No image available
/ 9 December 2005
What do you do when you work in local government and you’ve been spending tax-payers’ money at the rate of R230Â 000 a day for four years without official authorisation? Option 1: You plead guilty, get a suspended sentence, and are back at work in six months. Option 2: You use the media to allege a media-fuelled conspiracy against you.
Click on image for full-size view.
No image available
/ 8 December 2005
![]()
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has asked the public protector to investigate allegations that the media is being used to bring down former deputy president Jacob Zuma. Zuma has also accused the NPA of leaking affidavits to the media.
No image available
/ 8 December 2005
Fitch Ratings has upgraded the national ratings of FirstRand Bank Holdings Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary FirstRand Bank Limited to a long term ‘AA(zaf)’ from ‘AA-(minus)(zaf)’ and ‘AA+(zaf)’ from ‘AA(zaf)’ respectively. The Outlooks remain Stable. All other ratings have been affirmed. A detailed list of ratings is provided at the end of this statement.
No image available
/ 8 December 2005
In a rare concession to critics of the Iraq war, United States President George Bush agreed on Wednesday that ”mistakes have been made” but said US-led reconstruction and security efforts were making solid progress. ”Reconstruction has not always gone as well as we had hoped, primarily because of the security challenges on the ground,” he said.
No image available
/ 8 December 2005
Substantial progress has been achieved in providing microcredit to the world’s poorest families, those earning less than a dollar a day, according to a report released on Wednesday. The Microcredit Summit Campaign said more than 92-million of these families received loans in 2004, nearly a seven-fold hike from the 13,5-million loan recipients in 1997.
No image available
/ 8 December 2005
Vanuatu’s erupting Mount Manaro volcano burst into spectacular life on Thursday — shooting steam and toxic gases 3 000km into the skies above remote Ambae Island. Huge columns of dense white steam and muddy ash spewed above the South Pacific island to reach the greatest height seen since it began erupting on November 27.
No image available
/ 8 December 2005
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe opens the annual congress of his ruling Zanu-PF party on Friday, buoyed by his recent big win in controversial senate elections and infighting that has left the opposition in tatters. About 5 000 delegates of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) will converge on the small town of Esigodini in the southern Matabeland province.
No image available
/ 8 December 2005
The former mayor of a Rwandan town pleaded guilty on Wednesday to aiding and abetting the country’s 1994 genocide as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors at a United Nations-backed tribunal, the court said. The 57-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of having ”aided and abetted in the commission of the crimes of murder and extermination” but not guilty to genocide.
No image available
/ 8 December 2005
Scalding chickens alive is the wrong way to prepare meat for a McNugget, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said on Wednesday. Peta and socially responsible investment firm Trillium Asset Management issued a shareholder’s resolution calling on the fast food giant McDonald’s to require its suppliers to switch to a humane system of slaughtering chickens.