THE owner of a Pretoria demolition company is to appear in court in connection with a massive blast at a Villieria house that left three people – including his wife – dead and eight injured. The man is the owner of the house where a stockpile of commercial explosives detonated at about 11.30am on Tuesday. […]

A TROUBLED east African regional airline, Alliance Air, has suspended its operations pending a shareholders meeting. Alliance Air, a joint venturen between Uganda, Tanzania and South African Airways, has in the recent past accumulated a $50m debt. It was established in 1994 under the African Joint Air Services (AJAS) agreement signed in Dar es Salaam. […]

POLICE are continuing their search for a group of Northern Province army commando members who allegedly forced a teenager they suspected of housebreaking, to eat his own faeces. The group are said to be known to the police, and is believed to include a senior policeman. Police said they allegedly apprehended the youth, 17, while […]

THIRTEEN amateur diamond prospectors have been killed in a landslide in northeastern Angola, state radio reported. Four other diamond-seekers were seriously injured in the tragedy, which occurred at a mine in Chassuala, near the city of Saurimo. Police managed to pull the four out of the debris from the landslide. The government recently launched a […]

SIX of 14 Chachma baboons saved from being used in French nuclear weapon testing have been released into new enclosures with natural vegetation. Karen Pilling, a representative for the Centre for Animal Rehabilitation and Education (Care), said the baboons were doing well and were being fed better. Care forcibly removed the emaciated baboons with police […]

THE Volta Aluminium Company (Valco) in Ghana is ready to buy substantial quantities of gas from the West African Gas Pipeline project once it is completed, a source at Valco said. Valco’s interest will be a boost to the stakeholders in the $400m project, who are due to take a decision by the end of […]

MANOAH ESIPISU AND OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lusaka | Wednesday ZAMBIA has launched a concerted effort to reassure mine investors nervous about the growth of conflicts in the region fuelled by mineral wealth. Vice-President Christon Tembo told delegates at a mining conference that despite a huge natural heritage, Africa attracted limited direct foreign investment as it was […]

JEREMY LOVELL, Cape Town | Wednesday SOUTH African legislators have approved a controversial new gun law which imposes strict limits on firearm ownership and gives police sweeping powers of search and seizure, in spite of vociferous opposition to the bill. The Firearms Control Bill 2000, which has sparked street protests by the mainly white pro-gun […]

NORTHERN province police are investigating a Seshego police sergeant who allegedly inserted his fingers into the private parts of a teenage girl who had just been raped. The policeman, a member of the crime prevention unit, has not been arrested or suspended. The teenage girl said The policeman lured her into his room at the […]

A MALAWI newspaper editor has been demoted for not using a story about President Bakili Muluzi opening a plastic factory as his newspaper’s front page lead. The editor used a story headlined ”Malawi Police to Serve in Kosovo” as its main article instead of an account of Muluzi’s visit to the plastic factory. The Media […]