THE United States government has proposed informally to President Thabo Mbeki that he make his first state visit to Washington in August. While an official invitation has not been made diplomats from both contries have been discussing a visit in the middle of August. While the US Congress is in recess in August, lawmakers are […]
THE head of the state-run Nigerian Gas Company has been fired as authorities pressed on with a purge of the country’s oil and gas industry, news reports said on Friday. Taiwo Idemudia, managing director of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, the state-run petroleum distribution company, was fired on Thursday by Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, managing director […]
THE Gay and Lesbian Alliance is hoping to hold talks with the government in order to speed up the normalising of same-sex marriages, the Alliance announced in Pretoria on Tuesday. The organisation also hopes to discuss all other legal agreements affecting the lesbian and gay community. GLA leader Juan Uys is expected to contact the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 7.10pm PRESSURE on the Colombian peso, concerns over Argentina’s economic plight and fears of political instability in Brazil sent emerging markets into the throws of panic overnight. The uneasy Latin American situation compounded by rumours of a Chinese yuan devaluation have seen a flight to quality with investors piling into […]
MOROCCO’S Hicham El Guerrouj broke the men’s mile world record on Wednesday when he clocked three minutes 43.13 seconds in a dramatic race at the second Golden League meeting of the season. Guerrouj, who broke the 1,500 world mark on the same track last year, was pushed all the way to the finish line by […]
THE trial of three US citizens detained in Zimbabwe on arms charges was on Tuesday postponed by a High Court judge until July 19 because the prosecutor fell ill. Judge George Smith refused a longer postponement requested by the state, saying the case had attracted international attention and needed to be dealt with as soon […]
“People’s Poet” Mzwakhe Mbuli, currently serving a 13-year sentence for armed robbery, was on Tuesday admitted to a private Johannesburg hospital to undergo a prostate operation. The operation is expected to take place sometime this week. Mbuli has opted to have his own private practitioner rather than the state-paid district surgeon. His private doctor recommended […]
TOP Northern Province attorney Khatutshelo Mulovhedzi was shot dead on Tuesday morning when he opened his door to his girlfriend. Police spokesperson Captain Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said a gunman forced Mulovhedzi’s girlfriend, Dr Naledzani Khwananda, to knock on the door at about 7.00am. When Mulovhedzi opened the door he was shot several times in the upper […]
RETIRED president Nelson Mandela will not attend the Organization of African Unity summit that opened in Algiers on Monday because he is tired, conference organizers said. Mandela, who was to have been guest of honor at the summit, “is tired. He has the right to a little rest. We understand his absence,” a spokesperson for […]
THE Egyptian government has given the green light to move a 2500-year-old temple to another site in the Western desert to save it from corrosive underground water. Workers will next week start transferring the base of temple Amun, its columns, and walls 300m north of its location at Hibis in the Kharga oasis, antiquities chief […]