Christian Figenschou In what is likely to be one of the year’s most important new car launches, Italian car maker Fiat has marked an aggressive leap into the local market with the introduction of its 178 “world car” range, comprising the Fiat Palio hatchback, the Palio Weekend station wagon and the Siena sedan. Fiat, which […]

Howard Barrell OVER A BARREL You are not alone if you, too, are beginning to think that Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is a few marbles short of a full bag. It is not a question on which we should expect our own Thabo Mbeki or his officials to comment. They are currently engaged in manoeuvres to […]

Marianne Merten ‘Anyone who believes in his innocence has no trouble sleeping. I sleep like a baby.” That’s how outspoken senior Western Cape New National Party member and former poverty relief MEC Peter Marais reacts to his sacking. He is awaiting formal charges ahead of a disciplinary hearing, having been fired by Premier Gerald Morkel […]

Mercedes Sayagues The queues for paraffin at the petrol stations were longer than the queues at the polling stations. Some of the four million people, or 80% of registered voters, who abstained must have been queuing. Others instead voted because paraffin, petrol and diesel are scarce but hardship is abundant. On two days, 1,33-million Zimbabweans […]

Sarah Bullen Last year the Insider Trading Directorate (ITD) dropped a minor bombshell on local markets by publishing a list of companies in whose shares insider trading was suspected. In January it added 10 more to its list of 43. Six claims have been settled, seven have been closed due to lack of evidence and […]

Fiona Macleod Tigers may soon be roaming free in the foothills of the Drakensberg, like their sabre-toothed cousins did millions of years ago. Two seven-month-old pure-bred Bengal tigers are already in South Africa, waiting to become part of an ambitious scheme to breed these critically endangered cats on the African continent. Three tiger subspecies have […]

AFRICA’S largest single energy sector industrial plant, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, will be officially opened in April by President Olusegun Obasanjo, the company said. The plant has been operating since last October and the second of its two units was completed this week. The official opening had been planned for November but was delayed after […]

Bob Fisher SAILING Days before the start of the America’s Cup, New Zealand’s defence has come under fire – and not solely from their Italian challengers. The Kiwi skipper Russell Coutts and his crew are at odds with Team New Zealand chief executive Sir Peter Blake and his team responsible for the defence of the […]

Four hours from the summit of Everest, Cathy O’Dowd came across a stricken climber. She faced a brutal choice: to risk her own life in a doomed rescue – or to push on to the top. Here she explains why she left the barely breathing body I stared at the body, blinking in disbelief. We […]