TUESDAY, 6.00PM: SOUTH African business confidence in June fell to its lowest point in six years, largely mirroring the movement of the plunging rand. Releasing the latest Sacob Business Confidence Index, the chamber’s director of economic policy Dr Ben van Rensburg said the June index registered a 5,7-point drop over May to 92,2 — signalling […]
STANDARD Bank announced on Wednesday that it is to cut its prime and home loan lending rates by half a percent to 17,5%, effective from July 14.
MORE than 400000 residents of Cotonou drink polluted water in Benin’s business capital, according to an official in the ministry of health, Dr Moussa Yarou. Yarou, who heads the public health and sanitation unit, told reporters last week that refuse from households and septic tanks had infiltrated all the wells in Cotonou. He expressed concern […]
JUSTICE Minister Penuell Maduna spent most of Monday on the witness stand when the public protector’s hearings into alleged irregularities at the Strategic Fuel Fund resumed in Cape Town. Maduna was responsible for the SFF when he was Minerals and Energy Minister in former President Nelson Mandela’s Cabinet. Public protector Selby Baqwa is also investigating […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 3.30pm. THE wage demands of public service unions were “inappropriate” considering the limited funding available for social services, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Wednesday. She urged unions to return to the negotiating table, saying a solution could still be found which would satisfy state employees without […]
UNITED Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected in Dakar on Tuesday night on a three-day visit to Senegal, the first stage of an African tour which will take him to five other countries. Annan, accompanied by his wife, will also visit Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Algeria, which is hosting the annual OAU summit […]
A NEW disease causing virus capable of evading the body’s immune system has been detected by researchers, Medinfo reported in Johannesburg on Tuesday. According to Medinfo, the virus, called “stealth virus” by researchers, can steal genes from its host and rob bacteria of their genes too. “This means that the virus can infiltrate the body […]
THE South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) has set July 11 as the date for Western Province to prove that the Newlands field is in good enough condition to host the Tri-Nations match between the Springboks and Australia on August 14. Sarfu officials said they will make a decision after a WP/Pumas game on July […]
KENYAN police fired rubber bullets in several parts of Nairobi on Wednesday to disperse striking mini-bus touts who erected barricades, set fire to tyres and stoned buses. Thousands of commuters were stranded as the drivers and conductors of the mini-buses went on strike to protest government plans to introduce new licensing rules. Business came to […]
AUTHORITIES in Mauritania have decided to expel all French military advisers and to introduce visa requirements for visiting French citizens beginning in August. The measures, announced in Nouakchott Monday, are in retaliation for the indictment and imprisonment of a Mauritinian army officer, Naine Ely Ould Dah. Ould Dah allegedly tortured detainees between 1990 and 1991. […]