THE European Union and 71 African, Caribbean and Pacific states are expected to sign a deal in May renewing the Lome trade and aid pact which expires in February, Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks said on Monday. Under the new deal, ACP countries will get 13,8-billion euros ($14,1-billion) in aid over the next […]

THE government repaid a net R1,32-billion during January, bringing total financing for the 1999/2000 (April-December) fiscal year to R25,38-billion, according to Department of Finance figures released in Pretoria on Thursday. Revised budgeted financing figures for the full fiscal year were not provided by the department. According to provisional figures, R753,6-million was raised in January through […]

MITCH PHILLIPS, London | Monday 10.30am. RUGBY union’s planned introduction of video referees could be delayed because of concerns about costs, a leading official has claimed. The experiment was due to begin in the southern hemisphere’s Super 12 regional competition, which kicks off later this month, and the Tri Nations. But Rian Oberholzer, head of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 11.15am. GOLD mining giant Gold Fields on Thursday reported higher quarterly profits on the back of a stronger gold price and a turnaround at its key Driefontein mine. The Johannesburg-based gold miner posted earnings after exceptional items of R192-million for the three months ended December 31. That compares to a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 6.00pm. A POSITIVE finish on Wall Street and sturdier domestic bond and rand markets jacked up shares on the JSE for the second session in a row on Wednesday, but stocks soon gave away some opening gains. Diamond giant De Beers , the exchange’s third biggest stock by value, jumped […]

THE Kenyan Football Federation (KFF) has been plunged into a deep crisis. On Monday, five of the eight National Executive Committee (NEC) members resigned en masse and called on the government to appoint a caretaker committee to run soccer in the country. The resignation follows the KFF’s failure to hold its national elections on February […]

TOYOTA South Africa denied that it is linked to the taxi rebels threatening to disrupt the government’s plans to reshape the beleaguered industry. “I want to state categorically that Toyota South Africa is fully supportive of the government’s concept of taxi industry recapitalisation which has as its prime focus affordability for commuters and the overall […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Accra | Sunday 6.30pm. FORMER champions Cameroon survived a nervous finish to defeat Algeria 2-1 in Accra on Sunday in the first quarter-final of the African Nations Cup. Early goals from Samuel Eto’o and Marc-Vivien Foe put the 1984 and 1988 winners in command only to relinquish the initiative in the second half […]

RANDGOLD Resources reported an after-tax loss of $14,02-million for the quarter ended December 31, nearly double its loss of $7,5-million in the previous quarter. The London-listed company said Syama, in Mali, the company’s only operating mine, had been beset by problems during the quarter. These included power disruptions, heavy rains, down time due to the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.00am. THE Assets Forfeiture Unit threatened over the weekend to clamp down on “gentlemen’s clubs” across the country, if they don’t clean up their act. The warning follows a raid on a high-class Gauteng brothel, The Ranch, which has been provisionally attached. It is now being managed by a curator, […]