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/ 18 September 2007
Escalating violent crime could reduce an already weak skills base in the country, an economic consultancy company said on Tuesday. ”Every effort should be made to contain negative influences like crime, especially since the South African economy is currently experiencing its most exciting growth phase since the 1960s,” the chief economist at Econometrix said.
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/ 18 September 2007
Indian selectors appointed wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as one-day international (ODI) captain on Tuesday after Rahul Dravid abruptly quit the job last week. ”Dhoni has been appointed the captain for the upcoming one-day series against Pakistan and Australia,” board secretary Niranjan Shah told a news conference after a selection meeting.
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/ 18 September 2007
”Palace politics” are the biggest threat facing the national democratic revolution, South African Communist Party secretary general Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday. ”Like all palace politics, it is the politics of backstabbing, the pursuit of individual wealth,” he told delegates at the Congress of South African Trade Unions central committee meeting.
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/ 18 September 2007
Seventeen Zimbabwean police officers have been arrested on charges of corruption and trading in diamonds while guarding a mine in the country’s eastern district, police said on Tuesday. Police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka said three of the suspects were found with 30 diamonds when they were arrested last Saturday.
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/ 18 September 2007
The difficulty in implementing policies designed to protect the interests of farm workers and farmers has prompted the South African Human Rights Commission to conduct an inquiry into conditions on farms. SAHRC spokesperson Vincent Moaga said on Tuesday that public hearings would look into three issues: land-tenure security, labour relations and safety on farms.
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/ 18 September 2007
Russia expressed worry on Tuesday over the possibility of war with Iran as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner pressed for tougher sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasised Russia’s "concern" over "multiple reports that military action against Iran is being seriously considered.
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/ 18 September 2007
South African tobacco farmers should plant more in the coming season to benefit from soaring cigarette prices and fulfil expected orders from China. Louis Smit, CEO of agribusiness group Afgri’s producer services division, said farmers could increase the size of their crop from 12-million kilograms to at least 20-million kilograms.
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/ 18 September 2007
Somali security forces surrounded the independent Shabelle radio station in Mogadishu on Tuesday after firing shots on the building, an Agence France-Presse correspondent reported. The incident came three days after police stormed the radio station, accusing one of its journalists of hurling a grenade at a police patrol and detaining 14 members of staff.
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/ 18 September 2007
Ford has introduced a new entry-level family sedan into the local market. Apart from the name, the new Ford Ikon shares little with its predecessor. It’s been almost two years since Ford dropped the Ikon from its South African line-up. At the time it was discontinued, the car came in six derivatives, using locally produced Rocam petrol engines of 1,3- and 1,6-litre capacities.
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/ 18 September 2007
Kawasaki’s brand-new 1400 GTR has arrived, and the bike’s as good as they get. Despite weighing in at a hefty 279kg dry — that’s 64 more than the ZX14 on which it is based — Team Green’s transcontinental hypercruiser feels surprisingly nimble once you’ve reached lift-off speed and retracted your undercarriage.