GERMAN soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer hinted on Tuesday that South Africa was still leading the race to stage the 2006 World Cup finals despite mounting opposition from England and Germany. “The next logical step, after Asia, is for the World Cup to go to Africa,” said Beckenbauer. “The question is, is Africa ready?” Beckenbauer, president […]

FORMER Western Cape Premier Hernus Kriel is in a stable condition in the Panorama Medi Clinic near Cape Town after undergoing heart bypass surgery on Wednesday morning. He will remain in the hospital’s intensive care unit for the next few days. Kriel (57) suffered a heart attack at his holiday home in Kleinmond on Monday.

MPUMALANGA Premier Mathews Phosa dismissed press reports on Wednesday that he is being investigated for possible corruption by a top-level African National Congress team. The reports in The Star contend that Phosa is being investigated for allegedly benefiting from an illegal promissory note deal worth over R1,3-billion, as well as the earlier R25-billion Dolphin deal. […]

President Nelson Mandela will unveil a memorial to Mozambican President Samora Machel on January 19.

ZIMBABWE’S Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has been replaced by a Civil Aviation Authority from January 1 as part of a privatisation programme, transport and energy minister Enos Chikowore said Monday. “The DCA has ceased to exist and all posts are abolished,” he said when launching the Civil Aviation Authority’s first board meeting. Chikowore said […]

POLICE have arrested suspects in two serial killer cases. Gauteng police commissioner Sharma Maharaj and Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi announced the breakthrough on Tuesday, saying a suspect who was arrested in Orlando, Soweto, on rape and hijacking charges has been linked to 14 of the Nasrec serial killings. Maharaj added that Pretoria police […]

FORMER Japanese premier Ryutaro Hashimoto flew into Johannesburg on Wednesday at the start of a four-day visit that will focus on establishing a partnership between his country and South Africa. Hashimoto, who became a senior foreign adviser to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi after resigning in July, arrived in the country from Kenya where he was […]

THE diplomatic missions of Britain and the United States in the Ugandan capital were closed to the public Monday after anonymous callers made bomb threats. Workers, mainly guards, at the building housing both missions on the main street leading to the Ugandan parliament said they had only been told that the offices would remain closed […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.30am. GAUTENG’S Education MEC Mary Metcalfe denied on Tuesday morning that jobs would be lost as the result of downsizing initiatives in the department. Colette Clark, acting director of labour relations for the department, said on Monday that Gauteng’s education department plans to cut 2800 posts, resulting in 1500 teachers […]

SOME 700 members of Angola’s Unita movement opened a congress here on Monday to elect a new chairman in place of Jonas Savimbi, whose hardline militarism split the group in September. Angola late last year plunged back into civil war between Unita rebels, who long fought the formerly Marxist regime after independence in 1975, and […]