SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Monday 5.00pm. THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange took a breather on Monday after its spectacular come-back last week to close just off its opening figures. Good news is that the market managed to hold on to most of its gains, with the all share index losing only 0,67% — largely as a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Tuesday 9.00pm. LESOTHO Defence Force commanders have been threatened with legal action by lawyers acting for three of the 30 mutineers arrested last week. The lawyers have been denied access to their clients, in apparent contempt of a Tuesday High Court order giving the mutineers the right to counsel. One of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 12.30pm. THE Namibian government on Monday said that the country is going to start facing crippling electricity shortages from next year as its electricity supplies start to dwindle. Speaking at Africa Downstream ’98 conference in Cape Town, Namibian mines and energy ministry deputy director of energy Markus von Jeney […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Geneva | Monday 7.30pm. THE United Nations’ chief internal overseer Karl Paschke confirmed on Monday that his office was investigating several cases of corruption at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Africa. Paschke, who is in Geneva for one of his two annual visits, confirmed his office has “ongoing” investigations into a […]

THOMAS HIRENEE ATENGA, Paris | Monday 11.00pm. DRUG production and abuse are on the increase in Africa, and so is money laundering, according to a new report by a Paris-based institution that monitors illegal substances. The Observatoire Geopolitique des Drogues (OGD – Geopolitical Observatory for Drugs) says in a new report that a trend observed […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday 8.30pm. THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday granted amnesty to former Azanian People’s Liberation Army cadre Steven Dolo for his role an attack on the Lady Grey police station in January 1992. Dolo was previously jailed for the attempted murder of eight people. In passing judgment, the amnesty […]

DAVID LE PAGE, Johannesburg | Friday 6.00pm. THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange soared on Friday following Thursday’s surprise 0,25% interest rate cut from the United States Federal Reserve Bank. Its overall 5% increase was led by the financial index which rose 7,92%. Adding to the glow brought by the rate cut was positive international response to […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 8.30pm. A BIGTIME hijacker serving 125 years in the ultra-maximum security C-Max prison in Pretoria has blown the whistle on police corruption, telling how police provide escorts for hijacked cars, how crooked cops destroy dockets, and how a R10000 bribe got him out of jail. The Sunday Times reports that […]

Michael Metelits I admit it. I was a yuppie during the 1980s. Not just any kind of yuppie, either. I was the trade settlement operations manager for a small, but nonetheless venal, investment management firm in Boston. I sat on the trading floor and witnessed a great deal of what the Eighties had to offer. […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer When a team is hanging on to the slenderest of leads in a two-leg cup tie and has conceded an away goal, the last place in South Africa they want to go is the Independence Stadium in Umtata. The Eastern Cape ground is not going to be a contender when – hopefully […]