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/ 25 February 2008
An Iraqi militant group posted a video on the internet on Monday that appeared to show the 2004 killing of 12 Nepalese men who worked for a contracting firm in Iraq. In the video, a militant beheaded one of the men with a knife. The rest were shot in the back lying face down in a sandy lot.
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/ 25 February 2008
The in-camera conference African National Congress president Jacob Zuma gave to the Forum of Black Journalists was similar to the off-the-record briefing given to black editors by Bulelani Ngcuka, the former national director of public prosecutions, which Zuma at that time protested as a ”character assassination exercise”, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.
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/ 25 February 2008
Foreigners wander freely among the handsome stone and baked-brick houses of Sanaa’s Old City, but elsewhere in Yemen al-Qaeda attacks have damaged a fledgling tourism industry already hurt by tribal kidnappings. The government, which hopes tourism earnings can help offset flagging oil revenues, is struggling to shore up security by providing armed police escorts for travel to certain areas.
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/ 25 February 2008
Tourist guides from across Gauteng gathered under a hot marquee for the International Tourist Guides’ Day at Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg last week — and, for a change, were on the receiving end of an educational tour. "We are who we are through others," were the words of Lungi Morrison, of the Gauteng Tourism Authority.
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/ 25 February 2008
As Southern Africa braces for cyclones and more heavy rains, economic analysts warn that the floods already engulfing the region are likely to impact badly on inflation and other fundamental economic indicators. "Naturally, the floods will have an effect," says Oliver Saasa, a consultant economics professor at the University of Zambia.
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/ 25 February 2008
The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) is reviewing alternative energy sources to keep the city’s traffic lights operating and intersections flowing during blackouts. The use of solar-powered lights and lights running on ordinary UPS batteries are being considered. Johannesburg already has 15 intersections that use battery power on a pilot basis, while one site uses solar power.
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/ 25 February 2008
About 20 000 stolen — but recovered — cars worth an estimated R2-billion are needlessly crushed in South Africa every year. Many are in poor condition, but some are top of their range and in excellent nick. The cars destroyed are those recovered by authorities, but not reclaimed by their owners, usually because they have been paid out the full insurance value.
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/ 25 February 2008
While "oligarchs" from the era of former president Boris Yeltsin were purged by the Kremlin, a new breed of super-rich tycoons has thrived under Vladimir Putin, bringing the number of dollar billionaires in the country to more than 100. Russia now has the most billionaires in the world after the United States, which has 415. Germany is third with 60.
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/ 25 February 2008
Shortly after Australian Mark Cutifani arrived at AngloGold Ashanti, he was forced to wear a Springbok rugby jersey for two days as his colleagues celebrated the Boks’ World Cup victory. Cutifani describes the event as “an absolute tragedy”, but despite this trauma, he appears relaxed and smiling when we meet at the mining house’s head offices in the refurbished Turbine Hall in downtown Johannesburg.
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/ 25 February 2008
Fears that China might export inflation to the rest of the world were heightened this week when Beijing announced the sharpest rise in the cost of living in 11 years. With food prices rising rapidly following severe new year storms, the annual inflation rate in the fast-growing developing economy reached 7,1% last month.