No image available
/ 11 February 2008
Other banks and the French taxman stand to make hundreds of million of dollars as Société Générale boosts its capital with a deeply discounted rights issue after rogue trading and United States subprime losses. An official at the bank said on Monday the company would have to pay taxes on a €1,4-billion capital gain.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
The United States administration is pressing the 27 governments of the European Union to sign up for a range of new security measures for transatlantic travel, including allowing armed guards on all flights from Europe to America by US airlines. The demand to put armed air marshals on to the flights is part of a travel clampdown by the Bush administration.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
The "specialist nature" of the Scorpions might well be retained, wherever the unit is finally located, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday. He said the government remained firmly committed to ensuring South Africa’s capacity to fight organised crime was enhanced, not reduced.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
In recent years Johannesburg’s Central Methodist Church has become home to destitute and desperate South Africans — and a sanctuary for refugees and asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe and elsewhere. At 11pm on January 30 the South African Police Service (SAPS) raided the church apparently in search of guns, drugs and illegal immigrants.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
Oil giant Shell recorded the biggest annual profits in British corporate history recently at $27,6-billion, causing a storm of protest from trade union leaders and green groups who said the “obscene” profits came at the expense of motorists, pensioners and the environment and suggested it should be met with a windfall tax.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
Eskom’s countdown to catastrophe began in 2000 when it had enough coal stockpiled to last 61 days. Last month, when it shut down the country’s mines, the stockpiles were down to less than three days’ supply. A deliberate policy began in 2000 to reduce the coal stockpile to better manage operating costs.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
Outdated and contaminated with apartheid ideology, the South African school curriculum had to be reformed after 1994. A new curriculum that promoted and upheld the values of the Constitution was needed – one we could all own and of which we all could be proud.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
I’ve never really been taken in by the whole “men in dresses, beard and Kalashnikov” combo. The same goes for the awe and fear the image inspires in certain quarters. Then again, I’m no Salman Rushdie. I’ve been known to don the occasional burqa — but only for festive purposes, and not on pain of death.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
Let’s face it: accounting is not an easy subject to teach. It requires students to learn some fairly rigid rules related to concepts that are difficult to illustrate.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
Records tumble as the oil majors release their annual results. The most profit made by any company ever: ExxonMobil’s $40-billion. Amid the noise about capital allocation and windfall taxes, there is a danger of missing the most important results of all. The oil and gas production of Shell, BP, ExxonMobil and Chevron is going down, not up.