State-owned South African Airways (SAA) said on Tuesday its restructuring plan was on track but rising oil prices and a volatile exchange rate posed big challenges. The airline said last year it was seeking to save R638-million in labour costs in a bid to return to profitability and could shed more than 2 000 jobs as part of a restructuring exercise.
Levels of post-election violence in Zimbabwe are escalating and could reach crisis proportions, the United Nations senior representative in the country said on Tuesday. ”These incidents of violence are occurring in communal farming and urban areas and there are indications that the level of violence is escalating,” Agustino Zacarias said.
The Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday remanded in custody Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown for a week, following his arrest last Friday on charges of fraud, theft and money laundering relating to the company Antheru. The charges involve about R800 000.
Three people were arrested for smuggling cocaine into Cape Town and OR Tambo international airports, the police reported on Tuesday. Captain Dennis Adriao said a 28-year-old man was arrested at OR Tambo airport on Saturday after 5,7kg of cocaine, worth about R5-million, was found in his possession.
Former All Black captain Anton Oliver is looking forward to playing in England’s rugby union Varsity Match after being offered a place at Oxford University. Oliver (32) will study for an MSc in biodiversity, environment and management at the famous English seat of learning.
Chad said on Monday it was closing its border with Sudan after Khartoum broke off diplomatic ties on Sunday following a rebel attack on its capital, which it said was supported by Ndjamena. Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno’s government denies involvement in Saturday’s attack by Darfur rebels.
It is still possible to reach a deal on long-delayed world trade negotiations before the end of the year, the head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said in an interview published on Tuesday. ”There are the political and technical conditions to wrap things up in 2008,” the WTO’s Pascal Lamy told the Les Echos newspaper.
At least 40 people are confirmed dead and many more missing after a ferry carrying nearly 150 passengers capsized in Bangladesh, a police official said on Tuesday. ”Till now we have recovered 40 bodies from inside the ferry,” said Mohammad Jahangir Alam, the officer in charge of Nikli police station in the Kishoreganj district.
European aviation giant Airbus on Tuesday announced more delays to the delivery of its giant A380 superjumbos, saying the current schedule was not one it could meet. The company would be able to deliver 12 of the aircraft in 2008 instead of the 13 previously announced.
Africa’s economy will grow by 6% this year and next, an acceleration from 2007, owing to high oil prices and demand for commodities, research from the African Development Bank (ADB) showed on Monday. The joint research was released ahead of the ADB’s annual meeting, which starts in Maputo, Mozambique, on Wednesday.