A LIBYAN Airlines plane carrying 125 pilgrims for the hajj to Mecca left Tripoli on Thursday for Saudi Arabia, once again in violation of a United Nation flight embargo. The aircraft, dubbed the “Plane of Defiance” by the Libyan authorities, took off from Tripoli airport.Libya has been under UN sanctions since 1992 for its refusal […]
AUSTRALIAN international Phil Kearns withdrew on Wednesday from the New South Wales Waratahs team who play the Bulls on Saturday. The hooker injured his knee in last weekend’s 36-30 win over the Chiefs which maintained the Waratahs’ unbeaten start to the series. Former ACT Brumbies hooker Tim Tavalea replaces Kearns and Mark Crick joins the […]
THE Independent Electoral Commission announced on Wednesday that three provincial legislatures will be smaller after the general election. It said that the Gauteng legislature will lose 13 seats, bringing it down to 73 members, the Western Cape three seats and North-West legislature one. The number of seats in the National Assembly will remain at 400. […]
THE Industrial Development Corporation (ICD) has agreed to underwrite R1,5-billion for a R1,1-billion expansion project at Indian Ocean Fertiliser, based in Richard’s Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. In a statement on Thursday the IDC said the project involves the expansion of existing operations by adding a new sulphuric acid and phosphoric acid plant, as […]
MOZAMBICAN President Joaquim Chissano confirmed on Wednesday that his government will introduce a Value Added Tax (VAT) on the scheduled date of April 1, despite pleas for a nine-month postponement from virtually the entire formal business sector. Chissano, speaking through his press spokesperson Antonio Matonse, told the independent newsheet Metical that the VAT is a […]
THE US government has set aside an economic assistance budget of $711,3-million for Africa in 1999, a large chunk of which goes to the promotion of family planning and protection of human health. A breakdown of the 1999 budget for Africa by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) shows that $253-million has been allocated […]
JAPAN’S Mitsui Corporation is assessing the potential of Zambia’s Konkola Deep Mining Project with the possibility of taking an equity interest. The lead investor, Anglo American, has already stated that it wishes to work with seasoned developers on the KDMP as the resources required are enormous. Mitsui wishes to secure a long-term copper concentrates (enriched […]
A MOLDAVIAN woman attempting to smuggle five baby Nile crocodiles in three pieces of luggage was foiled by Egyptian customs officials on Wednesday, an airport spokesperson said. It is illegal to export the reptiles from Egypt but the woman, who also had 59 water snakes and aquarium fish in her luggage, was allowed to resume […]
CHILD pornography, particularly on the Internet, is a booming industry, an international conference against the sexual exploitation of children in Cape Town heard on Wednesday. ”There are laws against it in all countries but it is still there. A lot must be done to make the laws work,” campaigner Christa Dammerman from the Terre des […]
THE South African Police Service will acquire an automated fingerprint information system within 12 to 15 months, Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi said in Parliament on Wednesday. During debate on his budget vote, Mufamadi said many of the current backlogs and blockages in the criminal justice system can attributed to the lack of an […]