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/ 12 February 2001

IMPLATS POSTS RECORD HALF-YEAR PROFITS

IMPALA Platinum Holdings (Implats), the world’s number two platinum producer, posted record half-year profits on strong metal prices and a weak rand, briefly boosting its share to a new high. Implats said diluted headline earnings per share, which excludes exceptional items and their tax effects, were R33.63 in the six months to December 31, 2000, […]

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/ 12 February 2001

GABONESE PRESIDENT TO HELP IN DRC

GABONESE President Omar Bongo has accepted an invitation by the mediator in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ketumile Masire, to help the peace process. The development came just days ahead of a summit planned in the Zambian capital Lusaka bringing together all the warring parties in the DRC – Angola, Zimbabwe […]

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/ 12 February 2001

$1.14BN PAID FOR MOBILE LICENCES IN NIGERIA

TELECOMS consortiums, including the state-run firm Celcom, have paid over $1bn for four mobile phone licences in Nigeria. Three foreign-backed consortiums, including MTN Nigeria, each paid the asking price of $285m a licence within the requisite 14 days since an auction held here last month by the state-run telecoms regulatory agency, the National Communications Commission […]

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/ 12 February 2001

You?ll never buy a loaf of bread again

DEMOCRATIC Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon has led a chorus of protest calling on President Thabo Mbeki to censure Public Safety Minister Steve Tshwete for a “vitriolic and extreme attack” on the Portuguese community regarding an anti-crime memorandum sent to the President. Leon described Tshwete’s hard-hitting response to the group’s memorandum, handed over after a […]

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/ 12 February 2001

Cape could become ?a nuclear highway?

ENVIRONMENTAL organisation Greenpeace has warned that the Cape of Good Hope could be turned into a ?nuclear highway?, with more than 80 nuclear shipments from Europe to Japan planned in the next 10 years. The warning came as a ship bearing a cargo of deadly plutonium fuel sailed around the Cape coast at the weekend […]

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/ 12 February 2001

Shoppers filter into SA?s digital malls

SOUTH African attitudes to online shopping are maturing, with shoppers more prepared to make online buying part of their lifestyles – but this means retailers will have to better gear themselves up to understand the needs of the online consumer. That’s the word from Paddy Gray, director of PQ Africa’s payment gateway ECnet, who says […]

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/ 12 February 2001

MBEKI SEES NO REASON FOR RAND SELLING

SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki says he can see no reason for the rand’s dip to record lows against the US dollar last week. The volatile rand hit a record low of 8.03 against the dollar last Friday, which traders said was mainly on the back of a weaker euro, the currency of South Africa’s […]

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/ 11 February 2001

800 VIAGRA TABLETS FOUND ON SYRIAN WOMAN

EGYPTIAN customs on Friday foiled an attempt to smuggle in 800 tablets of the male impotence treatment Viagra through Cairo airport, a source said. Egyptian customs foiled an attempt to smuggle in 10_000 Viagra tablets in January at Cairo airport. The Egyptian health ministry authorised the sale of Viagra on prescription in January, after banning […]