TUESDAY, 12.00NOON: THE United States is forcing South African steel producers to sell steel plate exported to the US at prices far higher than those allowed to Russia, China and Ukraine. The US domestic steel industry is heavily protected by quotas and “floor prices” imposed on foreign steel producers, preventing them from undercutting the US […]

TUESDAY, 2.00PM: PAUL ADAMS, with his best first-class analysis of 7/69, placed Western Province securely on track to give Griquas the Supersport series wooden spoon, beating them by an innings and 45 runs at Newlands on Monday. Province scored their second win in seven outings, thanks to their international wrist spinner. Last week Adams set […]

TUESDAY, 12.30AM: SOUTH African Rugby Football Union president Louis Luyt was accused of making racist remarks about former Sarfu vice-president Brian van Rooyen, author of the Van Rooyen dossier about the state of South African rugby, when he took the stand in the Pretoria High Court on Monday. Luyt was confronted with allegations that he […]

TUESDAY, 1.30PM: THE Southern African Development Community, currently chaired by South Africa, has asked the international community to write off the debt of its member states. The debt burden is retarding the SADC programme of regional integration. At a debate on the debt crisis in Sweden, SADC executive secretary Kaire Mbuende said as SADC debt […]

MONDAY, 6.30PM: THE financial index on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange was pushed to its ninth consecutive record high on Monday, and its good figures were emulated by the industrial and all share indices. Gold shares, however, were held down by the poor gold price. The financial index’s fever was maintained by rumours of mergers and […]

MONDAY, 6.30PM: PAKISTAN, who were floundering with their score on 264/8 at the tea break in the first Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, are battling grimly on. The Pakistanis are hanging in there at 311/9. MONDAY, 11.00AM: PAKISTAN will resume their innings on Monday at the Wanderers in Johannesburg with their score on 106/4, […]

FRIDAY, 12.00NOON: SOUTH Africa’s Wayne Ferreira continued his revival at the Dubai Open on Thursday with a tense and hard-fought second-round victory over powerful New Zealander Brett Steven. World No 50 Steven got the match off to a cracking start, conceding only three points on serve and breaking Ferreira twice in the first set. But […]

football Alex Duval Smith In a world where a single transfer fee for a top football player could save the economy of a small country, it seems almost inconceivable for one of the poorest nations on the planet, Burkina Faso, to be organising a major soccer championship. But as the African Nations Cup play-offs gather […]

Peter Makurube and Charl Blignaut Johannesburg songstress Thembi Mtshali has just wrapped up shooting her role in Steven Spielberg’s ambitious new movie Deep Impact. “It’s not a big role, but it’s a big step forward in a very tough market,” she said this week in a telephone interview from Washington DC. A spin-off of George […]

Wally Mbhele A combined police and intelligence operation is closing in on the heist gangs and may see some of the masterminds behind the spate of cash-in-transit robberies nabbed soon. Sources within both the intelligence and the safety and security departments this week dismissed claims by one of the alleged brains behind the heists, Collin […]