this is business briefing. a new era? how will the south african economy respond to presidentjacob zuma's resignation? and what are the economic polices of his successor? and as us president donald trump cracks down on immigration, the spouses of thousands of asian immigrants working there could soon lose theirjobs. and on the markets... south africa's beleaguered president jacob zuma has resigned with immediate effect, avoiding a no—confidence vote planned for today. he faced persistent allegations of corruption and will now be formally succeeded by cyril ramaphosa — the new leader of the anc. markets have reacted positively to the prospect of a new president.

since the start of december, the south african rand has been the best performing currency out of all of the emerging economies, here you can see the dollar declining against the strengthening rand. it rallied a further 2% on the news of mr zuma's resignation. many experts suggest that mr zuma was not committed to serious economic reforms. gdp growth has slowed over the course of his tenure, but analysts are now expecting a reversal of this decline after his resignation. but any reforms will take some time before they translate into newjobs. unemployment has risen steadily over the last few years and could remain stubbornly high until the turn of the decade. let's go back now to the moment when president zuma announced he is stepping down. i have therefore come to the decision to resign

as president of the republic with immediate effect. even though i disagree with the decision of the leadership, of my organisation, i have always been a disciplined member of the anc. as i leave, i will continue to serve the people of south africa. with me is william attwell, practice leader for sub—saharan africa analysis at frontier strategy group. welcome to use. —— you. let's go back to before he took office, the economy is south africa was growing between 4— 5%. in the past three yea rs between 4— 5%. in the past three years it has been 0.3%. where did it go wrong? south africa didn't

recover after the great recession after 2008, 2009, even as commodities started to improve and global markets started to improve after that period. the lack of policy certainty meant that companies did not feel this co mforta ble companies did not feel this comfortable in investing, such as his radical economic transformation plan, the mining charter, it left a lot of companies in doubt as to their ultimate ambition. cyril ramaphosa has committed to transforming the economy, he has a big job on his hands. what is his first job, foreign investment? we expect foreign investment going in to 2018. the structural investment will take longer. he is omitted to bringing in incentives for investors, in manufacturing, to create jobs. schemes to

investors, in manufacturing, to createjobs. schemes to improve youth employment and measures to reduce some of the costs of doing business which hinge on growth. finance rms too? they are. we are likely to look into the budget later this month or in march, the immediate priority is to avoid a further credit rating downgrade, which would mean south africa would be kicked off citibank‘s world government bond index. filling that fiscal deficit will be a major challenge. the rand perked up after his resignation. how is cyril ramaphosa viewed by business? he is viewed positively. as a successful businessman himself? right. he said very pragmatic things on the economy and he is expected to bring economic reforms. the fact that the rand has

steadied so well will have an impact on the economy. with that, we expect a potentially —— a potential interest rate cut before the first half of the year. thank you. finally some good news from japan's troubled electronics giant toshiba. it's got a new boss, and it's likely to have made money for the first time in four years. rico hizonjoins us now from singapore for more. samantha! after months of bad news, the firm is making news headlines for good reasons. toshiba appointed a former banker and his name is nobuaki kurumatani, he was involved in the government bailout of bapco, which was at the heart of the nuclear disaster following the in 2011. that was controversial but it

means he has dealt with people who oppose whatever he is trying to do. is first big task will be to make sure the sale of its chip unit, worth 18 billion us dollars, goes smoothly. some active shareholders are against the move even though it is the only way for the company to make money. also helping the sale of its now bankrupt us unit, toshiba is predicted to have made $5 billion for the year ending march and that means they avoid falling into negative net worth, allowing it to remaina negative net worth, allowing it to remain a listed company. this news is indeed exciting investors. to see you. thank you. —— good to see you. tens of thousands of indian and chinese women in the us could soon lose the right to work, as president trump looks to overturn another 0bama—era policy. in 2015, the us government granted the spouses of highly skilled immigrants the right to work for the first time ever. most of these foreign workers come

from india and china, and men, largely, hold the primary visas. the bbc‘s yogita limaye reports from new york. america is the only home her children had ever known. this woman migrated from india a decade ago. her husband is on these are given highly skilled workers and two years ago, as his spouse, she was the first ever given the right to work in this country. now, president trump intends to revoke that. in this country. now, president trump intends to revoke thatm feels like i am getting back into a holding cage. it is as if they are sending the signal to me that my skill sets and my abilities do not matter in this world and i should leave my life of a home in stomach maker then be a contributing member of society. earlier this month, she

was among a group of indians who rallied outside the capital. tens of thousands of people from india and china are most impacted because the number of immigrants from these countries are at high and the primary visa holders are normally men. this is a little bit of india in newjersey, just outside of new york. it is one place where indians with technical skills have really thrived over decades, living the american dream. and employers have benefited too, because hiring foreigners is cheaper. the 0bama administration decision to allow spouses of foreign workers to get a job was opposed by some groups, even challenged in court. a case that might be rendered irrelevant now, given the new president's views. that is something that he has been very vocal about, he wants jobs for americans and you want —— and he wa nts wages americans and you want —— and he wants wages to increase. if you keep bringing in workers, that is great,

but it doesn't help the american workers. for many who make the journey to america, the idea that america would deny them that right is hard to come to terms with. now let's brief you some other business stories. qualcomm has confirmed it met with broadcom wednesday to discuss the latter‘s revised $121 billion bid for the company. it the first time the chipmakers have discussed what would be the technology sector's largest ever acquisition. the meeting came after qualcomm rejected broadcom's revised cash—and—stock bid of $82 per share last week and said it still undervalued it. cisco systems has beaten expectations with its latest earnings report. quarterly revenues jumped for the first time in two years, as the firm's efforts to shift to a software—focused company begin to take hold. cisco also announced a $25 billion share buyback plan, helping send shares up more than 5 percent in after—hours trading. that's it for business briefing this hour.

but before we go, here are the markets. the dollar extended its losses against the yen and set a fresh 15—month low on thursday. that is it for the business briefing. up next — newsbriefing. we'll take you through the stories making headlines in the global media today. a pensions mis—selling scandal, which has cost some former steelworkers hundreds of thousands of pounds, has been investigated by the the work and pensions select

committee. mp's say dubious financial advisors exploited them for financial gain following the closure of the british steel pension scheme, and the financial conduct authority did too little to protect them. 0ur wales correspondent, sian lloyd, reports. last year, members of the old british steel pension scheme faced a huge decision about their retirement savings, after the company which took over the earnings said it was no longer viable. workers could tra nsfer no longer viable. workers could transfer out of the scheme, a report said that some of those who did were exploited, bamboozled by dubious financial advisers. there have been people who probably have been fleeced of the most valuable asset they will have ever had, which they built up as part of their pension scheme, of which the financial vultures have been after and in too many cases, been successful in

getting their claws in. we uncovered the case of richard bevan, who transferred into a private scheme after seeking independent financial advice. he estimates the decision has cost him around £200,000.” advice. he estimates the decision has cost him around £200,000. i have obviously been led into doing something i wasn't right doing by a financial adviser. and it is not a nice place to be in at the moment. the financial conduct authority is criticising this report for not acting quickly enough after concerns we re acting quickly enough after concerns were raised. it says it is reviewing its rules on transfers, but for steelworkers like richard, any changes will be too late. coming up at six o'clock on breakfast — charlie stayt and naga munchetty will have all the day's news, business and sport. stay tuned to that. this is the briefing from bbc news.

the latest headlines... teachers and students are among at least 17 people shot dead at a high school in florida. a 19—year—old former student — who'd been expelled — has been arrested. south africa's governing anc welcomes president zuma's resignation. he says he wants to prevent violence being committed in his name. as donald trump cracks down on immigration, the spouses of working immigrants could soon lose their visas. now, it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with bloomberg's take on jacob zuma's resignation. it says the south african rand jumped to a 3—year high after the president agreed to step down. and it says the story of the porn star who allegedly had an affair with donald trump has been given new life after the president's lawyer admited paying her off. it's said she believes she's now free to talk about the claims.

the independent report on the latest example of climate change. it says a ship's managed to get through wintry arctic waters without an icebrea ker for the first time. it also says melting ice is opening up quicker trade routes for boats. the times here in the uk looks at the fallout from the 0xfam case. it has a double—page spread on how charities could be hit. its main story looks at 25,000 bangladeshis who could suffer if retailerjohn lewis pulls out of an 0xfam deal. and a story from canada's globe and mail's in newspapers around the world today. and the talk of our newsroom — the former canadian prime minister, kim campbell, says it's demeaning for female newsreaders to show their arms on tv. i wonder if she's watching. i doubt it. we will be just i doubt it. we will bejust —— discussing that in a few minutes. so let's begin. with me is liam booth—smith, chief executive of the think tank localis. let's start with his take on

bloomberg on how south africa is going to react now that jacob zuma has finally gone. the litany of corruption scandals has finally caught up with jacob zuma and his own party had decided to force him out. the markets have responded very positively. also, i think the general economy will respond positively as well. for the last ten years, they have been sluggishly growing about 1.6 per year. this story says. i'm sure that after ten yea rs year. this story says. i'm sure that after ten years of that, it is shy —— time fora after ten years of that, it is shy —— time for a change. it is not the anc acting morally against some sort of corruption or