ALGIERS (Reuters) &#8211; Algeria’s gas exports will drop to 26 billion to 30 billion cubic metres per year in 2025 from 45 billion in 2020, energy minister Abdelmadjid Attar told Ennahar TV.



“Exports in the period 2025-2030 will be between 26 to 30 billion cubic metres per year,” Attar told Ennahar.



The decline is mainly due to stagnant output, a rise in domestic consumption, and insufficient investment.



Algeria’s gas exports peaked in 2005 at 64 billion cubic metres.



It exported 51.4 billion cubic metres in 2018.



Algeria derives 95% of its foreign revenue from oil and gas sales.



Attar has also said that an international tender for exploration will be launched in the beginning of 2021, hoping that it will attract foreign investors.



Algeria has passed an energy law at the end of 2019, but investors are still awaiting publication of the regulations to decide whether to come to Algeria or not.

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Algeria’s gas exports to fall sharply in 2025 -minister

KAMPALA (Reuters) &#8211; Uganda’s central bank left its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 7% on Monday, pausing after two straight cuts aimed at helping revive economic growth hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.



In line with other central banks around the world, policymakers in the East African nation embarked on an easing round at the start of the coronavirus crisis, to try to limit the damage to the economy.



“(The easing stance) provided a foundation for the recovery of economic activity as the lockdown is relaxed,” the bank said in a statement.



The World Bank expects economic growth in Uganda to fall as low as 0.4% in 2020 from 5.6% last year, as the effects of the virus batter sectors including tourism, exports and manufacturing.



Policymakers cut a total of 200 basis points during their meetings in April and June to accelerate the flow of cheap credit to businesses struggling from the effects of a lockdown the government implemented to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.



The central bank expects economic growth in the 2020/21 fiscal year in the range of 3.0-4.0 percent, said its governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, in a statement.



“The economic outlook is extremely uncertain, largely because of the unpredictable intensity and duration of the pandemic,” he said, adding the possibility of a widespread and possibly more severe second wave of COVID-19, is a major risk.



Uganda implemented one of the Africa’s tightest anti-coronavirus lockdowns that included shuttering all businesses but the most essential, banning all vehicle movement and public gatherings.

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Uganda central bank holds lending rates after two cuts

ABIDJAN (Reuters) &#8211; Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached 2.004 million tonnes between Oct. 1 and July 31, down 6.4% from the same period last season, data from the cocoa regulator (CCC) showed on Monday.



Exporters had previously estimated that arrivals from Oct. 1 to August 2 would reach 2.043 million tonnes, compared with 2.160 million the previous year.

Cocoa_farmer_David_Kebu_Jnr_holding_the_finished_product,_dried_cocoa_beans_ready_for_export._(10687070725)

Ivory Coast 2019/20 cocoa arrivals reached 2.004 mln t by July 31 -CCC data

CAIRO (Reuters) &#8211; Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation fell to 4.2% in July from 5.6% in June, the central statistics agency CAPMAS said on Monday.



Month on month inflation increased to 0.4% in July from 0.1% in June, the agency said.

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Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation fell to 4.2% in July – CAPMAS

<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/more-bailout-cash-may-just-delay-wave-of-credit-card-defaults?sref=Hjm5biAW">Millions of Americans are unemployed</a>&nbsp;and looking for work.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm">Hiring continues</a>, but there’s far more demand for jobs than supply.



As scholars of&nbsp;<a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ojhiOlgAAAAJ&amp;hl=en&amp;oi=ao">human resources</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D2pc8ugAAAAJ&amp;hl=en&amp;oi=ao">management</a>, we believe artificial intelligence could be a boon for job seekers who need an edge in a tight labor market like today’s.



What’s more,&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.12.001">our research</a>&nbsp;suggests it can make the whole process of finding and changing jobs much less painful, more effective and potentially more lucrative.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Make me a match</h2>



Over the last three years, we’ve&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.09.009">intensely studied</a>&nbsp;the role of&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.07.004">AI in recruiting</a>. This research shows that job candidates are positively inclined to use AI in the recruiting process and find it more convenient than traditional analog approaches.



Although companies&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/12/12/20993665/artificial-intelligence-ai-job-screen">have been using</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.12.001">AI in hiring</a>&nbsp;for a few years, job applicants have only recently begun to discover the power of artificial intelligence to help them in their search.



In the old days, if you wanted to see what jobs were out there, you had to go on a job board like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.monster.com/">Monster.com</a>, type in some keywords, and then get back hundreds or even thousands of open positions, depending on the keywords you used. Sorting through them all was a pain.



Today, with AI and companies like&nbsp;<a href="https://eightfold.ai/">Eightfold</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://skillroads.com/">Skillroads</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://fortay.co/">Fortay</a>, it is less about job search and more about matchmaking. You answer a few questions about your capabilities and preferences and provide a link to your&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a>&nbsp;or other profiles. AI systems that have already logged not just open jobs but also analyzed the companies behind the openings – based on things like reputation, culture and performance – then produce match reports showing the best fits for you in terms of job and company.



Typically, there is an overall match score expressed as a percentage from 0% to 100% for each job. In many cases the report will even tell you which skills or capabilities you lack – or have not included – and how much their inclusion would increase your match score. The intent is to help you spend your time on opportunities that are more likely to result in your getting hired and being happy with the job and company after the hire.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Crafting a winning CV</h2>



Usually, when you look for a job, you apply to lots of openings and companies at the same time. That means two choices: save time by sending each one a mostly generic resume, with minor tweaks for each, or take the time and effort to adjust and tailor your resume to better fit specific jobs.



Today,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/516793/ai-tool-will-help-you-write-winning-resume">AI tools</a>&nbsp;can help customize your resume and cover letter for you. They can tell you what capabilities you might want to add to your resume, show how such additions would influence your chances of being hired and even rewrite your resume to better fit a specific job or company. They can also analyze you, the job and the company and craft a customized cover letter.



While researchers have not yet systemically examined the quality of human- versus AI-crafted cover letters, the AI-generated samples we’ve reviewed are difficult to distinguish from the ones we’ve seen MBA graduates write for themselves over the last 30 years as professors.&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationUS/status/1291815439333330944">Try it for yourself</a>.



Granted, for lots of lower-level jobs, cover letters are relics of the past. But for higher-level jobs, they are still used as an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-cover-letters-are-important-2014-9">important screening mechanism</a>.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351645/original/file-20200806-24-1fy3xg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Images of two cover letters for a job application, one written by a real MBA student, the other by artificial intelligence."/><figcaption>One of these cover letters was written by an MBA student. The other was generated by artificial intelligence. Can you tell which one is which?&nbsp;Author provided,&nbsp;Author provided</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Show me the money</h2>



Negotiations over compensation are another thorny issue in the job search.



Traditionally, applicants have been at a distinct informational disadvantage, making it harder to negotiate for the salary they may deserve based on what others earn for similar work. Now AI-enabled reports from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.payscale.com/">PayScale.com</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.salary.com/">Salary.com</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/salary/">LinkedIn Salary</a>&nbsp;and others provide salary and total compensation reports tailored to job title, education, experience, location and other factors. The data comes from company reported numbers, government statistics and self-reported compensation.



For self-reported data, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.moneyunder30.com/best-salary-information-websites">best sites</a>&nbsp;conduct statistical tests to ensure the validity and accuracy of the data. This is only possible with large databases and serious number crunching abilities. PayScale.com, for example,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.payscale.com/about/use-our-data">has over 54 million respondents</a>&nbsp;in its database and surveys more than 150,000 people per month to keep its reports up-to-date and its database growing.



Although no academics have yet tested if these reports result in better compensation packages than in the old days,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4165077?seq=1">research has long established</a>&nbsp;that negotiating in general gets candidates better compensation offers, and that more information in that process is better than less.



[Deep knowledge, daily.&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&amp;utm_medium=inline-link&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter-text&amp;utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Growing use of AI in hiring</h2>



Use of these tools is growing, especially among young people.



A survey&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.09.009">we conducted in 2018 found</a>&nbsp;that half of employed workers aged 18 to 36 said that they were likely or highly likely to use AI tools in the job search and application process. And 64% of these respondents felt that AI-enabled tools were more convenient.



Most of the research on the use of AI in the hiring process – including our own – has focused on recruitment, however, and the use of the technology&nbsp;<a href="https://www.oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/artificial-intelligence-in-talent-acquisition.pdf">is expected to double</a>&nbsp;over the next two years. We’ve found it to be&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.12.001">effective for companies</a>, so it seems logical that it can be very useful for job candidates as well. In fact, at least US$2 billion in investments are fueling human resources startups aimed at using AI to help job candidates, according to our analysis of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/hub/human-resources-startups#section-leaderboard">Crunchbase business data</a>.



While more research is needed to determine exactly how effective these AI-enabled tools actually are, Americans who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus could use all the help they can get.

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Lost your job due to coronavirus? AI could be your best friend in finding a new one

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s struggling state defence firm Denel told trade unions on Friday that it cannot honour a court ruling that it should pay outstanding salaries by Friday, a letter from Denel’s lawyers to the unions’ lawyers seen by Reuters showed.



“Our client requests that your clients grant it an indulgence to enable it to work on measures to raise funds,” Denel’s lawyers wrote in the letter, adding that Denel would aim to give an update no later the end of next week. Denel said in a statement that it remained committed to meeting its obligations and paying outstanding salaries as soon as possible.

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South Africa’s Denel tells unions it can’t honour court ruling on salaries

GABORONE (Reuters) &#8211; Botswana’s rough diamond exports plunged 68% percent in the second quarter of the year, data published by the central bank showed on Friday, as the Coronavirus pandemic hit demand while global travel restrictions hurt trading.



In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, Botswana closed its borders in March, locking out international buyers from centres such as Mumbai, Antwerp and China who traditionally travel to Gaborone ten times a year to view and buy diamonds.



Exports of diamonds from Debswana, a joint venture between Botswana and diamond mining giant De Beers, a unit of Anglo American, stood at $293 million in the second quarter of 2020, from $916 million in the preceding period.



No exports were recorded in May, while only $20 million worth of diamonds were exported in June, the Bank of Botswana’s data showed.



De Beers, which gets about 70% of its supply from Botswana registered a net loss of $214 million in the first half of the year, as rough sales plunged by more than half to $1 billion, the company said in its results last week.



The fall in diamond exports is expected to hurt Botswana’s balance of payments deficit, as diamonds constitute 70 percent of the country’s exports.



Through the partnership with De Beers, Botswana also gets about 30% of its fiscal revenues from diamonds. It has so far recorded just 800 COVID-19 cases and only two deaths, but its economy has been severely hit.



($1 = 11.7925 pulas)

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Botswana diamond exports fall by two thirds on COVID-19

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; The World Bank has approved $114 million to help Nigeria tackle its coronavirus pandemic, the global lender said on Friday.



The money comes in the form of a $100 million loan and a $14 million grant to be split between Nigeria’s 36 states and federal-level procurement of medical equipment, tests and medicine.



Africa’s most populous country has recorded more than 45,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 930 deaths, but low levels of testing have left a muddy picture of the outbreak’s severity.



“Nigeria has ramped up its efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, but more needs to done at the state level, which are at the front line of the response,” Shubham Chaudhuri, the World Bank’s director for Nigeria, said in its statement on Friday.

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World Bank approves $114 mln for Nigeria’s COVID-19 response

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African investigators are seeking to recover more than 400 million rand ($23 million) from German software firm SAP for two government contracts they allege were entered into unlawfully, court documents seen by Reuters show.



Although the amount of money sought is small for a company with a market value of around 162 billion euros, the move by the authorities is another headache for SAP, which in 2018 admitted to misconduct over deals with South African state firms during former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure.



SAP, a major global business software company, had said it was reviewing all its public sector deals in South Africa dating back to 2010, but it has not publicly flagged wrongdoing over the agreements in 2015 and 2016 with the Department of Water and Sanitation.



Investigators say those contracts should be declared invalid because government regulations were contravened, according to the court papers, reported here for the first time.



The Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which is investigating the contracts, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.



SAP did not comment on the specific allegations. In a statement to Reuters the company said: “SAP continues to cooperate with South African authorities/law enforcement and remains committed to the highest standards of business ethics.”



“Our policy is, and always will be, to carry out all company activities in accordance with the letter and spirit of applicable laws.”



The SIU has been probing SAP’s work for the water ministry for roughly two years, after President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised inquiries into possible procurement irregularities and corruption.



In court papers filed late last week, the SIU asked the Special Tribunal, a court Ramaphosa established to fast-track recovery of misspent or stolen public money, to order SAP to reimburse roughly 128 million rand for the 2015 agreement and 285 million rand for the 2016 agreement, plus interest.



In its review, included in the court documents, the SIU found the water ministry’s 2015 contract with SAP was concluded despite the ministry still having a year left to run on an existing agreement with the German company. For the 2016 contract, the SIU cited a senior technology official as saying neither the ministry nor its entities had received services from SAP despite the 285 million rand paid.



A SIU principal forensic lawyer said in an affidavit that investigators were still probing possible corruption related to SAP’s work for the water ministry. But he said they had decided to launch civil proceedings in the Special Tribunal now because taxpayer money was at stake.



The acting director-general of the water ministry said in an affidavit that a high turnover of directors-general since 2016 meant “the obvious illegality related to the conclusion of the SAP contracts” was not addressed sooner.



A ministry spokesman declined further comment.



In March 2018, SAP admitted to paying more than $9 million to intermediary companies linked to the Guptas, a family at the centre of a political corruption scandal in South Africa.



The Guptas, close friends of former president Jacob Zuma, have denied corruption allegations but their relationship to the former president is one of the main areas of focus of a state corruption inquiry that began after Ramaphosa succeeded Zuma in February 2018.



Zuma also denies involvement in any corruption.



Ramaphosa has staked his reputation on cleaning up public life in South Africa but a spate of tender scandals during the coronavirus crisis has made some analysts question whether much progress has been made.



The COVID-19 pandemic has poleaxed an already weak economy and set the stage for a record budget deficit in the post-apartheid era.



This week the SIU and Eskom, the state power company that has also featured in corruption scandals, took steps to try to recoup 3.8 billion rand they allege was diverted from the utility by former Eskom executives and the Guptas.



The Guptas have denied unduly winning contracts with government entities, including Eskom, during Zuma’s time in office.



($1 = 17.5557 rand)

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South Africa tries to recover over $23 mln from SAP for ‘unlawful’ contracts

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African gold miners are looking to cut debt and boost dividends as bullion hits record highs, with analysts and fund managers predicting a sectoral growth spurt over the next two years amid rising investor interest.



Shunned by investors due to mines that are old, deep, and difficult to extract, the country’s gold miners have traded at a discount to their global peers for years.



Higher prices, as spot gold roared past $2,000 an ounce for the first time, coupled with a weaker rand currency, comes as a lifeline.



Interviews with companies executives, analysts and fund managers show that higher gold prices could see some local miners bring their net debt to zero and pay healthy dividends over the next 18 to 24 months.



“Gold mining companies will spew a lot of cash in the next 12 months,” said Franco Lorenzani, an independent mining analyst.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sibanye Stillwater, which has battled high debt, said it achieved its leverage target in the first quarter, ahead of plan.



Its net debt, which stood at 20.964 billion rand ($1.2 billion) in 2019, dropped 40% year-on-year in the first quarter.



Higher prices have also made more marginal ounces profitable for Sibanye, spokesman James Wellsted told Reuters, adding the company was looking at other ways to benefit from favourable market conditions.



“Maybe mining secondary reefs &#8230; might be viable at these prices,” said Wellsted.



Pan African Resources is hoping to be net debt free by June 2021 and plans to increase its dividend payout to 5% from 1% last year, its head of investor relations Hethen Hira said. Its net debt dropped 49% to $62.5 million at end December.



Gold Fields has flagged hefty gains from the gold rally, with half-year profits seen up more than 300%.



Rene Heichreiter of Noah Capital said he was advising his clients to continue to invest in local gold miners, predicting a exponential jump in revenues in the coming months.



Some investors have already turned bullish.



Factsheets of fund managers seen by Reuters show South Africa’s Fairtree increased its exposure to Harmony Gold by 0.78% between March and June, while U.S.-based ASA Ltd, which invests in gold mining companies globally, increased its investments in South Africa to 10.7% in June from 9.9% in January.



But the operating environment remains risky.



While power cuts and regulatory uncertainty have always hung over operations, the mining sector is also battling rising COVID-19 cases in underground mines where social distancing is a challenge.



This could threaten output, as some analysts warn the frenzy over high prices could backfire as investments add to costs.



“Whenever the gold prices go up the costs tend to go up with it,” said Nedbank mining analyst Arnold Van Graan.



($1 = 17.5317 rand)

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Record bullion prices give South African gold miners a lifeline, risks remain

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The South African central bank further cut its government bond purchases in July, buying 2.5 billion rand ($142 million) worth, or half the amount it bought in June, to bring its total holdings to 38.4 billion rand, data showed on Friday.



Rampant selling of government debt in March and April, as the coronavirus struck, forced the bank into emergency liquidity measures, including a quantitative easing style purchase of bonds in the secondary market.



At its rate meeting two weeks ago, when the bank clipped lending rates by 25 basis points, governor Lesetja Kganyago stressed the bond buying was to support liquidity rather than finance government’s ballooning budget deficit.



In May, National Treasury upped the weekly amount of debt on auction by nearly 2 billion rand.



Local banks and asset mangers have mostly taken up the increased supply, but foreign investors have reduced their holdings to an eight-year low at 30.1%.



($1 = 17.5639 rand)

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South African central bank cuts bond buys to 2.5 bln rand in July

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank has committed $400 million in loans and guarantees to Mozambique’s $20 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, the multilateral lender said on Thursday.



Afreximbank’s move follows a similar commitment for the same sum by The African Development Bank last month.



“The &#8230; financing will be used to partially finance &#8230; activities required to extract natural gas offshore, its transfer to onshore processing facilities and then its conversion to LNG for export &#8230; around the world,” the Afreximbank statement said.



The Mozambique LNG Area 1 Project is ranked Africa’s single largest foreign direct investment to date. It will consist of two LNG trains with a total capacity of around 13 million tons per year.



French energy major Total, the operator, has secured a $14.9 billion senior debt agreement, the biggest project financing Africa has seen.

Print

Afreximbank commits $400 mln to Mozambique LNG project

WASHINGTON (Reuters) &#8211; U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled sweeping bans on U.S. transactions with China’s ByteDance, owner of video-sharing app TikTok, and Tencent (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/0700.HK">0700.HK</a>), operator of messenger app WeChat, in a major escalation of tensions with Beijing.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="594" height="438" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-352573" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1.jpg 594w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1-300x221.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1-80x60.jpg 80w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1-570x420.jpg 570w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px" /><figcaption>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; FEBRUARY 16: U.S. President Donald Trump stands during a news conference announcing Alexander Acosta as the new Labor Secretary nominee in the East Room at the White House on February 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. The announcement comes a day after Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



The executive orders, which go into effect in 45 days, come after the Trump administration said this week it was stepping up efforts to purge “untrusted” Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks and called TikTok and WeChat “significant threats.”



The hugely popular Tiktok has come under fire from U.S. lawmakers and the administration over national security concerns surrounding data collection, amid growing distrust between Washington and Beijing.



On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expanded efforts on a program dubbed “Clean Network” to prevent various Chinese apps as well as Chinese telecoms firms from accessing sensitive information on U.S. citizens and businesses.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RELATED COVERAGE</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wechat-trump-factbox/factbox-wechat-owner-tencent-investments-in-the-united-states-and-beyond-idUSKCN2530K8">Factbox: WeChat owner Tencent investments in the United States and beyond</a></li></ul>



James Lewis, a technology expert with Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the orders appeared coordinated with Pompeo’s announcement.



“This is the rupture in the digital world between the U.S. and China,” he said. “Absolutely, China will retaliate.”



“On TikTok, Trump is clearly putting pressure on Bytedance to close the deal,” Lewis said.



TikTok has 100 million users in the United States. While WeChat is not popular in the country, the app, which has over 1 billion users, is ubiquitous in China. It is also widely used by expat Chinese as a main platform for communications with family and friends as well as a medium for various other services such as games and e-commerce.



WeChat and TikTok were among 59 mostly Chinese apps outlawed in India in June for threatening the country’s “sovereignty and integrity.”



Operator Tencent is China’s second most-valuable company after Alibaba at $686 billion. It is also China’s biggest video game company and earlier this summer opened California-based studio.



Its shares fell nearly 10% in Hong Kong after Trump&#8217;s order. The yuan&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/finance/currencies/quote?srcCurr=CNH&amp;destCurr=USD">CNH=</a>, which is sensitive to Sino-U.S. relations, lost 0.4%.



Tencent and ByteDance declined to comment.

The Rise Of TikTok

Trump issues bans on China’s TikTok, WeChat, stoking tension with Beijing

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has set up a ministerial committee to investigate alleged corruption in state tenders in the fight against COVID-19, his office said on Thursday, including with businesses supplying protective gear.



Reports of suspect deals between government officials and businesses providing medical equipment, as well as food aid parcels to the poor, have sparked outrage in South Africa, where more than half a million cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 make it the fifth largest outbreak in the world.



South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog said on Monday it was investigating irregularities in these contracts, the latest in a series of high-profile graft scandals involving politically-connected individuals.



Reports of corruption are embarrassing for Ramaphosa, who took over from Jacob Zuma as president more than two years ago on a promise of stamping out the graft associated with his predecessor.



“The committee will look into corruption in the procurement of goods and services sourced for the purpose of containing and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement from Ramaphosa’s office said, adding that this “includes the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE)”.



Nurses have complained of widespread shortages of PPE that have enabled infections to spread to staff and other patients in hospitals.



The president in a newsletter this week pledged to “finally deal with the entrenched patronage networks that enable government employees to bid for state contracts through their friends and relatives”.



Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman, Khusela Diko, and a top Gauteng health official have taken leaves of absence after a media report said that Diko’s husband won PPE contracts with the Gauteng government. She and her husband deny any wrong-doing.

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South Africa’s Ramaphosa sets up body to probe COVID-19 corruption

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria will reopen for international air travel in a matter of weeks, the aviation minister said on Thursday, without giving a specific date for the resumption after months of closure due to the global coronavirus pandemic.



“It will be in weeks rather than in months,” Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika told a regular briefing in the capital Abuja on coronavirus.



Nigeria began to close its airports in March, a month after Africa’s most populous country confirmed its first coronavirus case. Domestic air travel restarted last month.



The country has 44,890 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 900 deaths, figures from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control show.



Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Paul Carsten; editing by Barbara Lewis

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Nigeria to reopen for international air travel in weeks

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) &#8211; Ten countries account for 80% of the new coronavirus testing taking place across Africa, a regional body said on Thursday, indicating that little testing is taking place in many countries around the vast continent.



COVID-19 confirmed cases across Africa have accelerated and are close to hitting a million this week, and experts say low levels of testing in many countries means infection rates are likely to be higher than reported.



Some governments across the continent are too poor or conflict-ridden to carry out widespread testing, while others are reluctant to share data or to expose their crumbling health systems to outside scrutiny.



South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Mauritius have each conducted more than 200,000 tests, said John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).



So far nearly 9 million tests have been conducted across the continent, up 9.4% from last week’s tally.



“This number indicates we reached 90% of our goal for the partnership to accelerate COVID testing,” Nkengasong told a virtual news conference.



The regional body said it had supported 14 other countries with an additional 240,000 tests.

CDC coronavirus

10 countries account for 80% of Africa COVID-19 testing – Africa CDC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) &#8211; U.S. employers announced another 262,649 job cuts in July as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to weigh on demand, the latest indication that the labor market recovery is losing steam.



The layoffs reported by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray &amp; Christmas on Thursday were up 54% from June.



The job cuts, the third-largest monthly total since the coronavirus pandemic began, followed data this week showing a big step-down in private payrolls in July and further contraction in employment at manufacturing and services industries.



Hiring announcements totaled 246,507 in July, almost matching layoffs, Challenger, Gray reported.



“The downturn is far from over, especially as COVID cases rise around the country,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president at Challenger, Gray. “Consumers are buying fewer goods and services, businesses are closing, and bankruptcies are rising.”



July’s job cuts brought the total so far this year to 1.848 million, up 212% from the same period in 2019. The year-to-date layoffs are just 109,180 away from the record 1.957 million job cuts announced in 2001.



The weak labor market data raises the risk of a sharper slowdown in job growth in July. The Labor Department will publish its closely watched, and broader, monthly employment report on Friday. According to a Reuters survey of economists, nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 1.6 million in July, down from the record 4.8 million jobs created in June.



According to Challenger, Gray &amp; Christmas, COVID-19 was cited as the reason for 63,517 job cuts in July. The respiratory illness has been blamed for 1.075 million layoffs so far this year. The balance of job cuts in July were attributed to market conditions, a downturn in demand and bankruptcies.



Several retailers including J.C. Penney and Lord &amp; Taylor have filed for bankruptcy since March. Job cuts remained concentrated at bars, restaurants, hotels and amusement parks. The automotive sector cut 83,853 jobs. Hiring announcements totaled 246,507 in July, almost matching layoffs.



“It is clear that many job losses are now permanent, and it will be challenging for many workers to find new jobs and feel safe taking jobs that are public-facing,” said Challenger.

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