NORTHERN Province police charged 10 farmers with attempted murder on Thursday after the farmers allegedly assaulted three stock theft officers and damaged a police van. The unnamed farmers forced three black Pietersburg police officers off the road on Tuesday afternoon. “The officers spotted a suspicious truck full of cattle near Bochum and attempted to pull […]

OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday that it is still trying to fine-tune an international investment of $8,5-billion in Nigeria with the Lagos government. “These are proposals that are currently being worked out with the Nigerian government,” a spokesman said after publication of disastrous company results. A Shell managing director, Philip Watts, confirmed […]

DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday the government will not delay this year’s general election, expected to be held in May, despite legal wrangling over electoral rules. “The government has no intention to ask for a postponement of the general election,” Mbeki told parliament, adding that he hopes the exact poll date will be […]

THE Human Rights Commission released the terms of reference for its investigation of racism in the South African media on Thursday. The full terms of reference will be published in this Friday’s Government Gazette and on the SAHRC website. In a statement the commission said it is finalising the appointment of the project’s co-ordinator and […]

PRELIMINARY figures collated by the Rural Safety Task Team indicate a significant decrease in the number of attacks on farms and smallholdings since the Summit on Rural Safety and Security on October 10 1998. The number of attacks decreased from 79 in October 1998 to 50 in January 1999. The task team said there were […]

INTERNATIONAL investment bank Deutsche Bank is due to launch the first of its Index Tracking Certificate markets — linked to the Alsi 40 Index — on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Thursday. An ITC is a financial instrument listed on the JSE. The instrument tracks the performance of a specific underlying index — in this […]

ALL eyes in Nigeria will on this weekend’s meeting of the Nigerian People’s Democratic Party in Jos, in the central plateau region, where party members meet to pick from a list headed by former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo and former vice presidential candidate Alex Ekwueme. Obasanjo, a retired general who ran Nigeria from 1976 to […]

SUDANESE civilians may be tried by military courts for crimes involving firearms, explosives, espionage, and military secrets, a source cited by the official Suna news agency said in Khartoum on Thursday. “If the army commander-in-chief and state prosecutor agree, civilians suspected of these crimes may be judged by the armed forces tribunal, responsible for the […]

JUSTIN Hobday set a new course record by shooting a 61 (-11) in the first round of the South African Masters on Thursday at the Oppenheimer Park Golf Course in Welkom, Free State.

THE African National Congress on Thursday rejected charges that its members are planning to kill leaders of the Inkatha Freedom Party ahead of the looming general elections. IFP leader Mangosuthu Butheleziclaimed on Wednesday that the ANC is arming its supporters in KwaZulu-Natal and planns to assassinate IFP leaders before the poll, due in May. Minister […]