GLOBAL demand for platinum in 1998 grew by 220000 ounces to 5,35-million ounces, driven by a 70% increase in fabrication of jewellery in China, according to Johnson Matthey in Platinum 1999, published in London on Monday. Demand in China, insignificant five years ago, rose to 620 000 ounces, taking total jewellery demand to 2,37-million ounces. […]
TREVOR TUTU was on Monday fined R10000 or an alternative 18 months in jail for reckless driving. The Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court conditionally suspended a fifth of the fine — which in full is equal to Trevor Tutu’s monthly salary — or six months of the jail sentence. Tutu’s conviction stems from a four-car pile-up in […]
CAPE Town firm Freeplay Energy Group said on Tuesday it is rushing to meet an order for almost 40000 wind-up radios destined for refugees in the Kosovo crisis. The radios have been ordered by the International Red Cross. They will be used in refugee camps to receive special broadcasts telling people how to get medical […]
THE Cats’ dramatic win over the Stormers on Saturday not only restored some of the side’s respectability, but may have extended the career of embattled coach Andre Markgraaff. Markgraaff has been under pressure throughout the Super 12 campaign, and has been attacked in the press for tactics and style. Markgraaff claimed the articles in the […]
CONTRIBUTIONS to the job creation fund by business, workers and government are nearing R10-million, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa president Mtutuzeli Tom said on Monday. Tom was speaking after receiving a cheque for R193887 — one day’s salary from 3500 workers — from Daimler-Chrysler at East London in the Eastern Cape. The country’s […]
DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday congratulated the Israeli Labour Party leader Ehud Barak on his election as Israeli Premier. Barak replaces Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party. Mbeki said he believed the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians would now move rapidly forward in a spirit consistent with the principles for which former Premier […]
JUBILEE 2000, the British-based group campaigning for the cancellation of the unpayable debts of the world’s poorest countries by next year, supports Nigeria’s calls for debt relief, director Ann Pettifor said on Tuesday. Speaking after a two-hour meeting with president-elect Olusegun Obasanjo, the director of the high-profile group said: “We in Jubilee 2000 would be […]
PANASONIC Systems Company announced on Monday it has appointed its first empowerment franchise called OSEC (Office Solutions Empowerment Company. The firm said OSEC is a private black owned operational company dealing in office automation with the majority shareholding of 70% owned by the managing director, Mthandeni Bengane, and the remainder owned by the other director, […]
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela has invited Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II to visit South Africa in November, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The visit is set to start on November 9 and precede the Commonwealth heads of government meeting due to take place in Durban from November 12 to 15, the ministry said. The queen, who […]
AN opposition member of the Burkina Faso parliament and a human rights leader were arrested on Monday following new riots over the murder of a journalist, Security Minister Colonel Djibril Bassole said. Hermann Yameogo, son of the country’s first president Maurice Yameogo when it was known as Upper Volta, will be charged with organising the […]