OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday 5.45pm. ZIMBABWE will have an unlikely ally in their Davis Cup tie against the United States at Harare this weekend: altitude. On Thursday, world number-one Andre Agassi said that the team’s first campaign on African soil will be very tough because of the 1500m altitude and the fervent home support. […]

SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Thursday 6.00pm MARKETS bucked around on Thursday in a volatile day’s trade as they were presented with a volley of economic and company news from both domestic and international sources and heavy futures trading. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange moved into the black in early trade before dipping into negative territory […]

A TORNADO and blinding rain ripped through several townships near Newcastle on Wednesday night, and the local MP wants them declared a disaster area. More than 100 injured people were admitted to Madadeni and Newcastle hospitals. Details of their injuries are expected later, and it is not yet known whether anyone was killed, or how […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 9.00pm. SOUTH Africa’s cricketers start the long climb to the final of the triangular limited-overs international series anew when they face a hyped England in East London. The Proteas’ two-wicket defeat on Wednesday to Zimbabwe at Kingsmead has seen them toppled from the top of the log, and they […]

THE Organisation of African Unity has decided to impose travel and financial restrictions on leaders of the Anjouanese separatist movement in the Comoros islands. The sanctions are a bid to force the separatists to commit to negotiations on the future of the break-away island, according to a statement issued by OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed […]

AN Eastern Cape farmer has been diagnosed with the deadly and contagious Congo Fever. An intensive program has been launched in the province to prevent the spread of the disease. The farmer, Francois Retief, 51, is in a critical condition and is being treated in strict isolation. He was initially admitted to hospital at Graaff-Reinet […]

TEN years to the day after he announced Nelson Mandela would be freed from prison and the African National Congress and other organisations opposing apartheid would be unbanned, F W de Klerk is a happy man. “I look back and I say: ‘No regrets,’” he said on Wednesday in an interview with Cape Talk radio […]

EASTERN Cape doctor Costa Gazi has been fined R1000 for criticising former health minister Nkosazana Zuma over the government’s refusal to issue the anti-AIDS drug AZT to infected pregnant women. The health department disciplinary committee in the Eastern Cape also warned Gazi of “serious action” should he repeat the criticism. Gazi told an East London-based […]

JOHANNESBURG police raided a brothel in the city’s northern suburbs on Wednesday night and arrested 44 illegal immigrants working as prostitutes. Thai, Russian, Bulgarian and Zambian employees of The Ranch in Rivonia Road were taken into custody. The prostitutes apparently did not have work permits. The owner was also arrested on various charges including the […]

CHRISTIAN Solidarity International (CSI) said on Tuesday it bought the freedom of 4_ 092 slaves in Sudan last week. The Zurich-based Protestant non-governmental organization said it had liberated 25053 slaves since 1995 using the controversial method at the price of 50 dollars per head paid to slave traders. Most had been abducted in southwestern Bahr […]