South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal border with Swaziland was completely blocked on Wednesday in a protest against the kingdom’s leadership, said the Swaziland Solidarity Network. ”The Golela border post, which is the border between South Africa and Swaziland in KwaZulu-Natal, has been blocked to traffic by our protesters since 5am,” said spokesperson Lucky Lukhele.
Russia on Wednesday attacked Iran’s claim to have enriched uranium on its own, calling the announcement ”a step in the wrong direction” and demanding that the Islamic republic immediately suspend all uranium enrichment work, news agencies reported. ”We believe this is a step in the wrong direction,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mikhail Kamynin said.
Members of the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) at Telkom are planning to down tools on April 18 and 19 after rejecting Telkom’s latest wage offer. Talks between the two sides remain deadlocked after failing to make any headway at a meeting in Centurion near Pretoria on Tuesday. CWU said it had indicated to Telkom at the meeting that its offer of April 6 was unacceptable.
The JSE was weaker just before noon on Wednesday with weakness on world markets encouraging profit-taking. A pullback in metals prices, several of which reached record highs on Tuesday, exacerbated the negativity. By 11.57am, the all-share index shed 1,07%. Resources retreated 2,02%, the gold-mining index tumbled 2,64% and the platinum-mining index eased 0,28%.
The Standard Bank-issued Edcon MasterCard no-fee credit card has become the fastest growing MasterCard in the AEMI region (Africa, Middle East and Europe) with take-up of almost 340 000 cards in the five months to February. "The take-up of the Edgars and Jet branded cards … has exceeded all our expectations," said Ian Wood, Edcon group financial services executive.
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) has issued a spring tide warning ahead of the full moon on Thursday, advising people to take care everywhere along the South African coast. Swells would be stronger than usual, and deep-sea fishermen and seafarers, sailers, paddlers, surfers, bathers, anglers and recreational boaters should take special precautions, said an institute spokesperson.
Mass protests demanding legalisation of undocumented migrants has bolstered United States Latinos, but it is too early to know if they can muster voters in upcoming elections. The giant pro-immigrant rallies across the United States have been led by members of the 40-million strong Hispanic community, the country’s largest ethnic minority.
Zimbabwe’s government has said aid agencies do not have permission to compile food production forecasts after some organisations projected the country faced a huge grain deficit, local reports said on Wednesday. Agriculture Minister Joseph Made complained that aid organisations were conducting ”backdoor assessment exercises”.
Relatives on Wednesday began burying the dead from a suspected suicide bombing at a religious gathering in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi as the death toll rose to at least 57. Police and paramilitary forces were put on high alert after the blast blew up dozens of people — including top leaders of a religious organisation, Jamaat-e-Ahle Sunnat.
The subversion trial of Chinese dissident Li Jianping opened on Wednesday in eastern China’s Shandong province, with the writer accused of posting pro-democracy articles on the internet. Li (40) a businessman and writer, was arrested in May last year after posting essays advocating greater democracy on the internet.