US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright telephoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss an Israeli-Palestinian-US summit called for next week. US President Bill Clinton convened the Israeli-Palestinian summit, scheduled to start July 11 at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland. Mubarak plays a facilitating role in the peace process and is visited frequently by […]

PUBLIC Service & Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Sunday that government is willing to negotiate employee benefits with public service unions but will not budge from its 6% salary increase across the board. “The 6% offer on the salary increase is final, but we are open to discussion on areas related to benefits.” Most […]

A NEW night time curfew began on Tuesday night in Ivory Coast after soldiers took to the streets for the first time since the December coup. Military ruler General Robert Guei imposed the 7pm. to 6am curfew after soldiers took to the streets of Abidjan and other towns in the country. Firing into the air […]

FIVE elderly women were killed and nine other people were injured in a fire at a retirement home in Port Elizabeth. The victims were all women aged between 88 and 98, police said. It was initially unclear if they burned to death or died from smoke inhalation. The injured were taken to hospital and treated […]

BELGIAN Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt will visit South Africa on Thursday and Friday for talks with President Thabo Mbeki on the situation in central Africa and the Great Lakes region. Verhofstadt would also call on former president Nelson Mandela to discuss the peace efforts in the Great Lakes region. He will be accompanied by Belgium’s […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 1.30pm THE 24000 or so members of the National Union of Mineworkers, at Amplats, the world’s largest platinum producer will be called on to begin striking next Thursday. NUM’s decision to seek a mandate has come after it failed to resolve issues with Amplats. Issues centered on the Basic Conditions […]

Former president Nelson Mandela, mediator in the peace process for Burundi, said on Tuesday he was "confident we will have a breakthrough" when talks resume this month in Arusha, Tanzania.

THE Gauteng health department says the situation at most provincial hospitals is back to normal, with many performing well. Spokeswoman Jo-Anne Collinge says a meeting between the regional leaders of NEHAWU and officials of the health department attempted to normalise the situation at the Helen Joseph Hospital, following weks of tension between hospital management and […]

PHILIPPINE officials have suspended contacts with Muslim extremists holding 20 mostly foreign hostages, sources close to the talks said on Sunday. Provincial governor Abdusakur Tan ordered government emissaries to cease visiting the Abu Sayyaf jungle hideout on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, said the sources, who asked not to be named. The emissaries had […]

THE Cape High Court has refused to grant bail to People Against Gangsterism and Drugs leader Abdus-Salaam Ebrahim, arrested in December. Ebrahim, 41, is facing charges of murder — including the public lynching of gang boss Rashaad Staggie in August 1996 – public violence, intimidation, attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, extortion and conspiracy […]