THE United States has joined an international crackdown on the trade in smuggled diamonds that is funding rebel conflicts in Sierra Leone and several other African countries. The Security Council House Appropriations subcommittee voted to require U.S. customs to enforce a ban on the in diamonds from Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, […]

SINGAPORE said on Tuesday it will send a team of zoologists to South Africa to help care for 18000 penguins drenched in an oil spill off Cape Town. The Singapore Zoological Gardens said in a statement the team will consist of a senior veterinarian and penguin keepers from the zoo and the Jurong Bird Park.”This […]

ZIMBABWE’S leading business associations have urged President Robert Mugabe to trim the size of his cabinet to cut public spending. In a report obtained by AFP on Tuesday, seven private sector groups urged Mugabe to cut the number of cabinet posts from 52 to 15. Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) […]

THE national government and the private sector have donated R2-million to renovate 18 Mpumalanga schools that were damaged by floods early this year. Mpumalanga education spokesman Peter Maminza said on Tuesday that the donation would initially be spent on schools affected in the Nelspruit, Malelane and Hazyview districts. Maminza said his department was also negotiating […]

THE Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the transnational pharmaceutical corporation Merck have announced a 100-million-dollar grant to fight Aids in Botswana. The donation will fund a program in co-operation with the Botswana government aimed at prevention, management and treatment of the disease. Botswana has one of the highest rates of Aids in the world, […]

JUSTICE Minister Penuell Maduna wants the Independent Complaints Directorate to probe the acquittal of a police officer who set a man alight in a police cell. Andre Pietersen is in a critical condition in hospital after he was burned in the Wolseley charge office in the Western Cape. Police officer Christiaan Myburgh told the Wolseley […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 11.45am. GOVERNMENT’S decision against imposing a hotel levy to fund tourism should give the accommodation industry a welcome boost. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said he turned down a request for such a dedicated levy from the Tourism Department because it would further fragment tourism promotion, was not market-related and would […]

PRESIDENTIAL spokesman Parks Mankahlana has reached an undisclosed out-of-court settlement with the disgruntled mother of one of his two alleged children. His attorney, Moroampholo Tsoka, said on Monday that EC Wallace had promised to withdrawn her Nelspruit Maintenance Court suit after Mankahlana agreed to increase his R300 per month contribution towards their child. Mankahlana would […]

THE 19-year-old son of a Lynnwood Glen, Pretoria, couple charged with the murder of his parents and brother, was on Monday referred for 30 days psychiatric observation at the Weskoppies hospital by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court. Karl Gustav Greyvenstein was not asked to plead when he appeared briefly before Magistrate C Khoza. He will appear […]

THE expected big influx of additional crude supplies from Saudi Arabia and other leading producers pushed prices down some 8% in the last two days. Intermediate crude for August delivery fell 68 cents to US$ 29.99 a barrel and a major plunge in price is expected early next week if the Saudis do raise daily […]