SYDNEY, July 9 (Reuters) &#8211; Australia coach Justin Langer said he was hurt and confused by some of the criticism he received from the players over his style of working but remains keen to lead the side and get an extension when his current contract runs out next year.
Reports of dressing-room unrest and discontent over his coaching style surfaced after Australia were beaten 2-1 in the test series at home by an injury-ravaged India in January.
The players took part in an end-of-season review with leadership consultant Tim Ford, and Australia&#8217;s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch said this week that Langer had cleared the air before flying with the team to West Indies.
&#8220;I haven&#8217;t changed much in twenty-odd years of being involved in Australian cricket,&#8221; Langer said on the eve of Australia&#8217;s Twenty20 series opener against West Indies in St Lucia.
&#8220;Some of the things I was reading were a bit confusing actually. If I&#8217;m completely honest I was really hurt by some of it. The feedback I&#8217;ve been given for three years has been overwhelmingly positive of the role that I&#8217;ve been able to play as a coach.&#8221;
Cricket Australia appointed the former opening batsman as the head coach on a four-year contract in 2018 after Darren Lehmann stepped down in the wake of the damaging ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
Langer said he would want to continue in his role.
&#8220;If the board and the CEO and high performance manager believe I&#8217;m the right person to keep leading us forward, absolutely. I absolutely love my job,&#8221; Langer said.
&#8220;I didn&#8217;t like losing to India in the amazing series, no one likes losing. I&#8217;m absolutely committed, I love my job, I love the Australian cricket team, I love the players and I love Australian cricket.
&#8220;They&#8217;re the things I value most in my life. Hopefully I&#8217;ve done a really good job the last three years, that&#8217;s been the feedback. Long may that continue.&#8221;
Langer and his men would be keen to perform well at the Twenty20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and the home Ashes series against arch-rivals England starting December.
&#8220;We&#8217;re not a great team yet and that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re all aspiring to. Like I&#8217;m aspiring to be a great coach,&#8221; added the 50-year-old, who played 105 tests for Australia.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not a great coach yet, I&#8217;m aspiring to be a great coach. I&#8217;m working towards it and I hope all the players are doing the same thing.&#8221; (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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Cricket-Langer keen to continue as Australia’s head coach, despite criticism

Jul 9 (OPTA) &#8211; Scores from the PGA Tour John Deere Classic on Thursday -8 Chesson Hadley (USA) 63 Sebastian Munoz (Colombia) 63 -7 Hank Lebioda (USA) 64 Chez Reavie (USA) 64 Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 64 -6 Ryan Moore (USA) 65 -5 Cameron Champ (USA) 66 Michael Gellerman (England) 66 Doug Ghim (USA) 66 Luke List (USA) 66 Kevin Tway (USA) 66 -4 Chris Baker (USA) 67 Bronson Burgoon (USA) 67 Cameron Davis (Australia) 67 Fabian Gomez (Argentina) 67 Brandon Hagy (USA) 67 Russell Henley (USA) 67 Sung-hoon Kang (Korea Republic) 67 Kevin Na (USA) 67 Henrik Norlander (Sweden) 67 Patrick Rodgers (USA) 67 Sam Ryder (USA) 67 Adam Schenk (USA) 67 Alex Smalley (USA) 67 J.J. Spaun (USA) 67 Nick Taylor (Canada) 67 Harold Varner III (USA) 67 Jhonattan Vegas (Venezuela) 67 -3 Jason Dufner (USA) 68 Dylan Frittelli (South Africa) 68 Lucas Glover (USA) 68 Will Gordon (USA) 68 Scott Harrington (USA) 68 Zach Harris Johnson (USA) 68 Jim Herman (USA) 68 Mark Hubbard (USA) 68 John Huh (USA) 68 Sungjae Im (Korea Republic) 68 Martin Laird (Scotland) 68 Keith Mitchell (USA) 68 Cheng-Tsung Pan (Chinese Taipei) 68 Pat Perez (USA) 68 Seamus Power (Republic of Ireland) 68 Wes Roach (USA) 68 Chase Seiffert (USA) 68 Scott Stallings (USA) 68 Kyle Stanley (USA) 68 Michael Thompson (USA) 68 D.J. Trahan (USA) 68 Richy Werenski (USA) 68 Mark Wilson (USA) 68 -2 Daniel Berger (USA) 69 Jonas Blixt (Sweden) 69 Scott Brown (USA) 69 Greg Chalmers (Australia) 69 K.J. Choi (Korea Republic) 69 Eric Cole (USA) 69 Brian Gay (USA) 69 Rhein Gibson (Australia) 69 Patton Kizzire (USA) 69 Luke Kluver (USA) 69 Satoshi Kodaira (Japan) 69 Danny Lee (New Zealand) 69 Tom Lewis (England) 69 Ben Martin (USA) 69 Matthew NeSmith (USA) 69 Sean O&#8217;Hair (USA) 69 Rob Oppenheim (USA) 69 Doc Redman (USA) 69 Andres Romero (Argentina) 69 Robert Streb (USA) 69 Brian Stuard (USA) 69 Hudson Swafford (USA) 69 Vaughn Taylor (USA) 69 -1 Mark Anderson (USA) 70 Ryan Armour (USA) 70 Rafa Cabrera Bello (Spain) 70 Luke Gannon (USA) 70 Brian Harman (USA) 70 David Hearn (Canada) 70 Kramer Hickok (USA) 70 Harry Higgs (USA) 70 Bo Hoag (USA) 70 Andrew Landry (USA) 70 Rodrigo Lee (Brazil) 70 Adam Long (USA) 70 Willie Mack (USA) 70 Denny McCarthy (USA) 70 Alex Noren (Sweden) 70 Cameron Percy (Australia) 70 Mito Pereira (Chile) 70 Scott Piercy (USA) 70 Ted Potter Jr (USA) 70 Andrew Putnam (USA) 70 Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 70 Roger Sloan (Canada) 70 Sepp Straka (Austria) 70 Steve Stricker (USA) 70 Ben Taylor (England) 70 Martin Trainer (USA) 70 Nick Watney (USA) 70 0 Byeong Hun An (Korea Republic) 71 Arjun Atwal (India) 71 Sangmoon Bae (Korea Republic) 71 Ricky Barnes (USA) 71 Ryan Blaum (USA) 71 Brice Garnett (USA) 71 Michael Gligic (Canada) 71 Charles Howell III (USA) 71 Anirban Lahiri (India) 71 Nelson Ledesma (Argentina) 71 Maverick McNealy (USA) 71 George McNeill (USA) 71 D.A. Points (USA) 71 Robby Shelton (USA) 71 Bo Van Pelt (USA) 71 Johnson Wagner (USA) 71 Vincent Whaley (USA) 71 1 Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 72 Jonathan Byrd (USA) 72 J.J. Henry (USA) 72 J.B. Holmes (USA) 72 Richard S Johnson (Sweden) 72 David Lingmerth (Sweden) 72 Peter Malnati (USA) 72 Alex Schaake (USA) 72 Kevin Streelman (USA) 72 Aaron Wise (USA) 72 2 Dominic Bozzelli (USA) 73 Austin Cook (USA) 73 Bill Haas (USA) 73 Beau Hossler (USA) 73 Michael Kim (USA) 73 Zack Sucher (USA) 73 3 Ryan Brehm (USA) 74 Rafael Campos (Puerto Rico) 74 Sebastian Cappelen (Denmark) 74 Troy Merritt (USA) 74 David Perkins (USA) 74 J.T. Poston (USA) 74 Chad Proehl (USA) 74 John Senden (Australia) 74 Shawn Stefani (USA) 74 Josh Teater (USA) 74 4 Joseph Bramlett (USA) 75 Tyler Duncan (USA) 75 Tripp Kinney (USA) 75 Kevin Stadler (USA) 75 5 Harrison Frazar (USA) 76 Parker McLachlin (USA) 76 Kristoffer Ventura (Norway) 76 6 Michael Feagles (USA) 77 8 Jason Bohn (USA) 79 Matt Every (USA) 79 29 Si Woo Kim (Korea Republic) Grayson Murray (USA) 
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PGA Tour John Deere Classic Scores

NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Cape Town, Vancouver and Seoul have been added to the new season of Formula E, the all-electric racing series that will grow to a record 16-race championship in 2021/22, according to a provisional calendar approved on Thursday.
Formula E will race in 12 cities in four continents next season as the series expands following the end of coronavirus-related restrictions in countries such as China, which returns to the calendar.
Cape Town will host an FIA single-seater world championship race for the first time since 1993, when it staged a Formula One grand prix.
The 2021/22 season for the all-electric series will start again in Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Diriyah in January, in a night race.
Other venues in a season scheduled to end in August, 2022 include London, Berlin, Monaco, Rome and New York.
Swiss driver Edoardo Mortara (Rokit Venturi) leads the standings this season ahead of this weekend&#8217;s races in New York, 10 points clear of Dutchman Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin).
(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira, editing by Ed Osmond)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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Motor racing-South Africa, S Korea added to 16-race new Formula E season

* Latam FX fall, but come off day&#8217;s lows as dollar weakens * Peru, Colombia among most vulnerable EMs from delta variant -JPM * Peru, Chile to rise 9.5% and 8%, respectively &#8211; ECLAC * Latam stocks fall between 0.1% &#8211; 1.4% (Updates prices) By Ambar Warrick and Susan Mathew July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Latin American currencies joined a broader rout in emerging markets on Thursday, as a rapid rise in the COVID-19 Delta variant and dovish signals from China raised concerns over an economic recovery this year. A slide in the dollar, however, saw most regional currencies cut some losses. Brazil&#8217;s real fell 0.2% after having lost as much as 1.5% during the session. The real extended losses into an eighth straight session &#8211; its longest losing streak since January 2014 &#8211; as the broader risk-off mood exacerbated worries over corruption scandals threatening political stability in the country. Data on Thursday showed Brazilian inflation in June hit a near five-year high. &#8220;But the data are not quite enough to prompt a shift from 75 basis points hikes to a larger 100bps move,&#8221; said William Jackson, chief EM economist at Capital Economics. The central had flagged the possibility of a 100 bps move at its last meeting. The real is now trading down 1% for the year, after rising as much as 5.8%. Economies of the Philippines, Peru, Colombia, South Africa and Thailand are among the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 Delta variant within emerging markets, mostly due to low vaccination rates, a JPMorgan analysis found on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said Panama, Peru and Chile should score the best performances in the year in Latam, with expansions of 12%, 9.5% and 8%, respectively. Brazil should grow by 4.5%, while Mexico was set to advance 5.8% and Argentina, 6.3%. Mexico&#8217;s peso was down 0.1%, after briefly touching a two-week low. Data showed inflation was almost unchanged in June, but well above the central bank&#8217;s target range. Minutes of the Mexican central bank&#8217;s last meeting, where it unexpectedly hiked rates, also showed the bank viewed a recent spike in prices as transitory, and highlighted its newest board member, Galia Borja&#8217;s, dovish thinking. Peru&#8217;s sol turned session losses around to rise 0.3% ahead of a central bank rate decision later in the day. Investors broadly expect the bank to hold rates at 0.25%. Regional shares joined a global stocks rout, with a fall in Chinese technology stocks spilling over to broader markets and trigger risk-off selling. The S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices and FTSE Russell on late Wednesday decided to remove more Chinese companies from their indices after an updated U.S. executive order barred domestic investment in firms with alleged ties to China&#8217;s military. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 1316.11 -1.83 MSCI LatAm 2498.94 -1.15 Brazil Bovespa 125256.41 -1.39 Mexico IPC 49570.82 -0.96 Chile IPSA 4185.50 -0.5 Colombia COLCAP 1284.77 -0.13 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 5.2544 -0.31 Mexico peso 19.9827 -0.30 Chile peso 752 -0.55 Colombia peso 3837 -0.23 Peru sol 3.951 -0.04 (Reporting by Ambar Warrick Editing by Alistair Bell and Sandra Maler) 
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EMERGING MARKETS-Brazil’s real marks longest losing streak in 7-1/2 years

Jul 8 (OPTA) &#8211; Scores from the European Tour Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open on Thursday -7 Jack Senior (England) 64 -6 Justin Thomas (USA) 65 Lee Westwood (England) 65 -5 George Coetzee (South Africa) 66 Thomas Detry (Belgium) 66 Matthew Fitzpatrick (England) 66 Tommy Fleetwood (England) 66 David Horsey (England) 66 Ryan Palmer (USA) 66 Ian Poulter (England) 66 Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 66 Jon Rahm (Spain) 66 -4 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand) 67 Oliver Farr (Wales) 67 Grant Forrest (Scotland) 67 Padraig Harrington (Republic of Ireland) 67 Scott Hend (Australia) 67 Marcus Kinhult (Sweden) 67 Francesco Laporta (Italy) 67 David Law (Scotland) 67 Wade Ormsby (Australia) 67 Richie Ramsay (Scotland) 67 Xander Schauffele (USA) 67 Sebastian Soderberg (Sweden) 67 Connor Syme (Scotland) 67 Jeff Winther (Denmark) 67 -3 Marcus Armitage (England) 68 Adri Arnaus (Spain) 68 Jamie Donaldson (Wales) 68 Julien Guerrier (France) 68 Benjamin Hebert (France) 68 Garrick Higgo (South Africa) 68 Rasmus Hojgaard (Denmark) 68 Matthew Jordan (England) 68 Søren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 68 Joakim Lagergren (Sweden) 68 Romain Langasque (France) 68 Min Woo Lee (Australia) 68 Robert MacIntyre (Scotland) 68 Adrian Otaegui (Spain) 68 Thomas Pieters (Belgium) 68 Jason Scrivener (Australia) 68 Graeme Storm (England) 68 Chris Wood (England) 68 -2 Richard Bland (England) 69 Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) 69 Oliver Fisher (England) 69 Branden Grace (South Africa) 69 Tyrrell Hatton (England) 69 Sebastian Heisele (Germany) 69 Lucas Herbert (Australia) 69 Raphaël Jacquelin (France) 69 Andrew Johnston (England) 69 Mikko Korhonen (Finland) 69 Zander Lombard (South Africa) 69 Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 69 Richard McEvoy (England) 69 James Morrison (England) 69 Renato Paratore (Italy) 69 Matthieu Pavon (France) 69 Victor Perez (France) 69 Tapio Pulkkanen (Finland) 69 Robert Rock (England) 69 Antoine Rozner (France) 69 Ricardo Santos (Portugal) 69 Callum Shinkwin (England) 69 Matthew Southgate (England) 69 Joël Stalter (France) 69 Brandon Stone (South Africa) 69 Justin Walters (South Africa) 69 Oliver Wilson (England) 69 Will Zalatoris (USA) 69 -1 Nino Bertasio (Italy) 70 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 70 Steven Brown (England) 70 John Catlin (USA) 70 Ross Fisher (England) 70 Ryan Fox (New Zealand) 70 Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) 70 Calum Hill (Scotland) 70 Billy Horschel (USA) 70 Scott Jamieson (Scotland) 70 Masahiro Kawamura (Japan) 70 Alexander Levy (France) 70 HaoTong Li (China PR) 70 Mike Lorenzo-Vera (France) 70 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) 70 Collin Morikawa (USA) 70 Eddie Pepperell (England) 70 Shubhankar Sharma (India) 70 Cormac Sharvin (Northern Ireland) 70 Sami Valimaki (Finland) 70 Darius Van Driel (Netherlands) 70 Johannes Veerman (USA) 70 Matt Wallace (England) 70 0 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa) 71 Ashley Chesters (England) 71 Nacho Elvira (Spain) 71 Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 71 Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Spain) 71 Rikard Karlberg (Sweden) 71 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 71 Guido Migliozzi (Italy) 71 Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 71 Aaron Rai (England) 71 Jordan L Smith (England) 71 Andy Sullivan (England) 71 Julian Suri (USA) 71 Danie Van Tonder (South Africa) 71 Jimmy Walker (USA) 71 Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) 71 Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay) 71 1 Thomas Aiken (South Africa) 72 Alexander Björk (Sweden) 72 Sam Burns (USA) 72 Laurie Canter (England) 72 Sean Crocker (USA) 72 David Drysdale (Scotland) 72 Victor Dubuisson (France) 72 Lorenzo Gagli (Italy) 72 Gavin Green (Malaysia) 72 Joachim B. Hansen (Denmark) 72 Justin Harding (South Africa) 72 Robin Roussel (France) 72 Scottie Scheffler (USA) 72 Matthias Schwab (Austria) 72 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 72 Marc Warren (Scotland) 72 Dale Whitnell (England) 72 Danny Willett (England) 72 2 Dean Burmester (South Africa) 73 Peter Hanson (Sweden) 73 Sam Horsfield (England) 73 Martin Kaymer (Germany) 73 Maximilian Kieffer (Germany) 73 Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) 73 Francesco Molinari (Italy) 73 3 Gaganjeet Bhullar (India) 74 Jonathan Caldwell (Northern Ireland) 74 Ross McGowan (England) 74 Thorbjørn Olesen (Denmark) 74 Haydn Porteous (South Africa) 74 Kalle Samooja (Finland) 74 4 Jorge Campillo (Spain) 75 David Howell (England) 75 Jazz Janewattananond (Thailand) 75 Adrian Meronk (Poland) 75 Paul Waring (England) 75 5 Maverick Antcliff (Australia) 76 Corey Conners (Canada) 76 Paul O&#8217;Hara (Scotland) 76 6 Lucas Bjerregaard (Denmark) 77 Pablo Larrazábal (Spain) 77 Wilco Nienaber (South Africa) 77 Chris Paisley (England) 77 Andrea Pavan (Italy) 77 
(c) Copyright Opta Sports Data 2021. All Rights Reserved
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European Tour Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open Scores

* Calls grow for clear plan to reach $100-billion annual goal
* Money needed to adopt clean energy, adapt to warmer planet
* US climate envoy says target must be realised at COP26 talks
By Naimul Karim and Megan Rowling
DHAKA, July 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Pressure is growing on rich countries to set out exactly how they will deliver a promised $100 billion a year in funding to help poorer nations tackle climate change, with the U.N. chief and Britain on Thursday calling for a clear plan.
At a summit hosted by Bangladesh, finance ministers from a group of developing economies particularly vulnerable to climate impacts, known as the V20, urged wealthy governments to outline &#8220;how and when&#8221; they will meet the pledge between now and 2024.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video address to the online meeting that &#8220;a clear plan&#8221; was needed to deliver on the climate finance target through to 2025.
&#8220;To rebuild trust, developed countries must clarify now how they will effectively deliver $100 billion in climate finance annually to the developing world, as was promised over a decade ago,&#8221; said the U.N. chief.
In 2009, donor governments agreed to increase climate finance channelled to vulnerable nations to $100 billion a year by 2020. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement they said they would negotiate a yet-higher amount that would kick in from 2025.
But the latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development show that in 2018 about $80 billion was delivered, while a U.N.-commissioned report said in December it was unlikely the $100-billion goal had been met in 2020 amid the economic woes of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday, Guterres asked rich nations and multilateral development banks to allocate half of their international climate finance to efforts to help poor countries and communities adapt to worsening extreme weather and rising seas.
Currently, funding to boost resilience is hovering at only about a fifth of total climate finance for developing nations, with the rest going to projects to cut planet-warming emissions by moving away from fossil fuels and adopting renewable energy.

&#8216;BIG PUSH&#8217; NEEDED
Under the Paris accord, about 195 countries agreed to rein in their emissions to keep global temperature increases &#8220;well below&#8221; 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times, and ideally to 1.5C, to avert the worst effects of climate change.
But the planet has already warmed by about 1.2C, and is on track to heat up by close to 3C as emissions continue to rise around the globe, scientists say.
A growing number of major economies have pledged to cut their emissions to net zero by mid-century and are setting stronger reduction targets for 2030.
But the most vulnerable countries with lower emissions need financial and technical support to invest in renewable energy and tackle climate-induced disasters, said U.N. chief Guterres.
Alok Sharma, the British official who will preside over the COP26 U.N. climate talks this November, wrote in a commentary for the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the world needed a &#8220;big push&#8221; on climate finance ahead of those negotiations.
&#8220;It is essential for helping developing countries on a path to a clean, green future. With support, these countries can leapfrog polluting technologies as their economies develop, and protect themselves from climate change,&#8221; he wrote on Thursday.
He urged G7 countries to step up before COP26 with commitments of fresh finance for the coming five years, and called for a plan to be published to deliver the $100 billion.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who opened the V20 summit, said that while the 48 member countries of the Climate Vulnerable Forum accounted for only 5% of global emissions, they were the &#8220;worst victims&#8221; of the man-made climate crisis.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has added &#8220;new miseries&#8221; and affected the livelihoods of millions, particularly in Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America, she noted.
&#8220;We would like to call upon the developed countries to reduce their carbon emissions drastically. We also count on the delivery of the agreed $100 billion per annum as climate finance,&#8221; she told the online meeting.
The demand for rich nations to meet their finance pledge was echoed by the presidents of Ethiopia, Colombia, Costa Rica and the Marshall Islands. Latin American leaders also requested a far higher proportion be given as grants rather than loans.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said it was &#8220;imperative&#8221; the $100-billion pledge be met by COP26.
&#8220;And the promise going forward is that we&#8217;re going to do what we need to do to bring larger amounts of finance to the table&#8221;, including from banks and other investors, he added.
The V20 on Thursday launched its own &#8220;Vision 2025&#8221; plan which aims to deploy more renewable energy, foster low-carbon investment, expand insurance against extreme weather and create green jobs. (Reporting by Naimul Karim @Naimonthefield; additional reporting by Megan Rowling; editing by Megan Rowling and Laurie Goering. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Developing nations, UN seek clear plan for promised climate finance

July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; The International Cricket Council&#8217;s (ICC) chief executive Manu Sawhney will step down with immediate effect, four months after he was sent on leave following an investigation into his style of working, cricket&#8217;s world governing body said on Thursday.
Sawhney, the former managing director of ESPN Star Sports, joined the Dubai-based cricket world governing body in January 2019, succeeding David Richardson of South Africa, who was in the role for seven years.
&#8220;Geoff Allardice will continue as Acting CEO supported by the Leadership Team working closely with the ICC Board,&#8221; the sport&#8217;s governing body said in a statement https://www.icc-cricket.com/media-releases/2186042.
ESPNcricinfo reported that Sawhney was suspended in March after a number of allegations &#8212; including bullying &#8212; against him surfaced following an internal review conducted by an audit firm.
Sawhney has denied the allegations and vowed to appeal should he be found guilty by a disciplinary hearing.
The former Singapore Sports Hub chief executive was with ESPN Star Sports for 17 years and during his tenure led the global broadcast partnership deal with the ICC that ran from 2007-15.
He was also a non-executive director and member of the audit committee at Premier League soccer club Manchester United. (Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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Cricket-ICC CEO Sawhney steps down after internal review over conduct

By Joe Bavier
JOHANNESBURG, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Angola is aiming to sell a majority stake in insurer ENSA by the end of November, its board chairman said on Thursday, in what would be among the biggest privatisations so far under the southern African country&#8217;s pandemic-delayed reforms.
Africa&#8217;s second-largest oil producer is aiming to privatise 172 state-owned enterprises, including non-core assets of national oil company Sonangol, between 2019 and 2022.
It is seeking bidders to take a 51% stake in ENSA via a private placement, Carlos Duarte told Reuters in an interview.
&#8220;Regionally there are a few very interesting groups, including in South Africa,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We&#8217;re targeting the type of insurance group that has a footprint across Africa.&#8221;
A deadline for non-binding bids is fixed for Aug. 10, but could be extended by a month, Duarte said. The government would then aim to close a deal in October or November.
In a second phase of its privatisation in two to five years, the government plans to dispose of its remaining 49% stake via a local initial public offering (IPO).
Angola&#8217;s insurance sector was liberalised in the early 2000s, and ENSA is the sector leader with a 37% market share.
It held total assets of 195.8 billion kwanza ($303 million) and gross written premiums of 85.6 billion kwanza in 2020, according to an investment teaser shared by the company. Net income, meanwhile, stood at 17.7 billion kwanza.
&#8220;It&#8217;s one of the biggest ones on the financial side,&#8221; Duarte said of the proposed sale. &#8220;The government has only one insurance company, so the privatisation of ENSA is quite important.&#8221;
Angola&#8217;s privatisation plans hit a rough patch amid the pandemic-induced global economic downturn last year.
It had privatised just 39 of the 126 state-owned enterprises scheduled for sale through the end of 2020, the government told the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month, adding that it aimed to accelerate the process this year.
Privatisation of the biggest state companies, Sonangol, diamond miner Endiama and national airline TAAG, is scheduled to begin in 2022. ($1 = 647.1140 kwanzas) (Reporting by Joe Bavier; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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Angola aims to sell majority stake in insurer ENSA by end-November

JOHANNESBURG, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; The global vaccine distribution scheme COVAX aims to deliver 520 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa this year, its director said on Thursday.
Aurelia Nguyen, managing director of COVAX, told a news conference organised by the World Health Organization&#8217;s Africa region that the scheme was not happy with progress supplying doses so far, but that deliveries should ramp up from September.
The facility has experienced delays partly as a result of Indian export restrictions that have prevented COVAX from obtaining doses from the Serum Institute of India, one of the world&#8217;s largest vaccine manufacturers, which is making shots of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca.
Nguyen said so far COVAX had delivered around 25 million doses to 44 African countries.
By the end of the first quarter of 2022, COVAX now aims to supply nearly 850 million vaccine doses to the continent, which has some of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates worldwide.
In March, the CEO of vaccine alliance Gavi, one of the organisations co-leading COVAX, had said the aim was to supply Africa with 720 million doses in 2021.
Nguyen said COVAX had been in talks with the Indian government and Serum Institute and that it was factoring in a resumption of supplies from India &#8220;towards the later part of the year&#8221; although the situation was still fluid. (Reporting by Alexander Winning Editing by Peter Graff)
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COVAX aims to deliver 520 mln vaccine doses to Africa this year

* Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu down between 3.7% to 4.6%
* China largest component of MSCI EM stocks index
* Polish c.bank meeting due later in the day
* Russia&#8217;s rouble leads EMEA FX losses, volatility spikes
* Turkish lira bucks the trend (Adds details on volatility gauges, Didi Global)
By Ambar Warrick
July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Emerging market currencies sank to a two-month low on Thursday on growing worries over a slowing post-COVID economic recovery, while stocks tumbled 1.6% on jitters over a Chinese crackdown on technology firms.
MSCI&#8217;s index of emerging market currencies dropped 0.3% to a two-month low after minutes of the Federal Reserve&#8217;s recent meeting affirmed the bank&#8217;s timeline to start tightening policy.
Russia&#8217;s rouble was the worst performing currency in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, sinking nearly 1% to 75.2372 &#8211; its lowest level to the dollar in two months.
A one-month gauge of implied volatility in the rouble shot up to its highest level in two months.
Turkey&#8217;s lira bucked the trend, trading largely flat to the dollar after Reuters reported that the country was considering a fresh capital injection for state banks to shore up economic growth.
A one-month gauge of implied volatility in the lira hovered just above a one-year low.
In China, fears of a slowing post-COVID economic recovery were heightened after the country&#8217;s cabinet said authorities would use timely cuts in banks&#8217; reserve requirement ratios (RRR) to support the economy.
The yuan fell 0.1% to the dollar, while the yield on Chinese 10-year sovereign bonds posted its sharpest fall in nearly a year.
&#8220;The signalling of a potential easing in the RRR shows that policymakers are concerned with ensuring sufficient liquidity reaches the economy,&#8221; said Sacha Tihanyi, head of emerging markets strategy at TD Securities.
Spiking cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus across the globe have also soured sentiment over a recovery, hurting emerging markets in recent weeks.
MSCI&#8217;s index of emerging market stocks sank 1.6% to a more-than seven-week low. Heavyweight Chinese and Hong Kong stocks were sold off in droves after the government ordered ride-hailing app Didi Global to be removed from mobile app stores, and fined major tech firms.
Didi&#8217;s shares tumbled nearly 7% in U.S. premarket trade, with the company having shed about $16 billion in market capitalisation this week.
Tencent and Alibaba Group, the second and third largest EM stocks, and Chinese major Baidu Inc , fell between 3.7% and 4.6%.

South African stocks led declines in EMEA with a 2.1% drop. Shares of tech firm Naspers Ltd, which holds a sizeable stake in Tencent, fell 2.8%.
In central Europe, Poland&#8217;s zloty fell 0.3% to the euro ahead of a central bank meeting later in the day. The bank is widely expected to hold interest rates slightly above zero.
Losses in Hungary&#8217;s forint were muted after stronger-than-expected inflation furthered the case for tighter monetary policy.
For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2021, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2021, see https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX

For TOP NEWS across emerging markets
For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see
For TURKISH market report, see
For RUSSIAN market report, see
(Reporting by Ambar Warrick Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Chizu Nomiyama)
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EMERGING MARKETS-FX hits 2-month low, stocks slammed by Chinese tech crackdown

JOHANNESBURG, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s former president Jacob Zuma, who was arrested on Wednesday, will be eligible for parole after around four months, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said on Thursday.
Zuma will be held in isolation for 14 days in line with COVID-19 protocols, he said.
Zuma turned himself in to police on Wednesday to begin 15 months in jail for contempt of court. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf Writing by Promit Mukherjee Editing by Mark Potter)
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S.Africa’s ex-President Zuma to be eligible for parole after around 4 months, says minister

* Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu down over 4% each
* China largest component of MSCI EM stocks index
* Polish c.bank meeting due later in the day
* Russia&#8217;s rouble leads EMEA FX losses
By Ambar Warrick
July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Emerging market currencies sank to a two-month low on Thursday on growing worries over a slowing post-COVID economic recovery, while stocks tumbled more than 1.5% on jitters over a Chinese crackdown on technology firms.
MSCI&#8217;s index of emerging market currencies dropped 0.3% to a two-month low of 1,721.92 points, while the dollar hovered around three-month highs after minutes of the Federal Reserve&#8217;s recent meeting affirmed the bank&#8217;s timeline to start tightening policy.
Russia&#8217;s rouble was the worst performing currency in Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions, sinking nearly 1% to 75.2372- its lowest level to the dollar in two months.
South Africa&#8217;s rand fell 0.6%, while Turkey&#8217;s lira fell 0.3%.
In China, fears of a slowing post-COVID economic recovery were heightened after the country&#8217;s cabinet said authorities would use timely cuts in banks&#8217; reserve requirement ratios (RRR) to support the economy.
The yuan fell 0.1% to the dollar, while yield on Chinese 10-year sovereign bonds posted its sharpest fall in nearly a year.
&#8220;The signalling of a potential easing in the RRR shows that policymakers are concerned with ensuring sufficient liquidity reaches the economy,&#8221; said Sacha Tihanyi, head of emerging markets strategy at TD Securities.
&#8220;We would interpret today&#8217;s headlines as not suggesting substantial further monetary easing as the economy moderates, but targeted support for the more vulnerable sectors.&#8221;
Spiking cases of the delta variant of the coronavirus across the globe have also soured sentiment over a recovery. Emerging markets have been on a downturn in recent weeks due to waning risk appetite.
MSCI&#8217;s index of emerging market stocks sank 1.5% to a more-than seven-week low. Heavyweight Chinese and Hong Kong stocks were sold off in droves after the government ordered ride-hailing app Didi Global to be removed from mobile app stores, and fined major tech firms.
Tencent and Alibaba Group, which are the second and third largest emerging market stocks, sank more than 4% each, while Hong Kong shares of tech major Baidu Inc dropped 4.5%.

EMEA stocks also retreated, with South African stocks leading declines with a 1.5% drop. Shares of tech firm Naspers Ltd, which holds a sizeable stake in Tencent, fell 2.5%.
In central Europe, Poland&#8217;s zloty fell 0.2% to the euro ahead of a central bank meeting later in the day. The bank is widely expected to hold interest rates slightly above zero, in contrast to its peers in Hungary and the Czech Republic, who recently began hiking rates.
Losses in Hungary&#8217;s forint were muted after stronger-than-expected inflation furthered the case for tighter monetary policy.
For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2021, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2021, see https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX

For TOP NEWS across emerging markets
For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see
For TURKISH market report, see
For RUSSIAN market report, see
(Reporting by Ambar Warrick Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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* Lebanon&#8217;s education system once prized throughout region
* Teaching salary worth less than $90 a month as currency tumbles
* Middle school final exams cancelled
By Maha El Dahan and Imad Creidi
BEIRUT, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Sorbonne-educated Chryssoula Fayad spent nearly two decades teaching history and geography at Lebanon&#8217;s elite French schools, ultimately heading departments. Now she is a substitute teacher in Paris, part of an exodus from an education system on its knees.
Fayad left behind her home and life savings in August 2020, at 50 years old. Days earlier, the hospital where her husband worked and his clinic were damaged along with swathes of Beirut when chemicals exploded at the port &#8211; the final straw.
Corruption and political wrangling have cost the local currency more than 90% of its value in less than two years, propelling half the population into poverty and locking depositors like Fayad out of their bank accounts.
Despite her straitened circumstances, she has no regrets.
&#8220;I always say thank God that we had this chance to come here,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Unfortunately I know I made the right decision when I see how things are in Lebanon now.&#8221;
Lebanon&#8217;s educational sector, prized throughout the Middle East as a regional leader, was once ranked tenth globally by the World Economic Forum&#8217;s Global Competitiveness Report.
Now it is unclear how schools will manage when the new academic year starts in October.
&#8220;When the crisis erupted in 2019 it took the educational sector by surprise,&#8221; Rene Karam, the head of the Association of Teachers of English (ATEL) in Lebanon, said.
At the start, some private schools laid off higher-paid teachers, around 30% of staff, to save money, but as time went on many others left of their own accord, with half of the 100 teachers in his association now in Iraq, Dubai and Oman.
Salaries starting at 1.5 million Lebanese pounds a month are now worth less than $90 at the street rate in a country where they used to be $1,000.
&#8220;We are in a real crisis,&#8221; he said.

STAYING ALIVE
Private schools make up 70% of the educational sector, with upwards of 1,500 institutions. Rodolphe Abboud, head of the syndicate for private school teachers, said every school has lost between ten to 40 teachers so far, with some staying at home because they can no longer afford childcare.
&#8220;We are at the stage of just staying alive, the necessities,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There is not one school now that is not advertising for jobs.&#8221;
Children from several grades have already been put together for some subjects and daily power cuts and shortages of basic materials also make it difficult for schools to operate.
This week the education ministry cancelled final middle school examinations in response to pressure from parents and staff who had argued economic conditions made them impossible.
&#8220;The minister wanted to conduct exams but didn&#8217;t he know that in Lebanon there is a shortage of paper and ink and teachers can&#8217;t work for free and schools can&#8217;t operate without fuel for electricity generators?&#8221; Karam said.
The education ministry said it had secured extra pay from donors for teachers supervising exams but most had pulled out.
&#8220;The majority of teachers gradually withdrew from supervision and this is what made it impossible to conduct the middle school exams,&#8221; Hilda Khoury, a director at the ministry, said by email, adding that senior school exams would take place.

WHATEVER IT TAKES
Father Boutros Azar, secretary general for Catholic Schools in the Middle East and North Africa, said parents at many of its 321 schools in Lebanon were struggling to pay annual fees that range from 3 million to 8 million pounds.
&#8220;But we have made a decision to continue and do whatever it takes to keep schools open,&#8221; he said.
A government employee said no one had paid the fees for next year yet at the school attended by her two sons, aged 10 and seven. The school had demanded $600 for each child in dollars in addition to 12 million Lebanese pounds.
&#8220;Where does anybody get fresh dollars to pay these days? We all get paid in local currency so how are we supposed to get this amount?,&#8221; she said, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of her job.
Abboud, sitting in one of 130 schools that were damaged by the port blast, said some parents were voting with their feet, putting pressure on the small state sector, or moving abroad.
&#8220;We are seeing families going from private schools to public schools and others moving outside of Lebanon to Arab countries or Europe and the U.S. and Canada and this creates a problem.&#8221;
More teachers are also preparing to leave.
&#8220;There is a vast difference between now and two years ago,&#8221; said 25-year old Joy Fares who has been teaching for five years. &#8220;Then I would say no I want to stay with my family &#8230; but now, no, it makes sense to just go.&#8221;
(Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Imad Creidi; additional reporting by Issam Abdallah and Laila Bassam; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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School’s out for good? Lebanese teachers flee as financial crisis builds

HARARE, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria&#8217;s revenue service said on Thursday it had instructed banks to freeze the accounts of MultiChoice Africa and its Nigerian subsidiary because the companies had refused it access to their servers for auditing.
The banks would have to recover 1.8 trillion naira ($4.4 billion), Federal Inland Revenue Service executive chairman Muhammad Nami said in a statement.
($1 = 411.0000 naira) (Reporting by Camillus Eboh Editing by Mark Potter)
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Nigerian revenue service seeks to freeze MultiChoice Africa accounts

* Investors, analysts say valuation gap may never close
* Company M&amp;A to accelerate under Vision Fund veteran
* High tech industry prices not a problem -Prosus CEO
By Toby Sterling, Promit Mukherjee and Abhinav Ramnarayan
AMSTERDAM/JOHANNESBURG, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Prosus, Europe&#8217;s answer to SoftBank and its Vision Fund, is betting that its long-term investments can fill a yawning valuation gap and give it the same name recognition as one of the world&#8217;s most aggressive technology investors.
Based in the Netherlands, Prosus was spun out of South Africa&#8217;s Naspers in 2019 with a mandate to manage the spoils of a $32 million bet on China&#8217;s Tencent, now worth $200 billion, on a 30-year investment horizon.
Japanese giant SoftBank&#8217;s own firepower is backstopped by its stake in Alibaba, which has its origins in CEO Masayoshi Son&#8217;s $20 million investment in the Chinese e-commerce firm.
A banker who has worked with both Prosus and Softbank describes them as &#8220;the two global elephants out there with massive permanent capital&#8221; for tech investments, and the rivals are also sometimes co-investors.
In an indication of its ambition, Prosus last month hired Ervin Tu, a managing partner at Vision Fund and a former technology banker at Goldman Sachs, to head its group M&amp;A.
Jean Pierre Verster, CEO of South African investment manager Protea, which holds almost 10% of its fund assets in Prosus, says Tu&#8217;s appointment &#8220;tells you that there&#8217;s probably going to be more (M&amp;A) activity coming down the line&#8221;.
That is already evident as since April, Prosus has made a dozen investments, last month announcing the $1.8 billion acquisition of software developer platform Stack Overflow.
&#8220;We have significant capacity on the balance sheet, and we also see really good opportunities in the segments we operate today,&#8221; Chief Executive Bob van Dijk told Reuters, adding that while Prosus at times competed with SoftBank there were significant differences between the two investors.
Verster sees the Stack Overflow acquisition as a sign that Prosus may &#8220;get a bit more aggressive&#8221;, although he expects the group, which owns a mix of controlling and minority stakes in many tech firms, will remain more conservative than Softbank.

MIND THE GAP
Prosus has not had easy ride in its first few years, with a complicated structure and operating losses at most investments it has made, apart from Tencent, leading it to trade at a deep discount to the value of its assets.
Its stock market valuation is 25% lower than the market value of the 28.9% stake in Tencent it currently holds. At Naspers, which in turn controls Prosus, the discount to its economic interest in Tencent is more than 40%.
(For an interactive graphic, click on https://tmsnrt.rs/3hD4Ukk)
Bob van Dijk, who also heads Naspers, says this discount is transitory and investors have done well so far and will continue to in the long term.
&#8220;You just need to look through (the losses) and the potential and the strength of the business model is much more important than short-term profitability,&#8221; he said.
One way of narrowing the gap is by gradually offloading the crown jewels, and Prosus raised $15 billion by selling a 2% stake in WeChat owner Tencent in April.
A third of that will go to share buybacks once a cross-holding structure with Naspers, has been set up. Prosus shareholders are set to approve the deal on Friday.
Prosus says the real solution to the valuation gap is finding more new investments and improving profitability at the old ones until they rival or even eclipse the Tencent holding.
And that is why the remaining $10 billion from its most recent stake sale is being ploughed back into broadening the Prosus portfolio, which spans online classified firms, fintech, educational software and online food ordering and delivery.

NO END GAME
Finding the next Tencent among tens of thousands of technology start-ups around the globe is the challenge facing Van Dijk and his new SoftBank hire Tu.
Prosus invests in only one out of every 200 or 300 opportunities it reviews, Van Dijk said, in the range of sectors it knows well. The more mature portfolio ranges from U.S.-based Codecademy, to Indian food deliverer Swiggy, to Russia&#8217;s Mail.Ru to global marketplace operator OLX.
Early stage investments are generated by a two-dozen person venture arm, where Banafsheh Fathieh is head of Americas. Investments of more than $200 million go through the Prosus board.
Fathieh, who works out of a small office in San Francisco, says her portfolio is a far cry from the Silicon Valley bubble.
&#8220;We are a different brand of venture capital. If you&#8217;re taking a 30 year point of view, you can go after entrepreneurs that have lifelong dreams to build companies that will last,&#8221; she said in an interview.
Fathieh said that what makes Prosus/Naspers unique is its willingness to invest in entrepreneurs and businesses it believes in, without the 3-7 year &#8220;exit plan&#8221; that frames most venture capital and private equity investments.
At Prosus/Naspers, Fathieh said, &#8220;there is no end game&#8221;.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Food ordering and delivery is an industry where Prosus is clearly hungry for more. Its initial 2017 investments in Delivery Hero have tripled in value and in March it paid 2.2 billion euros to increase its stake in the German firm.
One target is iFood of Brazil, a company that delivered 500 million meals last year. Prosus owns a two-thirds stake, and co-owner Just Eat Takeaway.com is looking to divest the other third for more than $2 billion.
Such investments are delivering growth and for the year ended March 31, Prosus reported revenue at its non-Tencent ecommerce businesses grew by 46% to $6.2 billion.
Although trading losses were $429 million, Prosus&#8217; net profit including Tencent nearly doubled to $7.45 billion, underlining how much the stake still dominates results.
&#8220;If they grow at say, 30% per year &#8230; I am happy,&#8221; Protea&#8217;s Verster said. &#8220;Any narrowing of the discount is just a bonus.&#8221;
Analyst Ken Rumph of Jefferies, who rates Prosus shares a hold, says the market discount may persist after the cross-holding structure is in place as &#8220;investors are put off by the same issues they had with Naspers,&#8221; including a complicated control structure.
And the Tencent stake will long outshine other management actions, Rumph said, adding: &#8220;Even a continued 20% return on investments elsewhere in the portfolio will take years to shift the balance away from Tencent&#8221;.
(Reporting by Toby Sterling, Promit Mukerjee, Abhinav Ramnarayan; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Alexander Smith)
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FOCUS-Europe’s SoftBank Prosus plays long game to shrink value gap

LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Hashim Amla painstakingly compiled an unbeaten 37 from 278 balls in a defensive masterclass to foil Hampshire&#8217;s victory bid and secure a draw for Surrey in a County Championship match at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
Resuming on a precarious six for two after being made to follow on, Surrey finished 128-8 on Wednesday with South African Amla batting the whole day.
Amla scored only three runs from the first 100 balls he faced and notched the first of his five boundaries on the 126th.
&#8220;Every batter that went out there had a plan and (we) tried our best to just block it out,&#8221; said Amla, who played 124 tests and 181 one-dayers before quitting international cricket in 2019.
&#8220;The last thing you want to do is play a couple of bad shots and the game is over by lunchtime.&#8221;
Despite staving off defeat, Surrey will almost certainly fail to make Division One as one of the top six teams.
The only time Amla looked in danger was when Ian Holland dropped him at leg slip off Keith Barker when the batsman was on 30.
Amla is no stranger to dour batting displays.
He famously made 25 off 244 balls in a 2015 test in New Delhi where he and South Africa team mate AB de Villiers, who made 43 off 297 balls, fought in vain to avoid defeat to India. (Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Peter Rutherford)
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Cricket-Amla’s defensive masterclass secures Surrey draw

July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; BlackRock Inc, the world&#8217;s biggest asset manager, said on Thursday it has raised over $250 million for its climate finance fund to invest in select countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
BlackRock&#8217;s Climate Finance Partnership (CFP) will focus on investing in areas like renewable power generation, energy storage solutions, electrified transportation services and is targeting to raise at least $500 million, the company said.
The partnership&#8217;s consortium of ten investors included the governments of France, Germany, Japan, and other philanthropies and institutional investors, BlackRock added.
The asset manager said that &#8220;significant capital&#8221; was required for climate infrastructure in these regions to help reduce carbon emissions.
&#8220;This ambitious partnership&#8230; will help redirect financial flows toward sustainable development investments across the emerging world, with a priority to Africa,&#8221; Remy Rioux, chief executive officer of the French Development Agency said.
James and Kathryn Murdoch&#8217;s Quadrivium Foundation and Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham&#8217;s Grantham Environmental Trust are also part of the partnership. (Reporting by Shubham Kalia; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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EMERGING MARKETS-FX hits 2-month low, stocks slammed by Chinese tech crackdown

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