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/ 13 September 2007
Dotted throughout the world are ”ungoverned territories” outside the control of the states in which they lie and which provide havens for extremists, according to a United States military-financed study by the Rand Corporation think tank. ”The world is full of safe havens for potential terrorists,” Angel Rabasa, director of the study, said this week.
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/ 13 September 2007
Fuelled by last year’s Nobel Prize for a man nicknamed ”banker to the poor”, microlending to small businesses in the world’s poorest countries is booming as individuals discover they can be their own mini World Bank. And you don’t have to be Bill Gates to get in on the act.
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/ 13 September 2007
YouTube, online job applications and homework help sites have boosted demand and contributed to lines for internet access at United States public libraries, yet a new survey finds the majority have no immediate plans to add computers. For many library systems, the buildings simply do not have enough room, for example.
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/ 13 September 2007
The world’s largest cellphone maker, Nokia, said on Thursday it will join rivals — including Samsung and Sony Ericsson — to produce a fast flash memory card with high capacity to ease and speed up downloads for handset users. The technology is expected to be ready in 2009.
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/ 13 September 2007
Despite loud and bitter protests from the opposition, the National Assembly on Thursday approved the slate of candidates for the board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), which was proposed by the communications portfolio committee.
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/ 13 September 2007
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has dropped an appeal to rugby fans to boycott shirts supporting the Springboks after the manufacturers agreed that most will in future be made locally, not imported. The move comes during the Rugby World Cup tournament in France. The Springboks, one of the favourites to lift the trophy, take on Cup holders England on Friday.
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/ 13 September 2007
A 494-carat diamond, believed to be the 18th largest in the world, has been found at a mine in Lesotho, the natural resources minister said on Thursday. Monyane Moleleki said the stone was an exceptional quality white diamond. It has been sent to the Belgian city of Antwerp for auctioning.
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/ 13 September 2007
South Africa is using its seat on the United Nations Security Council to push for troops from a hybrid UN/African Union peacekeeping force to be on the ground in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur by next month. South Africa will use its position at the UN to ”insist” on some troops being deployed by October.
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/ 13 September 2007
Volkswagen South Africa stopped vehicle production at its Uitenhage plant on Thursday due to the motor-manufacturing strike. Brian Smith, Volkswagen South Africa’s human resources director, said most of its 4Â 000 production employees had been sent home.
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/ 13 September 2007
President Robert Mugabe on Thursday fired a broadside at Western media for biased coverage of events in Zimbabwe, ignoring an adultery case involving his staunch opponent, former archbishop Pius Ncube. ”If one of my own ministers does mischief and takes another person’s wife, it will be carried on television and they will say this is what Mugabe’s ministers are doing,” Mugabe said.