AFP, Windhoek | Wednesday OFFICIALS from the world’s biggest diamond producing countries met in Windhoek to find ways of curbing the trade in conflict gems, but their two-day conference got off to a false start with Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) failing to attend. The Namibian director of mines, Kennedy Hamutenya, played […]

ONE of three men sentenced to life imprisonment in June for the rape of two Belgian tourists has been refused leave to challenge his conviction and sentence by the Appeal Court in Bloemfontein. John Tee and two other men were found guilty by the Port Elizabeth High Court in June of raping two women to […]

MALAWI has set November 21 as the date for its first multiparty local elections, an electoral official indicated. “We are all ready now, and this is the final fixed date,” electoral commission spokesman Festus Lipenga said. Malawi became a democracy after former dictator Kamuzu Banda’s rule ended in 1994, but the southern African nation has […]

THE first sod has been turned for a maximum security prison to be built in Louis Trichardt in the Northern Province. The prison will be built as a public-private partnership and will house 3 024 inmates and create 1 500 jobs, of which 600 will be permanent. National minister of correctional services, Ben Skosana, said […]

POLICE are investigating the possibility that the five people shot dead and 10 others wounded at the KwaMashu men’s hostel north of Durban were led into an ambush. The shooting followed a group of angry hostel residents marching to a local police station to demand the release of two suspects arrested for a murder. Three […]

MINERAL and metallurgical technology company Mintek has imported 60 tons of hazardous waste from Australia in disregard of a worldwide ban. According to environmental groups Groundwork and Earthlife Africa, the waste contains high levels of lead and arsenic and is in contravention of the Basel Convention, which banned the export of hazardous waste and of […]

ANGOLAN army officers have warned President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of serious discontent as troops go starving and even naked while allocated funds are missing. Young soldiers “are hungry, going naked or have no boots … and are being driven to quit their units,” according to a letter to Dos Santos signed by several dozen […]

TWO of the world’s leading medical and emergency assistance companies have merged operations in Africa to address the needs of corporate clients there. International SOS (SOS) and Medical Rescue International of Africa (MRI) said the “multi-million dollar” merger would allow them to provide better medical care and emergency aid to local and multinational clients operating […]

DAVID LUHNOW, London | Wednesday DESPITE a busy first six months, Anglo-South African insurer Old Mutual is still eyeing opportunities in the US, UK and emerging markets, company officials said. It had lost its bid for Edinburgh-based mutual assurer, Scottish Provident, which industry sources say has agreed to 2bn deal with the UK’s Abbey National […]

WARDERS in Kenya have shot and killed six naked death row inmates during an attempted escape from a maximum security prison. Police spokesman Peter Kimanthi said two other death row convicts had managed to escape from King’ong’o Maximum Security Prison in the town of Nyeri, 200km north of the capital Nairobi. He said warders opened […]