The United States administration backs sending up to several hundred Nato advisers to support African Union peacekeepers protect villagers in Sudan’s Darfur region, The Washington Post reported. The newspaper said the move would include some US troops and mark a significant expansion of US and allied involvement in the conflict.
European group Arianespace said on Monday it had been picked by Mitsubishi Electric to launch the first commercial telecommunications satellite to be built by a Japanese company. The contract to put into orbit the Superbird 7 satellite is the 270th won by Arianespace, the world’s biggest satellite launcher.
A powerful explosion at a hospital complex in northern China’s Shanxi province early on Monday killed at least 17 people with up to a dozen more missing, state media and local police reported. The explosion occurred in a garage at the hospital and damaged buildings within one square kilometre "to various degrees", Xinhua news agency and police said, without giving a reason for the blast.
The average price of wines sold at the 32nd Nederburg Auction over the weekend fell 25% from those attained in 2005, with the market experiencing a correction after having soared 90% last year. The 2006 auction, which returned to a two-day format and offered more wine versus 2005, also saw the return to prominence of supermarkets amongst the buyers.
Alex Ferguson believes that Manchester United’s trip to Chelsea on April 29 will decide the outcome of the Premiership title race after Wayne Rooney’s dazzling display inspired United to a 2-0 victory over Arsenal here at Old Trafford. Having slashed Chelsea’s lead from 18 points to seven since the beginning of March, the veteran United manager is convinced his players can pull off an amazing comeback.
The JSE managed to cling onto its gains by midday on Monday in what traders described as an "unexciting" session. Commodities prices were the main feature on a day that otherwise lacked any market-moving news. By 11.55am, the all-share index had gained 0,19%, while the all-share industrial index declined 0,31%. Resources rose 0,9%, with the gold-mining index gaining 2,66%.
South Africa’s competition tribunal has prohibited the proposed R403,8-million merger between listed retailer and distributor Massmart and sports retail group Moresport. Announcing its decision on Monday, the tribunal said it would hand down its reasons for the refusal in due course.
The city-state that banned chewing gum and regulated the flushing of public toilets is loosening up and reinventing itself as a nightlife hub where all-night drinking and bar-top dancing are no longer taboo. Exchanging its nanny gloves for dancing boots, the city’s freer image is already paying off as leading overseas dance clubs move in to Singapore’s expanding scene.
The South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) says protests, such as those planned by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in May, can only damage the economy and add to general impoverishment. Sacob was responding to Cosatu’s intention to continue with protest action during four specific days in May.
Tectonic has learnt that the South African Revenue Service (Sars) tender that could see 14 000 Windows machines migrated to Linux has been frozen until Sars wraps up its financial year-end. Sars’s tender for a proof-of-concept for Linux on the desktop has mysteriously disappeared from the taxman’s tender site. It has been learnt from reliable sources that the tender is frozen until Sars completes its tax year-end process.