OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 03.15pm. South African motorists could expect the high fuel price to remain high for some time despite recent decreases in the price of crude oil, Mineral and Energy Affairs Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said. She told a media conference that the drop in the price of crude oil by US1.20 was […]

FRESH violence has erupted in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos, with two people killed and several injured in a clash at the city’s international airport, police and witnesses said. Lagos Police Commissioner Mike Okiro said more police had been deployed to reinforce security at the airport, where customs men and shipping agents fought on Monday over […]

IN AN ongoing power battle, the Hong Kong-backed bidder for South Africa’s third mobile phone licence, Nextcom, launched an urgent court action to prevent Saudi-backed consortium Cell-C from winning the lucrative licence. The court action seeks to prevent Telecoms Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri from endorsing a recommendation by Satra to pick Cell-C, said Nextcom’s spokesperson. The […]

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 […]