OWN CORRESPONDENT AND REUTERS, Johannesburg | Thursday SIZZLING oil prices are unlikely to cool off in the near future fuelling speculation that South Africa may have to move away from its neutral monetary policy. OPEC has indicated it is not keen to take any action to reduce the current crude price of around US$32 per […]
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has expelled freelance journalist Dale McKinley from the party for “consistently and publicly” attacking leaders of the African National Congress. McKinley was summonsed to a disciplinary hearing at the weekend where he was allowed to present a defence. The SACP’s central committee then endorsed the decision to expel him. […]
THE release of a dozen foreign hostages – including South Africans Callie and Monique Strydom – held for up to nearly four months by Moslem rebels in the southern Philippines has been postponed at least until Friday, officials said. A spokesman for chief hostage negotiator Robert Aventajado said bad weather over Jolo, the southern island […]
THE NIGERIAN government has said it will spend about 4.3 billion naira to extend electricity supplies to all rural areas in the West African country. The chairman of the technical committee of state power monopoly NEPA, Liyel Imoke, said the project was part of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s plans to tackle poverty in the oil-producing country […]
Nick Hornby’s London novel about an obsessive music fanatic has become a movie set in Chicago. Stuart Husband gets the lowdown from its director, the very English Stephen Frears, man of many genres.
SIXTEEN people died instantly when a bakkie collided head-on with a school bus in Northern Province on Tuesday morning. The 16 people were in the bakkie and were going from Vhulaudzi village to Louis Trichardt when they hit the bus in misty weather on the Witvlag road at about 6.20am. Provincial police spokesman Senior Superintendent […]
A RAPE suspect allegedly leapt to his death at the Wynberg Magistrates Court in Cape Town on Tuesday, shortly after he was denied bail. Police said the man, a 22-year-old rape suspect, appeared in court in connection with the rape of a Guguletu woman. He apparently jumped out of a window on the fifth floor […]
The Nigerian naira fell further in inter-bank open market trading, dropping to 114.30 naira to the dollar from 114 at the start of the week. The naira slipped to 168.50 from 168 naira against the pound sterling, and dropped to 163 from 162.50 to 1,000 CFA francs but held steady at 55 naira to the […]
RACING against time, Russian Navy rescuers have begun lowering an escape capsule to a crippled nuclear submarine on the bed of the Barents Sea in a new attempt to save the 116 sailors trapped inside, officials said. The latest bid came after two earlier attempts during the night to lower a rescue capsule to the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT and LESLEY WROUGHTON, Lagos | Wednesday THE winners of the four licences to operate digital mobile telecommunications in Africa’s most populous country will be announced on December 5 this year after contenders bid for the privilege. The Nigerian Communications Commission, in charge of an auction for the four sought-after licences, said bidding would […]