Breakfast Edition: 22 January 2016
WATCH & LISTEN: Here is a recap of this morning's top news stories.
DEVELOPMENT BANK HAS AN ENERGY PLAN: African leaders attending the World Economic Forum in Davos have announced a new deal on energy. The deal aims to reach universal access to electricity on the continent by 2025. Former United Nations chief, Kofi Annan says Africa is tired of being in the dark. Africa needs an energy revolution to take full advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, according to African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, and the bank has come up with a plan, pledging to invest US$12 billion dollars over the next five years to support it.
FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A high level panel discussion in Davos also spoke about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the massive advantages it will hold for Africa. Standard Bank's André Venter explained that while the Third Industrial Revolution had to do with the impact of information technology - on industry - the fourth dealt with the speed at which technology changes the industrial landscape.
SAA CANCELS FLIGHTS DUE TO STORM IN US: South African Airways canceled flights to and from Washington DC for today and tomorrow due to warnings of severe weather conditions. While parts of South Africa were buckling under the drought, the US capital was warned that up to 61 centimetres of snow could fall over the next 48 hours.
SIMPLE PAINTING SOLD FOR $44 MILLION: While we are all feeling the pinch of January an anonymous bidder plunked down nearly 44-million-dollars for a painting by New York artist Barnett Newman - that features a white line across a blue canvas. That's it.
NETFLIX REPORTS ENORMOUS GROWTH: Netflix reported that it remained profitable and added a record number of new subscribers in the final quarter of last year as it pushed to expand globally. Netflix shares jumped more than six percent to $115.20 after revealing that its ranks of members has topped 75 million and that it made a profit of $43 million in the final quarter of last year. With the streaming service now also available in South Africa, the company has revealed that the world watched almost 5 million years' worth of netflix in 2015. That amounts to 42.5 billion hours of content.
