Staff Reporter
No image available
/ 30 January 2008

Pistorius not giving up on Olympic dream

South African ”Bladerunner” Oscar Pistorius vowed in an interview with Italian television on Tuesday to continue his fight to have an Olympic ban overturned. The disabled sprinter, who runs with carbon-fibre blade attachments, wants to be allowed to compete in the normal Olympics as well as the Paralympics.

No image available
/ 30 January 2008

Strong quake rocks Indonesia’s Maluku

A strong 6,6-magnitude earthquake rocked the eastern Indonesian province of Maluku on Wednesday, prompting the issuing of a tsunami alert, the meteorology and geophysics office said. The earthquake, which struck at 7.32am GMT was centered 300km north-east of the East Timorese capital Dili, about 23km under the floor of the Banda Sea.

No image available
/ 30 January 2008

Trade union to launch own medical fund

Trade union Solidarity is introducing its own medical fund in a move against what it called "high medical rates", it said on Wednesday. "It’s a non-profit service. We don’t want to make millions out of the sick, but make private healthcare more accessible to the people of South Africa," said Jaco Kleynhans, Solidarity spokesperson.

No image available
/ 30 January 2008

December CPIX up more than 8%

South Africa’s consumer price index excluding mortgage rate changes (CPIX) for metro and other areas, which is used by the South African Reserve Bank for its inflation target, was up 8,6% year-on-year in December from 7,9% in November. Said Mike Schussler, economist at T-Sec: "The figures still came in higher than expected, and it’s not going to be good for the bond market."

No image available
/ 30 January 2008

Ford SA announces R1,5bn investment plan

Vehicle maker Ford Motor Company of Southern African (Ford SA) plans to invest more than R1,5-billion to expand operations for its next-generation compact pickup truck and Puma diesel engine, it said on Wednesday. The investment will start in 2009 and be split between its assembly plant in Pretoria, and engine facility in Port Elizabeth.

No image available
/ 30 January 2008

Sewage leaks into Durban river

Heavily polluted water from a punctured sewage pipe appears to have been flowing into the Durban harbour via the Umhlatuzana River for up to nine months — reportedly the result of a bungled repair job by eThekwini council contract workers, a media report said on Wednesday.

No image available
/ 30 January 2008

Fly naked on nudist holiday flight

German nudists will be able to start their holidays early by stripping off on the plane if they take up a new offer from an eastern German travel firm. Travel agency OssiUrlaub.de said it would start taking bookings for a trial nudist day trip from the eastern German town of Erfurt to the popular Baltic Sea resort of Usedom.