Algeria has started negotiations with Russia on receiving SU-30 fighter jets in exchange for a consignment of faulty MiG-29 warplanes it returned in 2006, Interfax news agency reported on Thursday. Long-time Russian ally Algeria sent back 15 MiG-29s for containing sub-standard parts and has now begun talks on replacing them with up to 16 SU-30s.
Anti-whaling campaigners said on Thursday that they had uncovered an embezzlement ring at the heart of the Japanese whaling fleet, accusing crew members of stealing choice cuts of whale meat worth millions of yen for sale on the black market.
The horror facing Movement for Democratic Change members in Zimbabwe became apparent this week.
Arms-deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne on Thursday denied that he was waging a personal vendetta against Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. Addressing the Cape High Court, where he has applied for a contempt-of-court ruling against the minister and former finance director general Maria Ramos, he said: ”The arms deal is not some Trevor/Terry saga.”
A national electricity emergency programme management office (PMO) will be established immediately, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday. The office would be responsible for coordinating all efforts to deal with an emergency, Maseko said at a media briefing following Cabinet’s regular meeting on Wednesday.
The worst of the financial-sector crisis is over, although the impact on the broader economy will likely drag on in coming months, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Thursday. "There are good reasons to believe that the largest part of disclosure in financial institutions has been done," he said.
The presidency orchestrated South African Broadcasting Corporation CEO Dali Mpofu’s suspension, his lawyers claimed on Thursday. Mpofu is challenging his suspension in the Johannesburg High Court. Mpofu said board chairperson Kanyi Mkhonza was acting on an instruction to ”get rid of the CEO” issued by the Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad.
A special task team will investigate the cause of the recent xenophobic attacks in Alexandra and elsewhere in the country, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday. The team will make recommendations about steps required to prevent a recurrence of this ”negative tendency”, he told a media briefing.
Lonrho Mining has discovered an ”exceptional 61,30-carat fancy yellow diamond” at its Schmidtsdrift mine, along the western bank of the Vaal River, the company said on Thursday. It said that the diamond is octahedron in shape and is expected to yield a high value.
The African Christian Democratic Party, Democratic Alliance, Independent Democrats and United Democratic Movement have filed a joint submission in the Pretoria High Court as a friend of the court in support of Hugh Glenister’s bid to stop the disbanding of the Scorpions, the parties said on Thursday.