Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 28 February 2022

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 28 February 2022 

 


 

 


 <https://www.nedbank.co.zw/> 

 


 

 


ü  Ukraine conflict: Russian rouble plunges after new sanctions announced

ü  BP to offload stake in Rosneft amid Ukraine conflict

ü  UK fast-tracks law to tackle Russian 'dirty money'

ü  Why the world is waging economic war on Russia

ü  Ukraine invasion: EU shuts airspace to Russian planes

ü  Ericsson workers kidnapped after being sent to negotiate with IS

ü  West to cut some Russian banks off from Swift

ü  Millions in Bitcoin pouring into Ukraine from donors

ü  British Airways short-haul flights from Heathrow cancelled

ü  Analysis: Moscow battles big tech to control the narrative

ü  Crude jumps, stocks slip, rouble crashes to record low on tough Russian sanctions

ü  Germany's E.ON rejects halting Nord Stream 1 pipeline - paper

ü  Goldman Sachs sees risks to European stocks from Ukraine crisis

ü  UPS and FedEx halting shipments to Russia and Ukraine

ü  Nigeria: Dana Air to Partner Travelstart On Seamless Booking, Deals for Customers

ü  Africa: Speedchecker Ranks Airtel Fastest Network in Nigeria, 16th in Africa

ü  South Africa is Becoming Vast Welfare State, Says Finance Minister

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 

Ukraine conflict: Russian rouble plunges after new sanctions announced

The rouble has slumped by 30% against the US dollar, after Western nations announced new sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

 

The new record low for the Russian currency comes after some of the country's banks were banned from using the Swift international payment system.

 

On Sunday, Russia's central bank appealed for calm amid fears that there could be a run on the country's banks.

 

Growing tensions also helped push Brent crude oil above $100 (£75) a barrel.

 

The move by the European Union, United States and their allies to cut off a number of Russian banks from Swift is the harshest measure imposed to date on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict.

 

The assets of Russia's central bank will also be frozen, limiting the country's ability to access its overseas reserves.

 

The intention is to "further isolate Russia from the international financial system", a joint statement said.

 

Russia is heavily reliant on the Swift system for its key oil and gas exports.

 

"Unless the Russian central bank and Russia's largest banks - which have already been cut off from correspondent banking - find an alternative means of reaching the global financial system Russia faces Iran and North Korea-style isolation from the global economy," Ari Redbord from blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs told the BBC.

 

Mr Redbord was formerly at the US Treasury Department, where he was a senior advisor to the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

 

Investors were also wary on Monday after Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's military to put its deterrence forces, which include nuclear weapons, on "special alert".

 

Would Putin press the nuclear button?

"Financial markets are guided by the unfolding of events in Ukraine," said Katrina Ell, an economist at Moody's Analytics in Sydney.

 

"Announcements regarding sanctions and military action will remain market movers this week," she told the BBC.

 

Last week, Moody's said it was reviewing Russian bonds to possibly downgrade them to '"junk", which would put Russia in a league of riskier countries that usually have to pay more to borrow. Rival credit ratings agency S&P has already lowered the country to junk status.

 

Why the world is waging economic war on Russia

How badly will Russia be hit by new sanctions?

At the weekend, Russia's central bank issued an appeal for calm amid fears that the new financial sanctions could spark a run on its banks.

 

It said it "has the necessary resources and tools to maintain financial stability and ensure the operational continuity of the financial sector".

 

In the first day of trading since harsh new sanctions were imposed, the Russian rouble plunged to a new record low against the US dollar. The euro sank more than 1%, while the price of oil surged.

 

The measures introduced this weekend increase the financial and social costs of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

 

Russians are already waiting in long lines, worried that their bank cards may stop working or that limits will be placed on the amount of cash they can withdraw.

 

And some of the European operations of Sberbank, the Russian state owned bank, are failing according to regulators.

 

The new ban on the Central Bank of Russia's ability to use its roughly $630bn in foreign reserves undermines its ability to defend the rouble. Inflation is likely to go up because of the currency's weakness.

 

This leaves the central bank with a few options, including raising interest rates or limiting the amount of money that can be brought into or out of the country.

 

A run on Russian banks would see too many people trying to withdraw money. On Friday, Russia's central bank was forced to increase the amount of money it supplies to ATMs after demand for cash reached the highest level since March 2020.

 

Alexandre Moutin, head of investments at SMBC Private Wealth, believes "a bank run is already ongoing and will most likely intensify in the coming days".

 

"The military conflict will last longer than Putin expected and the reaction of the West and the global community might be more harmful that he expected too," he said.

 

On Monday, the European Central Bank (ECB) said several European subsidiaries of Sberbank Russia, which is majority owned by the Russian government, are failing or likely to fail due to reputational cost of the war in Ukraine.

 

Sberbank Europe AG, which had total assets of €13.64bn (£11.4bn; $15.2bn) at the end of last year, along with its Croatian and Slovenian units, suffered a rapid deposit outflow in recent days and is likely to fail to pay its debts or other liabilities, the ECB, which is the lenders' supervisor, said.-BBC

 

 

 

BP to offload stake in Rosneft amid Ukraine conflict

BP is to offload its 19.75% stake in Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft after Russia's "act of aggression in Ukraine".

 

The oil giant had come under pressure from the UK government to make the move since Thursday's invasion.

 

It has held the shareholding in the Russian company since 2013.

 

Meanwhile, Norwegian energy giant Equinor says it will start the process of divesting from its joint ventures in Russia.

 

BP chief executive Bernard Looney has resigned "with immediate effect" from the Rosneft board, as has fellow BP-nominated director Bob Dudley.

 

Rosneft said thirty years of successful cooperation had been ruined and blamed BP's decision on "unprecedented political pressure", according to reports from Russian news agencies.

 

 

Mr Looney had been on the Rosneft board since 2020, alongside its chairman Igor Sechin, who is a close friend and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

The PA News agency reported Mr Looney was in Russia as recently as October, when he appeared on a panel with Mr Putin, which he later described as a "privilege".

 

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng spoke to the BP boss on Friday and left him in "no doubt about the seriousness of government concerns about BP's overexposure to Russian interests" according to an official.

 

BP chairman Helge Lund said that, while BP had operated in Russia for more than 30 years and had "brilliant Russian colleagues", Russia's attack on Ukraine was "having tragic consequences across the region" and represented a fundamental change.

 

"It has led the BP board to conclude, after a thorough process, that our involvement with Rosneft, a state-owned enterprise, simply cannot continue."

 

BP's share in Russian state oil giant Rosneft has long felt uncomfortable; this week under heavy political pressure it became untenable.

 

The chairman of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, is a close ally of President Putin. Rosneft supplies fuel to the Russian army.

 

Immediately offloading the stake to a potentially inappropriate buyer was not an option.

 

The company has decided to "divest" - meaning it will sever its financial ties with Rosneft, stop taking a dividend and step back from its two seats on the board.

 

Company officials say it is too soon to say exactly how this stake will be disposed of.

 

It could potentially be seized, or sold.

 

It will mean a significant financial hit, but a price BP had little choice but to pay.

 

line

Mr Looney said that he had been "deeply shocked and saddened" by the situation in Ukraine and it had caused BP to fundamentally rethink its position with Rosneft.

 

"I am convinced that the decisions we have taken as a board are not only the right thing to do, but are also in the long-term interests of BP," he said.

 

Mr Kwarteng welcomed the move, saying: "Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine must be a wake-up call for British businesses with commercial interests in Putin's Russia."

 

BP's latest annual results, published two weeks ago, revealed Rosneft accounted for $2.7bn (£2bn) of its profits, about a fifth of its total.

 

The multinational, which has its headquarters in London, admitted last year that sanctions on Russia could be problematic for its business and the relinquishing of the Rosneft stake comes after western countries imposed a series of economic sanctions on Russia - including several banks being excluded from the Swift international payment system.

 

BP said it is too early to say how or to whom its stake in Rosneft will be offloaded. The firm will pay a $11bn charge when it writes off foreign exchange losses that have accumulated over the last few years and another charge relating to the value of its stake.

 

Rosneft has been under sanctions from the US and EU since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

 

On Monday, Norwegian energy group Equinor became the second major European oil and gas producer to announce its exit from Russia, as it said it would begin the process of divesting from its joint ventures in the country.

 

"In the current situation, we regard our position as untenable," Equinor's chief executive Anders Opedal said in a statement.

 

It came after Norway's $1.3 trillion (£970bn) sovereign wealth fund, which is the world's largest, also announced on Sunday that it would freeze and divest its Russian assets.

 

"We have decided to freeze the fund's investments and have begun a process of selling out," Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said.

 

The fund's Russian assets were worth $2.83bn (£2.11bn) at the end of 2021. It is the fourth largest shareholder in Russian bank Sberbank and has stakes in Russian energy firms Gazprom and Lukoil.

 

Oil prices surged past $100 (£74) a barrel to hit their highest level for more than seven years after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

 

The shipping firms FedEx and UPS have also suspended all their services in and out of Russia. United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) said that packages in transit to Ukraine and Russia will be returned to their senders for no additional cost where possible.-BBC

 

 

 

UK fast-tracks law to tackle Russian 'dirty money'

The UK is fast-tracking legislation to target money-laundering by foreign oligarchs.

 

The government's move follows Russia's decision to invade Ukraine.

 

As part of the measures, foreign property owners will have to declare their identities rather than using companies as a façade.

 

It follows the economic sanctions announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday which targeted major Russian banks and leaders.

 

Mr Johnson said that there is "no place for dirty money" in the UK.

 

"We are going faster and harder to tear back the façade that those supporting Putin's campaign of destruction have been hiding behind for so long."

 

UK sanctions target Russian banks and oligarchs

How much Russian money is there in the UK?

"Those backing Putin have been put on notice: there will be nowhere to hide your ill-gotten gains," Mr Johnson added.

 

The government said the legislation will support the National Crime Agency work in targeting corruption.

 

The Economic Crime Bill will include a new register that will mean foreign owners of UK property must declare and verify their identities with Companies House.

 

The aim is to stop overseas criminals and oligarchs from using agents to create companies or buy property for them in the UK.

 

Entities that refuse to declare their owners will face restrictions in selling property and those who break the rule could be imprisoned for up to five years.

 

The register also applies to property bought by overseas owners up to 20 years ago in England and Wales and from December 2014 for property in Scotland.

 

Companies House will also have more information on firms to increase corporate transparency, the government said.

 

The National Crime Agency's 'Kleptocracy' cell, announced last week, will also begin to investigate sanctions evasion and be able to seize crypto-assets used for money-laundering.

 

'Time is up for Putin's cronies'

The legislation also strengthens Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) which were powers brought into force in January 2018 in the fight against suspected criminal money invested in property.

 

However, UWOs have been used just four times since 2018 and only one has resulted in property being surrendered so far.

 

UWOs will be reformed to give law enforcement agencies more time to review case material and to protect them from substantial legal costs if they pursue reasonable cases which are ultimately unsuccessful.

 

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: "Time is up for Putin's cronies hiding dirty money in the UK and this new legislation will help to crack down on economic crime, including removing key barriers to using Unexplained Wealth Orders."

 

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said that Labour supports the legislation and will "scrutinise the strength of these measures, which the government must enact in their strongest form to tackle dirty money once and for all."

 

"The long overdue Register of Overseas Entities, originally promised in 2016, must now be implemented at speed. Any transition period must be completed by the end of March and be accompanied by tough enforcement measures," she continued.

 

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the new register will "shine a light" on who owns what in the UK so the government could "flush out the oligarchs, criminals and kleptocrats who think they can use UK property to hide their illicitly obtained wealth."

 

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the measures were "welcome" but "don't yet go far and fast enough".

 

"Alongside strong sanctions we need an urgent crackdown on illicit finance, corruption and organised crime linked to Russia. For too long the City of London and the UK economy has been used as a laundromat by corrupt elites linked to organised crime," Ms Cooper added.

 

The anti-corruption organisation Transparency International has identified at least £1.5bn of UK property owned by Russians accused of financial crime or with links to the Kremlin.

 

As part of the latest round of sanctions, Mr Johnson said the government will also limit the amount of money Russian nationals will be able to deposit in their UK bank account.-BBC

 

 

 

Why the world is waging economic war on Russia

Russia's financial system is being hit from this morning with something far from a normal set of sanctions, and better seen as a form of economic war.

 

It is the deployment of of heavy weaponry in a financial theatre of war. And it is designed to push the whole of Russia in to as deep a recession as possible, with the added chaos of bank runs.

 

It could exact from Russia, an immediate price in terms of its financial and social stability, for the invasion and bombardment of Ukraine, and bring that home to the Russian people, and anyone in the Russian elite harbouring doubts about their President's actions.

 

Targeting a central bank of a G20 nation is unprecedented. In the words of the European Commission, it is intended "to paralyse" the ability of the Russian Central Bank to defend the Russian financial system from sanctions. As the White House said explicitly: "We are planning to impose measures to ensure Russia cannot use its Central Bank to support its currency and undermine the impact of our sanctions". As the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said, the Allies are "doing all we can to degrade the Russian economy".

 

Central Banks normally have sovereign immunity. The targeting of the Russian Central Bank is occurring explicitly in order to disarm the Russian state's $630 billion war chest of defences. On the day of invasion, interventions using these reserves helped rescue the rouble after it slumped to a record low against the dollar.

 

Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov wrote on Twitter that the West was "freezing Russia's international reserves" by targeting the Central Bank.

 

 

"There is nothing more to support the rouble. Turn on the printing press. Hyperinflation and economic catastrophe are just around the corner," he added.

 

These measures make the rouble a one way downward bet in today's currency markets. The exclusion of the top Russian domestic retail banks from the Swift messaging system at the same time creates some domestic uncertainty. The Russian Central Bank had to reassure the public and the markets that it had unlimited roubles to ensure stability of the system. There are risks that the market fallout will spread beyond Russia.

 

But it is a unique weapon, designed for a unique situation. Nations representing half the world's economy, using many levers of financial might against one representing 2% of the world economy, while keeping energy exports flowing and nuclear weapons in bunkers.-BBC

 

 

 

Ukraine invasion: EU shuts airspace to Russian planes

The EU has imposed a blanket flight ban on Russian planes, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced.

 

"We are shutting down EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian-registered or Russian-controlled aircraft," she said.

 

All such planes, including the private jets of oligarchs, will now be unable to land in, take off from or fly over any EU nation.

 

Russian planes have also been banned from UK airspace.

 

Russia's biggest airline, Aeroflot, said it would cancel all flights to European destinations until further notice in a retaliatory move on Sunday.

 

Ahead of the decision, European countries had been closing their airspace one by one. Germany said its ban would last three months.

 

Departure boards at Moscow's Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports showed dozens of cancellations on Sunday, including flights to Paris, Vienna and Kaliningrad.

 

Russia's S7 Airlines said on Facebook it would cancel flights to many of its European destinations until at least 13 March.

 

Russia has been responding with tit-for-tat restrictions on countries banning its flights.

 

The Commission president said that the EU was also going to ban Russia's state-owned news outlets Sputnik and Russia Today, widely seen as a mouthpiece for the Kremlin. "We are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe," she said.

 

The restrictions on flights will require Russian airlines to take circuitous routes, resulting in longer flight times.

 

Commercial airlines are also avoiding airspace around Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus following Russia's invasion.

 

In the US, Delta Air Lines said it would suspend a flight booking agreement with Russia's Aeroflot.

 

The UK's ban on Russian flights led Moscow to retaliate with a similar curb on British planes.

 

Virgin Atlantic said avoiding Russia would add between 15 minutes and an hour to its flights between the UK and India and Pakistan.

 

Australian airline Qantas said it would use a longer route for its direct flight between Darwin and London that does not overfly Russia.-BBC

 

 

 

Ericsson workers kidnapped after being sent to negotiate with IS

The telecoms company Ericsson put contractors' lives at risk by insisting they continued working in territory controlled by the Islamic State [IS] group in Iraq, according to a leaked Ericsson report seen by BBC News Arabic. This resulted in them being kidnapped by IS militants, the report finds.

 

Ericsson is one of the world's biggest telecoms companies and a key player in the rollout of 5G networks in the UK, having replaced Chinese telecoms firm Huawei after security concerns.

 

The latest revelations follow last week's admission by Ercisson Chief executive Borje Ekholm - in response to the leaked document - that money had been paid by the company to access quicker transport routes in Iraq at the time, and that IS may have been the recipients. More than $5bn was wiped from Ericsson's market value after Mr Ekholm's comments.

 

The document, obtained by the International Consortium of International Journalists [ICIJ] and shared with the BBC and 29 other media partners, is from a 2019 internal investigation into corrupt activities and bribery in 10 countries. The most serious findings centred on its operations in Iraq.

 

When IS seized Iraq's second-city, Mosul, in June 2014, a senior Ericsson lawyer recommended shutting down the company's operation in Iraq, but senior managers ignored this, the report found. They felt such an action was "premature", and would "destroy" Ericsson's business in the country, the document says.

 

Its insistence that the company's contractors continued to work in IS-held territory put lives at risk because the militant group then took a number of contractors hostage, the report found.

 

Affan was among a group of engineers doing fieldwork for Ericsson at the time IS took over the city. He was sent with a letter on behalf of the company seeking permission from the terror group for them to continue working there.

 

But as soon as he arrived, they were met by a pick-up truck full of gunmen who seized him, he told German public broadcaster NDR, another of ICIJ's media partners.

 

Then an IS fighter used his phone to call Ericsson managers and demanded the company pay $2.4m to work in the area, he says.

 

"He [the IS member] said that if you [Ericsson] do not pay, this person you sent and everyone else who works for you will be hunted down by us, we will bring them here. One by one".

 

Affan was placed under house arrest and says an Ericsson manager then stopped answering his calls. "He abandoned me, he turned off the phone and disappeared."

 

The BBC and ICIJ contacted the Ericsson managers - one of whom still works with the company - who received the call from IS, but they refused to comment.

 

Affan, who is named in the Ericsson report, was released after a month. While Affan maintains he was abandoned by Ericsson, the report says that one of the company's partners "made arrangements" with IS to secure his release and let the company continue its work in Mosul. The report doesn't identify what those arrangements were.

 

This wasn't Ericsson's only possible interaction with IS. The company's transport contractor used a fast route through the country called the "Speedway" which avoided government checkpoints but passed through IS territory, the report found. Ericsson investigators said they found evidence of likely bribe payments to militants along this route.

 

IS held territory

One senior government telecoms official in Mosul who doesn't want to be named for fear of losing his job, told another of ICIJ's media partners: "Ericsson knew well what was going on. There is not a sane person who would deal directly with IS, they all do it through the subcontractors. Militants would take a percentage from every cent paid in Mosul on any project or work. This is how they accumulated millions."

 

The internal Ericsson document reveals a widespread culture of corrupt activities and paying bribes totalling millions of dollars in 10 separate countries. The corruption extended to a slush fund for Lebanese officials over a number of years totalling nearly $1m alongside gifts such as a $50,000 luxury trip to Stockholm for the former Lebanese Minister of Telecoms, Boutros Harb.

 

Mr Harb told the BBC he had gone on a three-day business trip to Sweden paid for by Ericsson. But he hasn't received any gifts or benefits. He added that he was unaware of any internal investigation by Ericsson.

 

Investigators also uncovered a $50,000 payment to a charity connected to the billionaire Barzani family, who rule the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan and own the mobile phone network Korek. The report couldn't establish where the money went. A spokesman for the Sirwan Barzani didnt respond to our specific questions but said "Sirwan Barzani looks forward to the day when Daesh (IS) no longer pose a threat and he and his fellow Peshmerga can spend more time with their families."

 

In 2019, Ericsson reached a $1bn settlement with the US authorities following allegations of widespread corruption in five countries. Ericsson has not clarified whether the new revelations were disclosed to the US Department of Justice at the time of the settlement.

 

The Department of Justice declined to comment on the Ericsson case. Ericsson did not respond to the BBC's specific questions but said it is continuing to work with external counsel - to review the findings and remediation resulting from the 2019 investigation to identify any additional measures that the company should take.-BBC

 

 

 

West to cut some Russian banks off from Swift

The EU, US and their allies have agreed to cut off a number of Russian banks from the main international payment system, Swift.

 

The assets of Russia's central bank will also be frozen, limiting Russia's ability to access its overseas reserves.

 

The intention is to "further isolate Russia from the international financial system", a joint statement said.

 

Russia is heavily reliant on the Swift system for its key oil and gas exports.

 

The joint sanctions are the harshest measures imposed to date on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

 

What is Swift and why is banning Russia so important?

Swift, or the "Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication", is a secure messaging system that makes fast, cross-border payments possible, enabling international trade.

 

Based in Belgium, it facilitates transactions between more than 11,000 banks and financial institutions across the globe.

 

It plays a pivotal role in supporting the global economy, but has no authority to make sanction decisions itself.

 

The banks affected were not immediately named, but the German spokesman said they would include "all those already sanctioned by the international community, as well as other institutions, if necessary".

 

Removal from Swift is deemed to be a severe curb because almost all banks use the system.

 

The measures were agreed by the US, UK, Europe and Canada.

 

Excluding certain Russian banks from the Swift system used for trillions of dollars-worth of transactions will hit the economy hard - and in the words of the White House, it will make the country rely on "the telephone or a fax machine" to make payments.

 

This is only a slight exaggeration. There are workarounds to Swift but none which are as efficient.

 

Only one country has been cut out in the past - Iran - which resulted in it losing 30% of its foreign trade.

 

Picking certain Russian banks will ensure the sanctions have the maximum impact on Russia, while preventing too much impact on Europe. European businesses will be able to continue to collect money owed and buy Russian energy.

 

Other measures are equally powerful. Curbs on Russia's central bank will stop it using its currency to limit the effect of sanctions.

 

Russia has been building up a cushion of foreign currency to protect its banks, but this new measure will significantly decrease the reserves available.

 

The impact of these measures may take a while to show - but they do express an immediate intent from Western nations.

 

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the decision to paralyse the assets of Russia's central bank would stop the Kremlin from "using its war chest".

 

The EU and its partners agreed to freeze the bank's transactions and prevent it from liquidating its assets.

 

She added there would be a crackdown on so-called "golden passports" that "let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems".

 

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain had taken "decisive action", tweeting: "We will keep working together to ensure Putin pays the price for his aggression."

 

Responding to the announcement, Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal tweeted his appreciation for the sanctions, calling them a "real help during this dark time".

 

EU foreign ministers are set to meet on Sunday to co-ordinate member states' military aid to Ukraine, and discuss humanitarian assistance for the country and those fleeing the conflict.-BBC

 

 

 

Millions in Bitcoin pouring into Ukraine from donors

Cryptocurrency analysts say at least $13.7m (£10.2m) has so far been donated to the Ukrainian war effort through anonymous Bitcoin donations.

 

Researchers at Elliptic, a blockchain analysis company, say the Ukrainian government, NGOs and volunteer groups have raised the money by advertising their Bitcoin wallet addresses online.

 

More than 4,000 donations have been made so far, with one unknown donor gifting Bitcoin worth $3m to an NGO.

 

The median donation is $95.

 

On Saturday afternoon, the official Twitter account of the Ukraine government posted a message: "Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT."

 

It posted addresses for two cryptocurrency wallets which collected $5.4m in Bitcoin, Ether and other coins within eight hours.

 

The Ukrainian Digital Ministry says the latest call for donations is to "help Ukraine armed forces", but would not elaborate on how the money would be spent.

 

Elliptic founder Tom Robinson told the BBC: "Whereas some crowdfunding and payments companies have refused to allow donations to be made to groups supporting the Ukrainian military, cryptocurrencies have emerged as a powerful alternative."

 

On Friday, fundraising platform Patreon announced that it had suspended the donation page for "Come Back Alive", a Ukrainian NGO that has been raising money for Ukrainian forces in conflict zones since 2014.

 

Patreon said the page violated the company's policies, saying in a statement: "We don't allow Patreon to be used for funding weapons or military activity."

 

Cryptocurrency fund raising is becoming an increasingly prominent part of modern conflicts around the world.

 

Scammers appear to be also be taking advantage of the current situation in Ukraine, though, by tricking unsuspecting users.

 

Elliptic says at least one social media post was found to copy a legitimate tweet from an NGO, but with the author swapping the Bitcoin address, presumably for one of their own.-BBC

 

 

 

British Airways short-haul flights from Heathrow cancelled

British Airways has apologised after cancelling all short-haul flights from Heathrow Airport on Saturday morning.

 

The airline said on Saturday afternoon that its IT systems were back working again after technical issues, which it said were not caused by a cyber attack.

 

BA said there continued to be some cancellations but the majority of flights were now taking off as planned.

 

Long-haul flights continued to operate with some delays, but all short-haul flights were cancelled until midday.

 

Passengers travelling from Gatwick or London City Airport also faced some delays due to the issues.

 

In its Saturday afternoon statement, BA said it was now aiming to complete the day's flying programme and helping customers whose flights had been cancelled to rebook.

 

The major outage caused pile-ups of luggage and some customers were stuck on planes after landing at Heathrow.

 

BA said it knew it had "let customers down" and would do everything it could "to make this up to them".

 

"But for now our focus is on getting as many customers and flights away as we can," the company added.

 

It is giving customers on cancelled services the option of getting a full refund. Passengers due to fly on short-haul services from Heathrow on Saturday could also choose to rebook for a later date, for free. BA said it would be contacting customers "proactively".

 

The Heathrow Terminal 5 departures board showing most of British Airways flights from the airport (some go from T3) was a sea of red on Saturday morning.

 

The airline's short-haul flights were cancelled as a result of technical issues which started on Friday.

 

Tenerife - Zurich - Grenoble - Istanbul - Salzburg were all off the cards. Only flights to the likes of New York, Doha and Mumbai were showing as boarding and on time.

 

Domestic flights from the likes of Edinburgh and Manchester were cancelled too, because they would have started their journeys in Heathrow.

 

British Airways says a perfect storm of systems issues was to blame.

 

So check-in systems, stand planning - the computer systems which direct the aircraft to gates - and the flight management systems, which send flight plans out to crews. As well as cabin crew allocation. On top of this, a lot of aircraft and crews were "out of place" because of the storm disruption last week.

 

All these things are possible to control manually, but they are slower.

 

As a result, BA said it was prioritising its long haul flights on Saturday morning because they carry more people, are less frequent and people using them have fewer other options. The company said it was trying to protect as many passengers as possible.

 

The issues began on Friday with BA's website and app were inaccessible for several hours, leaving customers unable to book flights or check-in online.

 

The latest problems come after BA apologised for "letting people down" last week, when storms caused delays to unloading and loading luggage.

 

Tom O'Regan and his family were expected to return to London on Saturday after a holiday in Italy.

 

But their flight from Naples was among those cancelled. He said the next BA flight available would not be until next Tuesday.

 

"I don't see how that is acceptable really," he said, speaking from the airport.

 

"Our children are missing school because of it, we were supposed to be working on Monday."

 

Tom, from Liphook, Hampshire, said he had not been able to speak to anyone from the airline but he was expecting compensation for the extra costs.

 

He also told the BBC he was struggling to find a hotel for him, his wife and their two daughters.

 

"If we don't find anything the next step is to contact the embassy and see what they suggest," he added. "The kids are upset, we are stressed."-BBC

 

 

 

Analysis: Moscow battles big tech to control the narrative

(Reuters) - As Russian missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities, another battle took place online and over the airwaves.

 

Moscow ramped up efforts to control the narrative playing out in news media and on tech platforms, while big tech companies Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O) and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google put restrictions on Russia's state-controlled media outlets in Ukraine and around the world.

 

 

On Friday, Russia said it would partially restrict Facebook, a move Meta said came after it refused a government request to stop the independent fact-checking of several Russian state media outlets. By Saturday, Twitter also said its service was being restricted for some Russian users.

 

Images and videos were slower to load on Facebook after the slowdown was announced, according to users, while Facebook Messenger had long periods of not loading at all. On mobile devices, Twitter remained slow - it has been the subject of a punitive slowdown since March. Many state websites, including the Kremlin site kremlin.ru, have also suffered outages in recent days.

 

 

For the tech companies, the stand-off is the latest step in an ongoing confrontation with Russia where platforms risk government-imposed restrictions in the country as it seeks to censor dissidents while protecting state-run media.

 

Major social, video and livestreaming platforms from Facebook to TikTok and Twitch are coming under increasing pressure to combat falsehoods on their platforms relating to the conflict, including the spread of misleading footage.

 

The escalation of Russia's clash with big tech comes days before a deadline Moscow set for major foreign tech companies to comply with a new law that requires them to set up official representation in the country, which could make it easier for the Kremlin to regulate platforms. It follows a series of fines and slowdowns imposed on platforms which the Russian government said failed to remove illegal content. read more

 

Ahead of the March deadline, an online list by Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor showed only Apple (AAPL.O), Spotify (SPOT.N) and Viber had fulfilled all three requirements of the law as of 2145 GMT on Sunday. They are: registering an account with the regulator, giving users a way to communicate directly with the company, and setting up a representative office.

 

This month, Russia threatened the companies with an advertising ban if they do not comply. Harsher restrictions that could follow include speed slowdowns or outright blocks, Russian officials have said.

 

Big tech companies also face the burden of weighing demands from Ukrainian officials and sympathizers worldwide who have called on them to expel Russian users from their services to stop the spread of false information, while also preserving the access of dissidents to vital digital tools.

 

"Mark Zuckerberg, while you create Metaverse - Russia ruins real life in Ukraine! We ask you to ban access to @facebookapp and @instagram from Russia - as long as tanks and missiles attack our kindergartens and hospitals!" Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

 

Responding to the demands, Meta's head of global affairs Nick Clegg tweeted on Sunday that turning off Facebook and Instagram in Russia would "silence important expression at a crucial time."

 

It was clear others across the tech landscape were grappling with similar dilemmas. Just minutes after saying in a post on Sunday that the Telegram messaging app would consider restricting some channels for spreading false information, founder Pavel Durov said the company would no longer do so after receiving feedback from users.

 

RESTRICTIONS

 

The activities of state-controlled media such as RT and Sputnik, which were hit with new EU sanctions on Sunday, has been a key source of conflict between Moscow and major tech platforms, as activists and politicians demanded the companies demonetize or ban the Kremlin-sponsored outlets. read more

 

Roskomnadzor has warned local media not to circulate what it called "false information" about Moscow's military operation, banning the use of the words "invasion" and "assault" to describe its attack on Ukraine. Russian tech giant Yandex (YNDX.O) has also started warning Russian users looking for news about Ukraine on its search engine about unreliable information on the internet.

 

Russia calls its actions a "special operation" that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy Ukraine's military capabilities and capture individuals who it sees as dangerous nationalists - something the government in Kyiv and Western powers say is baseless propaganda. read more State-run media has long been a contentious presence on major social platforms, some of which label those accounts in an effort to be more transparent about the source of information.

 

Amid Russia's invasion, Facebook, Twitter, Google and its video streaming service YouTube took new measures to restrict Russian state media from making money from ads on their sites. Twitter, which banned ads from state-backed media in 2019, said it was pausing all ads in Russia and Ukraine to ensure the visibility of public safety information. Google, the world's biggest ad seller, also said it was not allowing Russian state media to sell ads using its tools.

 

Facebook and Google also said they had restricted access to some state media accounts in Ukraine at the request of the Ukrainian government. Google said on Sunday it had banned downloads of RT's mobile app in Ukraine in response to a government legal request.

 

As Western companies begin to heed new economic new sanctions against Russia and pressure mounts to combat online disinformation, experts say the fight between Russia and the most powerful tech companies may intensify.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Crude jumps, stocks slip, rouble crashes to record low on tough Russian sanctions

(Reuters) - Crude oil jumped while the rouble plunged nearly 30% to a record low on Monday after Western nations imposed tough new sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, including blocking some banks from the SWIFT global payments system.

 

Safe-haven demand boosted bonds along with the dollar and yen while the euro sank after Russian President Vladimir Putin put nuclear-armed forces on high alert on Sunday, the fourth day of the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. read more

 

 

The ramp-up in tensions heightened fears that oil supplies from the world's second-largest producer could be disrupted, sending Brent crude futures up $4.21 or 4.3% to $102.14. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up $4.58 or 5.0% at $96.17 a barrel.

 

"I am telling clients all we know for certain is that energy prices are going to be higher, and there are going to be some beneficiaries," said John Milroy, Ord Minnett financial advisor in Sydney.

 

 

"It's an old cliché, but it's true that uncertainty drives moves in both directions."

 

Asia-Pacific shares turned lower after spending the morning session mostly in the green, putting them in line with declines for U.S. and European stock futures.

 

Japan's Nikkei 225 (.N225) fell 0.25%, while Chinese blue chips (.CSI300) slipped 0.36%. Australia's benchmark (.AXJO), though, added 0.64%, boosted by energy shares.

 

MSCI's index of regional stocks (.MIAP00000PUS) lost 0.58%.

 

U.S. emini stock futures were pointing to a 2.35% drop at the restart, while pan-European EURO STOXX 50 futures slid 3.90%. FTSE futures declined 1.21%.

 

"We had a deluge of very negative information over the weekend," said Kyle Rodda, a market analyst at IG Australia. "We're talking about financial stability risks, and sprinkle over that the threat of nuclear war."

 

"Volatility is heightened," he said. "Price action is incredibly choppy."

 

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell about 9 basis points to 1.89%, and equivalent Australian yields retreated about 6 basis points to 2.177%.

 

The euro slid 1.1% to $1.11465 and 1.1% to 128.785 yen , while the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars sank 0.78% and 0.88%, respectively.

 

The rouble dived as much as 29.67% to a record-low 119.5 per dollar.

 

Gold rose more than 1% to around $1,909 on demand for the safest assets.

 

"This volatility will go on for a while yet, until the dust settles," said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital.

 

In the meantime, "markets are going to be swinging from headline to headline," he said.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Germany's E.ON rejects halting Nord Stream 1 pipeline - paper

(Reuters) - E.ON (EONGn.DE), Europe's largest operator of energy networks, rejected demands to shut down the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline as part of sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, the company told Rheinische Post newspaper on Monday.

 

After the German government put the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on hold last week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Saturday called for shutting down Nord Stream 1, which has transferred Russian gas to Germany since 2011.

 

Nord Stream is a joint venture of Russia's Gazprom , Germany's oil and gas producer Wintershall DEA, PEG Infrastruktur E.ON , Dutch Gasunie (GSUNI.UL) and French Engie .

 

E.ON, which holds a 15.5% stake in Nord Stream 1, said the project was "completely different from the ongoing discussions about the Nord Stream 2 line".

 

"Nord Stream 1 is a permitted and fully operational gas import pipeline," a spokesperson for the company told the paper, adding that the line's capacity was fully utilized in the past two years.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Goldman Sachs sees risks to European stocks from Ukraine crisis

(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs on Friday cut its target for Europe's major stock index, saying equities in the region are likely to face risks for some time as the Russia-Ukraine crisis intensifies.

 

Missiles pounded the Ukrainian capital on Friday as Russian forces pressed their advance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pleaded with the international community to do more, saying sanctions announced so far were not enough. read more

 

 

The United States, Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union unveiled more sanctions on Moscow on top of penalties announced earlier this week, including a move by Germany to halt an $11 billion gas pipeline from Russia.

 

"In light of the conflict, the rise in risk aversion – some of which will likely linger – and the impact on the growth/inflation mix, we take down our target prices," Goldman Sachs economist Sharon Bell said.

 

 

Bell now expects the pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) to hit 490, down from the earlier 12-month target of 530.

 

The index closed at 438.96 on Thursday as European stocks dived to nine-month lows after Russia invaded Ukraine.

 

The brokerage, however, raised its forecast for London's FTSE 100 (.FTSE) to 8,100 from 7,900, saying it is a good value opportunity with almost no exposure to the technology sector.

 

"FTSE 100 (UKX) has proven more resilient both to rate rises and concerns about escalating energy costs," Bell said.

 

The index closed at 7,207.38 on Thursday.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

UPS and FedEx halting shipments to Russia and Ukraine

(Reuters) - U.S.-based United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) and FedEx Corp (FDX.N), two of the world's largest logistics companies, have said they are halting delivery service to Russia and Ukraine in light of the Russian invasion of its neighbor.

 

Meanwhile, German logistics company Deutsche Post DHL said it had temporarily suspended shipments to and from Ukraine and was avoiding Ukrainian airspace for its global operations.

 

 

Both inbound and outbound services have been suspended to Ukraine, as well as deliveries to destinations in Russia, UPS and FedEx said in online statements seen on Sunday.

 

Both Atlanta-based UPS and Memphis-headquartered FedEx had said on Feb. 24 that they were suspending services to Ukraine in light of the invasion.

 

It was unclear if both firms continue to use Russian airspace as part of their general operations. Neither responded immediately to requests for comment.

 

 

DHL's statement did not mention if its operations in Russia had been amended, and follow-up questions seeking clarification were not immediately answered.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Nigeria: Dana Air to Partner Travelstart On Seamless Booking, Deals for Customers

Nigerian carrier Dana Air has announced that it would partner Travelstart, Africa's largest online travel agency, on seamless booking and exciting deals to provide customers with smart fares as soon as the ongoing systems integration is concluded.

 

This was made known during a courtesy visit by the Global Chief Operating Officer of Travelstart, Amanpreet Singh from South Africa and the Country Manager Travelstart Nigeria, Bukky Akomolafe to Dana Air recently.

 

Speaking during the courtesy visit, the Chief Operating Officer of Travelstart, Amanpreet Singh said, "Dana Air is a huge player in the Nigerian market and one of our biggest clients. With the continuously growing demand for Dana Air tickets on our platforms, we felt the need to enter into this integration to provide seamless booking options for our customers, which will in turn make it easy for us to also partner on very exciting deals for local air travelers."

He noted that Dana Air has a lot of customer-centric online products and services and Travelstart will consider alot of partnerships and Business Development Initiatives that will not only be beneficial to the customers but will accentuate the brand essence of both Dana Air and Travelstart Nigeria.

 

Also commenting during the visit, the Deputy CEO of Dana Air Sukhjinder Mann said "Dana Air is always super excited to consider anything and everything that will empower our customers or offer them a hassle-free service from the point of booking to flying you to your destination."

 

"Travelstart is a global brand and one of our biggest agents doing very well in terms of daily sales and we do appreciate this. As soon as the integration is completed, our customers can be rest assured of getting more seamless options and better deals from this partnership."-This Day.

 

 

 

Africa: Speedchecker Ranks Airtel Fastest Network in Nigeria, 16th in Africa

Crowdsourcing firm, SpeedChecker, an international network rating platform has rated Airtel Nigeria as the fastest network provider in Nigeria and 16th in Africa.

 

In its 2021 report for Africa's Mobile Network Champions, SpeedChecker said Airtel Nigeria recorded an average country mobile download speed of 11.55Mbit/s.

 

The report, which was released over the weekend ranked countries and mobilenetwork operators in two different categories - fastest mobile network champion and best mobile coverage champion.

 

According to the report, internet speed in Nigeria ranked 16th out of the 46 countries that were examined by SpeedChecker.

 

SpeedChecker helps mobile operators get a better understanding of their network from the end-user perspective by collecting billions of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) directly from mobile devices, analysing Radio Access Network (RAN) data from Operatinal Support System (OSS) counters, giving comprehensive reports that show why the quality of network is good or bad, and the tangible steps to improve it.

 

The report highlights the data point samples collected from 3,436,863 mobile devices, collected between January 2021 and January 2022 from end user devices running Android and iOS systems in different countries across Africa, thus providing a true picture of how the mobile networks are performing on the continent according to download speeds.-This Day.

 

 

 

South Africa is Becoming Vast Welfare State, Says Finance Minister

The maiden budget tabled by South Africa's new Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana carefully balances his desire to stimulate economic growth and reduce borrowing with the need to assist welfare grants to the growing number of poor.

 

Godongawana said that South Africa is fast becoming a welfare state, telling Parliament 46 percent of its citizens are receiving social grants.

 

He is able to show some generosity thanks to a 10.7 euro billion tax windfall due to a surge in commodity prices.

 

He stressed that this does not signify increased economic growth.

 

Principally, he will give 190 million euros to vulnerable households

 

Economic growth?

 

He has reduced corporate tax by one percent to 27 percent, limited personal tax increases to 4.5 percent to keep pace with inflation and raised the threshold at which South Africans under 65 will begin paying tax.

"This is not the time to reduce the post-Covid recovery," he said. "So we have kept money in the people's pockets.

 

Godongwana said he is not raising value added tax or increasing the fuel levy which has contributed to record hikes in petrol and diesel prices this past year.

 

He has also avoided increases in Third Party Insurance premiums to the Road Accident Fund.

 

Rises

 

His modest 'sin tax' increases of between 4.5 and 6 percent on tobacco and alcohol products will nevertheless vex the liquor industry reeling from the ban on sales imposed during the coronavirus lockdown.

 

South Africans will pay a health promotion levy in the shape of a tax on sugar and from next year, once legislation is in place, they will pay a carbon tax.

 

Godongwana has pledged to recuperate the estimated 20 million lost in excise revenue because of illegal cigarette sales during the lockdown.

 

Government borrowing has been capped for the first time in seven years and will be limited to R4.3 trillion which is 75.1 percent of GDP.

 

He expressed concern at having to bail out inefficient state-owned enterprises, mentioning specifically the 7.4 billion euros paid to the power Electricity Supply Commission.

 

Municipalities in arrears

 

He said 175 of the country's 257 municipalities were seriously in arrears on water and electricity payments and urged ratepayers and residents to pay their bills.

 

Godongwana said the government would arrest the stratospheric public sector wage bill and deal with the endemic procurement corruption, money laundering and fraud undermining economic growth.

 

Opposition parties commended the balanced Budget and Godongwana's determination not to accept a low growth trajectory.

 

The country predicts real GDP growth next year at 2.3 percent with an average of 1.8 percent over the next three years.

 

Opposition financial commentators say the minister has not been bold enough laying out measures to curb youth unemployment which exceeds 50 percent.-RFI website.

 

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2022

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


ART

PPC

 

 


Starafrica

Fidelity

Turnall

 


Medtech

Zimre

Nampak Zimbabwe

 


 

 

 

 


 <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 report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent 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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