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/ 4 December 2007
Consumer confidence has surprisingly rebounded to close to its previous record, according to the First National Bank (FNB)/Stellenbosch University Bureau for Economic Research’s (BER) latest FNB/BER consumer confidence index, which was released on Tuesday. Consumer confidence increased by four index points.
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/ 4 December 2007
A civil society organisation says it is to launch Equality Court proceedings on behalf of an Eastern Cape youth said to have been forcibly circumcised. It claims the youth was subjected to traditional circumcision in March this year after he had himself circumcised at East London’s Frere Hospital three months earlier.
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/ 4 December 2007
The predominantly Afrikaner settlement of Orania in the Northern Cape has been granted a community broadcast licence by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa). The licence is valid from December 1 this year to November 30 2011, after which the community can apply for an extension.
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/ 4 December 2007
A soft landing for the residential property market is expected after strong double-digit growth between 2003 and 2006, Standard Bank said on Tuesday. The bank’s median house-price index moderated to 6,5% year-on-year in November following a relatively strong growth of 10,2% y/y recorded in October.
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/ 4 December 2007
Stand-in captain Younis Khan staved off a spin threat with a responsible century to help Pakistan draw the second Test against India on Tuesday. Younis scored an unbeaten 107 under pressure as Pakistan recovered from 78-4 to finish at 214-4 in their second innings chasing a stiff 345-run target off 81 overs on the fifth and final day.
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/ 4 December 2007
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) launched a one-day strike on Tuesday to protest against deaths in the country’s mines, disrupting operations across the world’s top producer of platinum and gold. Almost a quarter of a million union members were set to down tools in the first industry-wide strike on safety, as the death toll mounted to about 200.
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/ 4 December 2007
The biggest Persian Gulf producers of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) are leaving open the option of an oil-supply increase that could influence whether crude prices head back towards a barrel. Oil ministers, gathering to meet on Wednesday, have adopted a coordinated line to insist that supplies are sufficient to meet winter demand.
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/ 4 December 2007
Spain backed Britain on Tuesday in calling for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to stay away from a European Union-Africa summit in Lisbon this week. "We would all prefer that he does not take part because he will not bring much and he would be a media distraction," Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told reporters.
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/ 4 December 2007
Ethiopia has warned that the world’s disinterest in sending peacekeepers to Somalia was dampening hopes of achieving peace in the shattered African nation. Of the 8 000 peacekeepers the African Union pledged to send to bolster President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed’s weak government, only 1 500 Ugandan troops are actually on the ground.
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/ 4 December 2007
South Africa’s new vehicle sales dropped by 13,8% to 47 707 units in November compared with the same month last year, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (Naamsa) said on Tuesday. Naamsa said trading conditions remained under severe pressure mainly due to higher interest rates and record high household debt levels.