevron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

 

Egypt halts gas imports after final shipments arrived - minister

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will stop importing natural gas after its final
liquefied shipments arrived last week, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla
said on Saturday.

 

Earlier this year El Molla said Egypt would stop importing liquefied natural
gas (LNG) by the end of the 2017/18 fiscal year as it speeds up production
at recently discovered gas fields.

 

“With the last liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments to Egypt last week, we
announce a halt on gas imports,” El Molla said. He did not provide details
on the number of shipments Egypt had received this year.

 

Egypt aims to be a regional hub for the trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG)
after a string of major discoveries in recent years, including the giant
Zohr offshore gas field which holds an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of
gas.

 

The country’s production of natural gas this month reached 6.6 billion cubic
feet per day, compared with 6 billion feet per day in July. Production has
been growing steadily since the field began operating in December.

 

EL Molla said in January the country would save $250 million per month by no
longer importing LNG.

 

 

S&P says stimulus plan doesn't affect stable South Africa outlook

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A senior analyst at ratings agency S&P Global said
on Friday that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s stimulus plan did
not affect the stable outlook on the country’s sovereign rating.

 

Ramaphosa said last week that his government would use 50 billion rand ($3.5
billion) of “reprioritised expenditure and new project-level funding” to
boost growth after the economy fell into recession in the second quarter.

 

His government also unveiled a new regulatory charter for the mining
industry, a crucial step to attracting further investment to a sector laid
low by depressed prices and soaring costs.

 

“The package has some good initiatives focusing on job creation and
infrastructure. And the changes to the mining charter are positive in
nature,” Ravi Bhatia, a director of the sovereign ratings group at S&P, told
Reuters.

 

“It seems like the plan will not impact upon the fiscal bottom line but
rather do reallocations and focus on implementation,” Bhatia added. “Our
ratings are currently on stable outlook.”

 

S&P currently rates South Africa’s long-term foreign-currency debt ‘BB’, in
“junk” status.

 

Moody’s and Fitch said earlier this week that Ramaphosa’s stimulus package
was unlikely to have much impact on growth.

 

Moody’s is the last of the “big three” international agencies to rate South
Africa’s long-term foreign-currency debt at investment grade.

 

($1 = 14.0939 rand)

 

 

Egypt receives final $500 mln tranche of African Development Bank loan

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has received the third and last $500 million tranche
of a $1.5 billion African Development Bank loan which will support the
government’s development programmes, the investment ministry said on Friday.

 

The loan was agreed in 2015 amid an acute foreign currency shortage that
crippled import activity and had the country scrambling to find new sources
of dollars as shipments piled up at ports and manufacturing slowed.

 

Egypt has since implemented tough reforms under a $12 billion IMF loan
program agreed in late 2016 that involved deep cuts to energy subsidies, new
taxes and a floated currency in a bid to draw back investors who fled after
its 2011 uprising.

 

“The funds will help support development programmes that meet the citizens’
needs, and which come as a top priority for the government in the context of
the social dimension of Egypt’s economic reform programme,” the statement
read.

 

The country’s foreign reserves stood at $44.42 billion as of end-August.

 

Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said last week that Egypt’s economy has
proven “resilient” in the face of wider emerging market turbulence, but that
the government will seek around $5 billion in foreign currency bonds in the
coming months.

 

Officials plan to launch Asian and European tours in mid-October to market
the international bonds.

 

 

 

South African investors back Steinhoff class action lawsuit

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African investors including Allan Gray,
Investec’s asset management arm and Old Mutual are backing litigation
against crisis-hit Steinhoff in the Netherlands, they said on Friday.

 

The investors represented about 20 percent of the shareholding in Steinhoff
when the South African retailer uncovered accounting irregularities last
year that sent its share price tumbling, a statement from representatives of
the investors said.

 

The case is being paid for by Claims Funding Europe, a litigation-funding
company based in Ireland, and run by Dutch law firm BarentsKrans.

 

It is separate from a class action brought by the Dutch shareholder group
VEB, whose lawsuit is aimed at compensating investors for the more than 14
billion euros ($16.23 billion) that has been wiped off Steinhoff’s market
value since December last year.

 

“We believe the circumstances merit these attempts to recover the losses
incurred by our clients,” Allan Gray, which had a shareholding of around 1.3
percent in Steinhoff before its market value plummeted, said in a statement.

 

“Participating in this legal route is, therefore, our preferred option.”

 

Steinhoff is also facing a 59 billion rand ($4.15 billion) claim from former
chairman and top shareholder Christo Wiese.

 

($1 = 14.2039 rand)

 

($1 = 0.8625 euros)

 

 

 

South Africa's rand gains, in line with emerging markets

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand was slightly stronger early on
Friday, in line with other emerging-market currencies, which have slowly
restored gains after recent sharp losses.

 

The rand was 0.2 percent stronger at 14.1050 per dollar at 0701 GMT, having
closed in New York at 14.1375

 

The rand has gained more than 1 percent since the end of last week, defying
expectations that it would see selling pressure after another U.S. interest
rate rise.

 

The rand is expected to trade between 13.9500 and 14.2500 to the dollar on
Friday, NKC African Economics wrote in a note.

 

South Africa-focused investors were awaiting the release of August’s trade
balance data at 1200 GMT.

 

In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark government bond due in 2026 rose
1 basis points to 9.000 percent.

 

Stocks opened slightly weaker, with the top-40 index down 0.2 percent in
early trade.

 

 

 

Botswana's economy rebounds in second quarter of 2018

(Reuters) - Botswana’s economy expanded by 2.4 percent in the second quarter
of this year from the previous three months after contracting 1.5 percent in
the first quarter, data from the statistics office showed on Friday.

 

On a year-on-year basis, gross domestic product grew by 5.3 percent in the
second quarter after expanding by 4.8 percent in the preceding quarter.

 

Statistics Botswana said trade, hotels and restaurants remained the major
contributor followed by mining.

 

 

 

US and Canada reach new trade deal to replace Nafta

Relations between US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau have occasionally been fraught

The US and Canada have reached a new trade deal, along with Mexico, to
replace Nafta.

 

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is said to involve more US
access to Canada's dairy market and a cap on its car exports to the US.

 

US President Donald Trump has long sought to renegotiate Nafta, which
governed more than $1tr (£767bn) in trade.

 

Only recently it looked as if Canada could be excluded in a final agreement.

 

"Today, Canada and the United States reached an agreement, alongside Mexico,
on a new, modernized trade agreement for the 21st Century: the United
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement," US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer
and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a joint
statement.

 

The agreement "will give our workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses a
high-standard trade agreement that will result in freer markets, fairer
trade and robust economic growth in our region."

 

It comes as the US has fought a trade war on several fronts this year,
including placing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Mexico and
Canada.

 

What is a trade war and why should I worry?

Five reasons why trade wars aren't easy to win

Is Trump right about trade?

What is in the new deal?

The joint US-Canada statement did not include details of the agreement.
However, the new accord is expected to contain key provisions on Canada's
dairy industry and car exports to the US.

 

US farmers will have access to about 3.5% of Canada's dairy market, Reuters
reported, citing sources.

 

Canada is also reported to have secured some protections for its automobile
industry against potential US tariffs.

 

US tariffs on steel and aluminium will remain for now, the sources said.

 

 

The US made a deal with Mexico in August, but relations with Canada over the
trade pact had become increasingly strained in recent weeks.

 

The Trump administration set Sunday as a deadline for Canada to strike a
deal.

 

A protectionist policy under the Mr Trump has seen the US forge ahead with
individual trade deals, rejecting bigger multi-lateral trade agreements and
posing a challenge to decades of global free trade.

 

As part of this policy Mr Trump has also launched a trade war against China,
which has already hurt companies and could curb global economic growth.

 

US-China trade row: What has happened so far?

Deal brings 'relief'

Jessica Murphy, BBC News Toronto

 

This deal has been 13 months in the making - and there were times when it
seemed like the finish line might never be reached.

 

More than once US President Donald Trump threatened to tear up Nafta, or
leave Canada out in the cold after coming to a bilateral agreement with
Mexico in August.

 

The relationship between the American and Canadian leaders seemed to grow
rocky as the talks dragged on.

 

So having an agreement will come as a relief to the many industries in both
the US and Canada that depend on Nafta and that have been living with
uncertainty since the talks began.

 

Still, while Mr Trudeau has maintained he would not agree to a deal that was
not in Canada's best interests, they will be waiting to get a clear picture
of what concessions were made in the final hours to secure the
agreement.--BBC

 

 

 

Facebook security breach: Up to 50m accounts attacked

Facebook says almost 50 million of its users were left exposed by a security
flaw.

 

The company said attackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in a feature
known as “View As” to gain control of people's accounts.

 

The breach was discovered on Tuesday, Facebook said, and it has informed
police.

 

Users that had potentially been affected were prompted to re-log-in on
Friday.

 

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Facebook hate speech glitch investigated by firm

The flaw has been fixed, wrote the firm’s vice-president of product
management, Guy Rosen, adding all affected accounts had been reset, as well
as another 40 million "as a precautionary step".

 

Facebook - which saw its share price drop more than 3% on Friday - has more
than two billion active monthly users.

 

The company has confirmed to reporters that the breach would allow hackers
to log in to other accounts that use Facebook's system, of which there are
many.

 

This means other major sites, such as AirBnB and Tinder, may also be
affected.

 

Who has been affected?

The firm would not say where in the world the 50 million users are, but it
has informed Irish data regulators, where Facebook's European subsidiary is
based.

 

The company said the users prompted to log-in again did not have to change
their passwords.

 

"Since we’ve only just started our investigation, we have yet to determine
whether these accounts were misused or any information accessed. We also
don’t know who’s behind these attacks or where they’re based. “

 

He added: "People’s privacy and security is incredibly important, and we’re
sorry this happened."

 

The company has confirmed that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and its
chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg were among the 50 million accounts
affected.

 

What is 'View As'?

Facebook's "View As" function is a privacy feature that allows people to see
what their own profile looks to other users, making it clear what
information is viewable to their friends, friends of friends, or the public.

 

Attackers found multiple bugs in this feature that "allowed them to steal
Facebook access tokens, which they could then use to take over people's
accounts", Mr Rosen explained.

 

"Access tokens are the equivalent of digital keys that keep people logged in
to Facebook so they don't need to re-enter their password every time they
use the app," he added.

 

What does this mean for Facebook?

The breach comes at a time when the firm is struggling to convince lawmakers
in the US and beyond, that it is capable of protecting user data.

 

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said on a conference call on Friday that
the firm took security seriously, in the face of what he said were constant
attacks by bad actors.

 

But Jeff Pollard, vice-president and principal analyst at Forrester, said
the fact Facebook held so much data meant it should be prepared for such
attacks.

 

"Attackers go where the data is, and that has made Facebook an obvious
target," he said. "The main concern here is that one feature of the platform
allowed attackers to harvest the data of tens of millions of users.

 

"This indicates that Facebook needs to make limiting access to data a
priority for users, APIs, and features."

 

When asked by the BBC, Facebook was unable to say if the investigation would
look into why the bugs were missed, or if anyone at the company would be
held accountable for the breach.--BBC

 

 

 

Elon Musk reaches deal over tweets about taking Tesla private

Who is Elon Musk?

Elon Musk must step down as Tesla chair and pay a fine after reaching a deal
with US regulators over tweets he posted about taking the firm private.

 

It follows Thursday's decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) to sue Mr Musk for alleged securities fraud.

 

Under the deal, Mr Musk will remain as Tesla CEO but has to step down as
chairman for three years.

 

Both he and Tesla will also have to pay a $20m (£15m) fine.

 

The SEC's chairman Jay Clayton said that he supported the deal, and felt
that it was in the best interests of US markets and investors, including the
shareholders of Tesla.

 

"This matter reaffirms an important principle embodied in our
disclosure-based federal securities laws," he said.

 

"Specifically, when companies and corporate insiders make statements, they
must act responsibly, including endeavouring to ensure the statements are
not false or misleading and do not omit information a reasonable investor
would consider important in making an investment decision."

 

What did he say in the tweets?

The fraud allegation relates to his August tweet in which Mr Musk said he
was considering taking electronic car maker Tesla off the stock market and
into private ownership.

 

He wrote he had "funding secured" for the proposal, which would value Tesla
at $420 per share. Shares in the company briefly rose after his
announcement, but later fell again.

 

The SEC said those claims were "false and misleading".

 

The weird and wonderful life of Elon Musk

"In truth and in fact, Musk had not even discussed, much less confirmed, key
deal terms, including price, with any potential funding source," the
regulator said.

 

Mr Musk initially responded to the charges by saying the action was
"unjustified" and he acted in the "best interests of truth, transparency and
investors".

 

What is in the deal?

In addition to the fines, Mr Musk will also have to comply with company
communications procedures when tweeting about the firm.

 

He now has 45 days to leave his role as chairman of Tesla.

 

The SEC had initially sought to ban Mr Musk from working on the board of any
publicly traded company, but under the deal he will now be able to stay on
as Tesla's chief executive officer.

 

A new "independent chairman" for the company will be appointed, who will
preside over the company's board.

 

Forcing Tesla to separate the roles of CEO and chairman should limit Mr
Musk's power within the company.

 

Despite this, many analysts say the outcome is a good one for Mr Musk, given
he remains in charge of day-to-day operations as CEO.

 

Who is Elon Musk?

Born in South Africa, Mr Musk made millions from online payments firm PayPal
before moving on to Tesla and rocket company SpaceX.

 

He is the 25th richest person in the world, according to Forbes, which
estimates his net worth to be $19.7bn (£15.1bn).

 

But it has been a volatile summer for the entrepreneur.

 

Mr Musk is being sued for defamation after making allegations against a
British diver involved in the Thai cave rescue.

 

Earlier this month, he found himself in another controversy after appearing
on a podcast while smoking marijuana. Although the drug is legal in
California, where the podcast was recorded, shares in Tesla fell more than
nine per cent after his appearance.--BBC

 

 

 

Bula! Fiji fights US bar's trademark on a national greeting

Fiji is fighting back against a company in the US that's trademarked its
national greeting "Bula", saying it was "tone-deaf and wrong".

 

The trademark has been registered by a chain of bars and cafes in Florida
which among other things serve kava, a mildly narcotic drink popular across
Fiji and other Pacific island nations.

 

Bula is a common Fijian greeting with a much wider cultural significance.

 

Fiji says the move amounts to a "blatant case of heritage-highjacking".

 

"We would never give permission for anyone - particularly someone outside of
Fiji looking to profit - to effectively claim ownership of 'bula', a word so
deeply-rooted in our national identity that it has become synonymous with
Fiji," Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told Radio New Zealand.

 

"The idea that a single person could control the use of a word so dear to
the hearts of Fijians is offensive, it is tone-deaf, and it is wrong," he
said, adding his government would "fight this trademark with every power
international law affords".

 

What's in a greeting?

Pronounced "boolah" and always said with enthusiasm, bula literally means
life, but is most commonly used as something akin to "hello" - like the
Hawaiian word "aloha".

 

Used as a greeting it is like wishing a person a good life. If you say it
twice, it means health.

 

The 'bula' greeting is a much-loved symbol of Fijians' laid-back hospitality

It's also used in the word for hospital and is even part of the Biblical
term for messiah.

 

In order to promote tourism, the country has even coined the phrase Bula
Spirit as a marketing slogan.

 

It's exactly what many people associate with Fiji. It is also associated
with kava, a traditional drink across most Southern Pacific islands - saying
"bula" is a central to the ceremony of kava-drinking.

 

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Whose problem is cultural appropriation?

Just a regular trademark?

Bula Nation, a bar chain in Florida, is aiming to capture some of the island
vibe in the word bula for its three bars.

 

And last year, owner Ross Kashtan sought to trademark the name in the US,
and succeeded.

 

The bars also specialise in kava, the mildly intoxicating brew, made from
roots, which is part of traditional rituals and gatherings on the Pacific
islands.

 

Naturally, it's also popular with tourists and likely a good sell at a laid
back beach bar in Florida.

 

'They should have asked'

Protecting the brand name is something most businesses would do, to prevent
a rival bula bar popping up next door. But the move has enraged Fijians.

 

"It's a matter of respect," Fijian academic Tarisi Vunidilo at Hawaii
University told the BBC.

 

She started a petition, accusing the owner of the business of cultural
appropriation for purely commercial purposes.

 

The Fijian villages that require approval to enter

Fiji country profile

"Speaking from an indigenous persons' point of view, before we take
something, we would always ask beforehand," she said.

 

"They should have at least made an effort to contact someone in Fiji, but
they didn't."

 

So far there's been no response from the Florida bula bar and its owner, but
the story has been front page news for days in Fiji.

 

"It's a big story on TV, in the papers and also in social media," Ms
Vunidilo explains. "I was really surprised how many young people in their
teens and twenties are deeply caring for this issue."

 

For her, it's not just the trademarking of bula which is wrong but the use
of the term in the first place.

 

"Kava and other medicinal plants have deep cultural meaning and value to
Fijians and it is disrespectful to use the word in this commercial setting."

 

Fiji now wants to officially contest the trademark with the US Patent and
Trademark Office and plans to also take the issue to the World Intellectual
Property Organisation.

 

It's not the first controversy over a word or phrase from another language
and culture trademarked in the US.

 

A Hawaiian-themed restaurant in Chicago sought to secure the name Aloha Poke
as a brand - even though it's simply a combination of the Hawaiian word for
hello and the name of a dish.

 

When cease-and-desist letters arrived even at eateries in Hawaii itself, a
public outcry eventually led to the Chicago restaurant issuing a public
apology.--BBC

 

 

 

Australian banking inquiry: Misconduct 'driven by greed'

Abuse and misconduct within Australia's banks and financial institutions
were driven by a culture of greed, a landmark inquiry has said.

 

A royal commission this year, the country's highest form of public inquiry,
has exposed widespread wrongdoing in the industry.

 

It released an interim report on Friday, condemning an industry which it
said valued profit over people.

 

The Australian government called the report a "scathing" assessment.

 

"[The report] shines a very bright light on the poor behaviour of our
financial sector," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.

 

"Australians expect and deserve better."

 

'Profit over honesty'

Since February, the inquiry has heard numerous allegations of customer
exploitation and corporate misbehaviour.

 

In his 1,000-page report, Commissioner Kenneth Hayne questioned why such
misconduct had taken place.

 

"Too often, the answer seems to be greed - the pursuit of short-term profit
at the expense of basic standards of honesty," he wrote.

 

The bank customers who lost everything

He also criticised what he called the inadequate actions of regulators for
the banks and financial firms.

 

"When misconduct was revealed, it either went unpunished or the consequences
did not meet the seriousness of what had been done," he said.

 

What allegations did the inquiry hear?

In the past eight months, the inquiry has interviewed more than 100
witnesses in public hearings around the country. It has also received more
than 9,300 submissions of alleged misconduct by banks, financial advisers,
pension funds and insurance companies.

 

Stories about customer rip-offs and predatory practices have dominated
headlines. In one case, the country's biggest bank was found to have charged
fees to dead customers, an event singled out in the report.

 

 

The inquiry has also heard testimony about corporate fraud, bribery rings at
banks, actions to deceive regulators and reckless practices.

 

The allegations have shocked the public, and led to the resignations of
high-profile executives.

 

It has also prompted the government to introduce tougher penalties, such as
increased jail sentences, for such white collar crimes.

 

Why was the inquiry deemed necessary?

The royal commission came after a decade of scandalous behaviour in
Australia's financial sector, the country's largest industry.

 

The government initially resisted calls for the probe before conceding that
a royal commission was a "regrettable but necessary" action to restore
public trust in the system.

 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has faced calls for the 12-month long inquiry
to be extended, and had said he is open to the idea.

 

The commission is due to publish its final report and recommendations in
February 2019.--BBC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2018

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of
Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not
constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or
subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has
been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or
warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All
opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without
notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be
suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth
companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than
the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any
other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability
whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its
contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this
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investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of
any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are
for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

 


 

 


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