The number of internet users in China has risen 28% over the past year to 87-million, and use of broadband and online commerce is soaring, the government said on Wednesday. The number of broadband subscribers has jumped 78,7% in the past six months to 31,1-million, the China Internet Network Information Centre said on its website.
The South African government has welcomed the announcement by the United States State Department that the debarment of Armscor, Fuchs and Denel has been rescinded. The debarment was originally instituted in 1994 as a result of activities undertaken in the US by these companies during the pre-1994 arms embargo era.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=119078">SA can now sell arms to the US</a>
Seventy men led by a former SAS officer go on trial in Zimbabwe on Wednesday charged with offences related to an alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea. The suspected mercenaries could be jailed for life in Zimbabwe, but are said to be more concerned at the possibility of extradition to Equatorial Guinea and execution.
Every so often, a story seizes the public’s interest. It’s usually a heart-string-tugging, human-interest one. The mass of media track it with persistence, passion and purpose. People take it up on the talk shows and at dinner tables. The kidnapping (and, now, grimly, the murder) of Johannesburg student Leigh Matthews became this kind of story.
The United States warned on Tuesday of a severe food shortage in Zimbabwe, rejecting President Robert Mugabe’s boast of a relatively good agricultural season stemming from a so-called economic revival. US State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher charged that Mugabe’s government was trying to curtail donor activity and engagement in Zimbabwe.
Microsoft said on Tuesday it will use its massive cash reserve for a -billion share buyback over four years and to pay out a special dividend amounting to -billion dollars. The world’s biggest software firm, sitting on a pile of some -billion in cash, said the moves were part of an effort to deliver an estimated -billion to its shareholders.
Independent music producer association Impala said on Tuesday a decision by the European Commission to clear Sony Corporation and Bertelsmann’s recorded music merger is ”flawed” and that it is now mulling its options. The association said its members ”are very disappointed that the EU has authorised this merger without any attempt to solve the competition issues that the Commission itself identified”.
About 44-million United States workers will be telecommuting, or working from home at least on a part-time basis this year, according to a survey released this week. The survey by In-Stat/MDR released on Monday projects the number of telecommuters is expected to grow by 2008 to 51-million, with 14-million working full-time at home.
The Congress of SA Trade Unions said on Tuesday the discovery of bombs in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature in Ulundi last week justified its call for the arrest of Inkatha Freedom Party member Philip Powell. ”We have long been calling for explanation as to why Phillip Powell has been allowed to go overseas … [because] he had not disclosed … where other tons of arms and ammunition [were],” Cosatu regional secretary Zet Luzipo said in a statement.
American newspapers were embroiled in another scandal on Tuesday following the resignation of two publishers prompted by an investigation into fraudulent circulation figures intended to increase advertising revenues. The publishers of New York Newsday and its Hispanic sister paper, Hoy, stepped down when an investigation exposed deceit stretching back several years.