OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Thursday 11.00am US oil giant Texaco has struck oil off the coast of Nigeria with a find estimated at around one billion barrels, valued at $25-billion at current prices, the company confirmed Wednesday. Texaco Overseas Oil Corporation and a Nigerian partner, FAMFA Oil, made the find in a deep-water offshore field […]

CREDIT rating agency Fitch IBCA on Monday affirmed the national claims paying ability of South African insurer Santam Ltd at AA+ and its international claims paying ability at BBB. The decision followed Santam’s R1,58-billion offer for rival Guardian National. Santam will finance part of the purchase through a R1-billion ights issue and has said the […]

ONE of the three suspects arrested in connection with the murder of Brenda Fairhead, 55, and her daughter Kia, 11, appeared in the Port Alfred Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, SABC radio news reported. The 16-year-old suspect’s evidence was heard in camera. Police are formulating murder, robbery and kidnapping charges against him. His mother asked that […]

ERITREANS should be able to access the internet starting next month following the arrival of necessary equipment, according to Estifanos Afewerki, head of the national telecommunications service. “We should have internet by the end of February,” Estifanos told AFP Tuesday afternoon. The equipment arrived from the United States on Monday after several months of delays. […]

MEMBERS of rival student unions in Burkina Faso’s capital used batons and bludgeons against each another during clashes on Wednesday at the University of Ouagadougou campus. The clashes broke out after the National Union of Faso Students (UNEF) ordered a four-day strike beginning on Monday, while the larger National Association of Burkinabe Students (ANEB) expressed […]

BIDDER for the third cellphone licence say they might as well throw in the towell after South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Satra) on Tuesday began a process of amending the MTN and Vodacom licences to include the coveted 1800 GSM as well as the current 900 GSM frequency. Business Day reports that bidders say they […]

CANADIAN gold producer Placer Dome said on Monday its joint venture with South Africa’s Western Areas Ltd is unaffected by the shock resignation of Western Areas’ deputy chairman Brett Kebble at the weekend. Vancouver-based Placer also said it was confident of Western Areas’ ability to meet its financial commitments to the promising South Deep gold […]

STEVEN MANN & AFP, Cape Town | Thursday 11.00am. FIRE fighters on Thursday said they were winning the battle to contain the series of blazes which have wreaked havoc in the Cape Peninsula over the past few days. All roads had been reopened and people who had been evacuated were able to return home, disaster […]

THE bail application of Abdus-Salaam Ebrahim, the leader of the organisation People Against Gangsterism and Drugs, was postponed for a day in the Cape Town Redgional Court on Wednesday, because the magistrate was unavailable. Ebrahim faces several charges, including the 1996 murder of gang boss Rashaad Staggie, who was shot and set alight by a […]

AJ VENTER thinks his best chances of playing for the Springboks lie with the Natal Sharks. The form eighthman of last season, who was controversially left out of the World Cup squad in Wales, is in a contractual wrangle while trying to leave the Golden Lions for the Durban outfit. He has not been included […]