President Bill Clinton on Wednesday proposed giving the world’s poorest countries greater duty-free access to US markets. The United States is discussing the initiative with Japan and the European Union, which has floated a similar proposal ahead of the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle this week. The initiative, announced in a White House statement, […]

GRIQUALAND West captain Pat Symcox has withdrawing from the the team facing play North West in the Shield Series match beginning on Friday in Potchefstroom. Symcox recommended that the provincial selectors use December’s two Shield matches for blooding promising young players. Opening batsman Martyn Gidley will captain Griquas in their remaining four-day fixtures and Pieter […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Pretoria | Thursday 8.00am. Sundowns ……… (1) 1 (Alain Amougou 10) Santos ……….. (1) 1 (Duncan Crowie 3) SO the seemingly invincible Castle Premiership pacesetters Sundowns are human after all! Okay, they did not lose on Wednesday night, but no one expected mid-table Santos to hold the star-studded squad. It could have been […]

SARAH BULLEN and Reuters, Cape Town | Thursday 10.45am COMBINED gold and foreign exchange reserves beat economists’ forecast continuing their upwards rise in November to $7,4-billion — a $500-million rise from October’s reserves, Reserve Bank figures released on Thursday show. In rand terms this translates into a rise of R2,6-billion to R45,2-billion from October’s R42,6-billion. […]

CABINET on Wednesday extended the term of office of the current SABC board by up to three months. President Thabo Mbeki has not yet had time to consider the list of proposed names for the new board, Minister in the Office of the President, Essop Pahad told reporters in Pretoria. Mbeki, who was expected to […]

MARCEL Golding, acting CEO of Midi Television, parent company of e-tv, stepped down from the board of Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC) last week, e-tv spokesperson Kanthan Pillay said on Monday. Pillay said Golding was asked to resign at a board meeting early last week. He said he could not give details on the matter.

MPUMALANGA’S capital, Nelspruit, has frozen all new development projects until rates defaulters pay it the R41-million owned for basic services such as water and electricity. Nelspruit city treasurer Nantes Kruger said the council will also cut electricity to anyone owing it money before Christmas and will hand over all outstanding accounts to attorneys for prosecution. […]

SOUTH African oil and gas firm Energy Africa said on Wednesday it is well positioned to ride out volatility in oil prices in the medium term by exploiting its growing exploration portfolio across Africa. The group earlier reported turnover for the 13 months to September 30 of R430,9-million compared to R340,2-million in the 12 months […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 8.15pm. ZIMBABWE’s President Robert Mugabe on Thursday marked World Aids Day by defending the country’s proposed Aids levy, which has provoked a public outcry since it was announced in October. The country said it would introduce a new tax in January to be levied at three percent of individual income […]

CENTRAL Africa’s Congo River, fed by unusually heavy rains, has burst its banks, flooding the Demcoratic Republic of the Congo’s capital of Kinshasa and making 10000 people homeless, government officials said. Health Minister Mashako Mamba told a news conference that 15 of Kinshasa’s 24 districts have been hit by the floods, which started on Monday. […]