IN BRIEF 2 DIE IN BAFANA CELEBRATION A TEENAGER and a woman died after they were accidentally shot during celebrations marking Bafana Bafana’s triumph over the Democratic Republic of Congo in an African Cup of Nations semifinal on Wednesday night. The 13-year-old boy was shot in the throat by a stray bullet let loose in […]

THURSDAY, 12.30PM: THE International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has submitted a written complaint to United States trade representative Charlene Barshefsky, noting that South African piracy of software, books and videos cost the US $105-million in lost sales last year. The IIPA blames the situation on lax and unco-operative police, shoddy laws and the lack of […]

THURSDAY, 7.00PM: ALL the indices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange rose on Thursday after a brisk day’s trade, on expectations that an interest rate cut may be announced on Friday. The all gold index gained 9,5 points to 737,9, and the industrial index 130,4 points to 8176,7. The financial index hit its 18th new record […]

WEDNESDAY, 4.30PM: SOUTH African tennis players are doing well abroad, with Jeff Coetzee and Jason Weir-Smith continuing their good run in Cuba, and Chris Haggard making the final of an ITF Futures tournament in Eastbourne, England. Coetzee and Weir-Smith won the doubles final in the second leg of the ITF Cuba-Mexico Satellite in Havana on […]

WEDNESDAY, 12.30AM: SOUTH Africa could develop as an attractive emerging market hedge in the next two years, Socit Gnrale-Frankel Pollak economist Mike Brown said on Tuesday. Speaking at the firm’s 21st Annual Investment Conference, Brown advised investment bankers to promote South Africa as a relatively safe emerging market hedge for international investors. He said that […]

WEDNESDAY, 1.30PM: THE government could have as few as eight departments if a proposal to streamline its structure is accepted, a government official said on Tuesday. A Presidential Review Commission report, expected to be released for debate in the next few weeks, could see a repositioning of a number of public assets under individual departments’ […]

TUESDAY, 3.30PM: THE European Union Foundation for Human Rights and three South African non-government organisations launched an innovative R2,5-million project aimed at terminating farm evictions in six South African provinces on Wednesday. African Eye News Service reports that the farm eviction project was initiated by the National Land Committee, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies […]

WEDNESDAY, 4.30PM: A REPORT in the Wall Street Journal says that “black chips” are the hottest investment on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. “Black chips” are shares in black-owned companies, a plethora of which have listed since 1994 in the name of black economic empowerment. Despite some wild swings of black-chip share prices during 1997, their […]

TUESDAY, 1.00PM: A CUT in group tax liability after the acquisition of OK Bazaars lifted Shoprite Checkers’ headline earnings by 19% to 19,7c a share for the six months to December 31. Shoprite is the largest supermarket group in the country, with a combined turnover of R17-billion. Managing director Whitey Basson said tax liability had […]

TUESDAY, 11.30AM: FORMER WBU junior featherweight champion Cassius Baloyi says he was duped by the California State Athletics Comission over the forced postponement of his world tile bout in the United States at the weekend. Baloyi and his trainer, Elias Tshabala, both say that the thought of having been scammed crossed their minds. Baloyi was […]