Sappi, the world’s biggest maker of fine paper, increased second-quarter basic earnings per share to 68 United States cents from 25 US cents a year ago, the company said on Tuesday. Sappi said operating profit excluding special items rose 33% to -million in the three months to end-March from -million in the year-ago period.
Zimbabwe’s central bank said on Monday it will introduce new higher-value banknotes in its latest attempt to ease the effects of hyperinflation. The Z-million and Z-million bills will go into effect from Tuesday. ”The move is meant to minimise inconveniences to the banking public,” central bank Governor Gideon Gono said.
Brazilian star striker Ronaldo revealed on Monday that he was ”incredibly ashamed” over last week’s encounter with a trio of transvestites, which he believes will mark him for life. ”I’ve cried a lot. I was incredibly ashamed,” Ronaldo (31) said in an interview with TV Globo published in the press on Monday.
Rassie Erasmus is a name synonymous with rat-cunning unpredictability in rugby. And if the Waratahs are to beat his Stormers side in their Super 14 clash at Newlands on Saturday, they know they will have to crack the mindset of the coach before they can break his players.
An Australian politician who admitted to sniffing the chair of a female colleague has survived a challenge to his state leadership of his party, an official said on Monday. Troy Buswell was endorsed as the head of the West Australian Liberal Party after a motion to depose him at a party meeting failed, spokesperson Ray Halligan said.
The head of South Africa’s Scorpions crime-fighting unit, Leonard McCarthy, was appointed on Monday to head the World Bank’s anti-corruption unit. World Bank president Robert Zoellick, in a statement, said South African President Thabo Mbeki had agreed to release McCarthy from service to take up the position on June 30.
Josef Fritzl began planning the dungeon in which he incarcerated his daughter, Elisabeth, for 24 years when she was 12 and was so meticulous that he provided his ”downstairs family” with ultraviolet rays, vitamin tablets and an aquarium, Austrian officials said on Monday. Police said Fritzl (73) began to plan his secret bunker as early as 1978.
Picture, if you will, a tree-lined plaza in Baghdad’s International Village, flanked by fashion boutiques, swanky cafes, and shiny glass office towers. Nearby a golf course nestles agreeably, where a chip over the water to the final green is but a prelude to cocktails in the clubhouse and a soothing massage in a luxury hotel.
Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti is to proceed with an approximate one-for-four renounceable rights offer, which would result in it issuing approximately 69,4-million ordinary shares at a minimum share price of R172, it said on Tuesday. This would raise gross proceeds of approximately R11,9-billion — or about $1,6-billion.
Fear of a virus that has infected thousands of children gripped parents in China’s capital and financial hub on Tuesday, as the number of cases of hand, foot and mouth disease mounted across the country. More than 11 900 cases of the virus have been reported in China this year, the official Xinhua news agency said.