COTE Ivoire President Henri Konan Bedie made an impassioned plea on Wednesday for the elimination of poor countries’ foreign debt, calling indebtedness the primary obstacle to development. Speaking in Paris at an international conference on globalization sponsored by the French Insititute of International Relations, Bedie also lamented the lack of investment in developing countries. Citing […]

THE retractable roof on Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium will not be closed for the World Cup final, organisers said on Wednesday. “It could only have been considered if we had received written requests from both teams and it is my understanding that we have not done so,” a spokeswoman said. France and Australia, the teams in […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cardiff | Thursday 1.00pm. THE All Blacks are nervous about their reception by the public when they return to New Zealand after their crushing defeat in the World Cup semifinals. A welcome home parade, organised when victory in the final seemed assured earlier in the tournament, has been cancelled after the shock 43-31 […]

CONTROVERSIAL cricketer Makhaya Ntini has been included in the Border B team to play North West B in a three-day UCB Bowl cricket match starting in East London on Thursday. Ntini won his court appeal against a six-year jail sentence after being found guilty of raping a domestic worker in a public toilet last December.

ANGLO American chairman Julian Ogilvie Thompson told international mining executives in Toronto on Monday that the multinational is well placed to help mining achieve a balanced perspective on sustainable development. Speaking at the CIBC World Markets Mining Dinner Thompson said this is largely due to its exposure to the developing world in Africa and Latin […]

ZIMBABWE, battling with crippling HIV/Aids statistics, has imposed a 3% tax on earnings to help pay for AIDS-related healthcare costs. The measure is expected to bring in about $26,6-million annually. While the tax is a step towards actively fighting the disease, critics are concerned because the country has no specific plan for how to use […]

LAWYERS from around the world will on Thursday gather in the Abuja, Nigeria for a two-day conference on west Africa’s energy problems in the new millennium. The West African Regional Energy Conference will also be attended by international energy experts. The conference is being organised by the energy and natural resources law section of the […]

WESTERN Cape education MEC Helen Zille said on Monday that algebra standard grade matric examination papers have been leaked from a school at Kraaifontein, Kuils River. According to Zille the examinations director raised the alarm when the high school in question requested more papers. The pupils have been allowed to write the examinations while an […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 4.00pm. DOCTORS in Zimbabwe’s state hospitals ended a crippling six-week strike Wednesday after accepting government promises on salaries and improved working conditions, a spokesman for the strikers said. “We have signed an agreement and doctors will be going back to work immediately,” said Lincoln Shenje, secretary-general of the Hospital Doctors […]

MPUMALANGA’S outspoken former transport MEC, Jackson Mthembu, has finally been charged with wrecking a luxury government vehicle while driving without a license five months ago. He allegedly smashed the government-issue Mercedes Benz into a tree at high speed while on African National Congress business in Witbank just before the June elections. Mthembu, who now chairs […]