A HONEYMOON couple from New York has been robbed of their car and belongings by an armed gang as they left the Kruger National Park at the weekend. Scott Newman, 29, and his wife Lesley, 28, were driving on a dirt road outside the country’s largest game park when they were overtaken by a truck […]

THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has suspended trade in automotive paint company Amlac, citing unusual trading since July. ”A high percentage of the trading in this share since the middle of July 2000 has been undertaken for the accounts of parties who appear to be connected,” the JSE said in a statement. The exchange said […]

VOTERS in Mauritius have gone to the polls in a test of whether the island state’s old guard can wrest power back from a beleaguered new generation. More than 500 candidates are standing in 21 constituencies for 62 seats in the national assembly. Up to eight other ”best losers” are appointed by the electoral commission, […]

UGANDA’S top mobile phone operator, MTN, plans to install an optic fibre line in Kampala next month, a move it said would lower telecommunications costs and attract new investment. MTN Uganda Chief Executive Officer Thomas Bragaw said the company would invest $11m over the next 12 months in the project which would initially cover the […]

SOUTH African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel says the country is broadly on track to meet its inflation target. ”Except for the rocketing fuel price … we are on track to meet the inflation target of 2002,” he said. The country’s central bank has set an inflation target of between three and six percent by the […]

THE South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) says its business confidence index (BCI) ebbed slightly in August to 100.1 points from 101 in July, hampered mainly by high oil prices. Sacob called for a renewed focus on exports, blaming the economy’s sluggish performance on poor domestic demand. South Africa’s economy slowed sharply in the first […]

SUDAN’S Constitutional Court has suspended a controversial decree by the Khartoum state governor banning women from working in some public places. ”Women in the private and public sectors should continue to work in their places until a final decision is taken on the case,” the court said. Governor Mazjoub al-Khalifa, citing Islamic sharia law, barred […]

RADIO 702’s station manager Dan Moyane has denied all knowledge of an apology letter sent to Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang by the station’s owner, Primedia, after an outcry by the ANC over an on-air row between Radio 702 talk-show host John Robbie and Tshabalala-Msimang. Robbie allegedly told the minister that she was talking ”rubbish” […]

BRITISH paratroops have attacked a rebel base in the Sierra Leone jungle, freeing six British soldiers and a Sierra Leonean officer held hostage since August 25. Britain’s defence minister, Geoffrey Hoon, said the decision to mount the rescue followed repeated threats by the maverick West Side Boys hostage takers to kill their captives and reports […]

EMELIA SITHOLE, Johannesburg | Saturday A COALITION of South African anti-Aids groups plans legal action to force the government to provide the nevirapine drug – which has been offered to the developing world for free – to prevent expectant mothers passing the virus to their babies. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said its hand had […]