The 2007 Tour de France ended on Sunday after three weeks of unwelcome controversy and drama that has led to calls for far-reaching reforms ahead of 2008. One of the most tainted editions of the race since the Festina doping scandal in 1998 ended in triumph for Discovery Channel’s yellow jersey winner Alberto Contador on the Champs Elysees.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday dismissed a special task team’s report on conditions at East London’s Frere Hospital as a ”whitewash”. ”There are several problems with the methodology of the task team that make the conclusions entirely superficial and very difficult to take seriously,” DA spokesperson Mike Waters said in a statement.
Anglo Platinum, the world’s largest platinum producer, has been forced to lower its expected 2007 production figures following the introduction of strict new safety measures being implemented across its mines. The surprise resignation of Anglo Platinum CEO Ralph Havenstein has been directly linked to the new safety strategy.
The Competition Commission said on Monday that it has found that the conduct of MTN of charging Cell C the commercial interconnection rate in the same areas that it charges Vodacom community-service telephone rates amounts to price discrimination. The commission has referred the matter to the Competition Tribunal.
The South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) said on Monday it aims to build a truly non-racial, viable movement and that its aim of unity was achievable. The chamber was announcing the appointment of Dr Kwandiwe Kondlo as general manager. It has been without a CEO or general manager for about 18 months.
Oxfam warned in a report on Monday that unabated violence in Iraq is masking a humanitarian crisis that has worsened since the United States-led invasion in 2003, putting at risk almost eight million Iraqis. While violence dominates the lives of millions of ordinary people inside Iraq, ”another kind of crisis” has been slowly unfolding, said the report.
A dispute with the Legal Aid Board (LAB) has once again delayed the Boeremag treason trial. Provisionally postponing the trial to Thursday this week, trial Judge Eben Jordaan said it was alarming that the LAB had, more than five weeks on, still not provided some of the defence advocates with an answer to their request for funding.
More than 500 people have been killed in the most devastating floods to hit China for a decade, the Red Cross said on Monday, launching an emergency appeal for aid to the millions left homeless. ”Over the past two months, more than 200-million people have been affected and over 500 have been killed nationwide,” it said in a statement.
Fuel supplies may come under pressure because of a strike in the petroleum, glass and pharmaceutical sector, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers’ Union (Ceppwawu) said on Monday. About 280 workers affiliated to Ceppwawu downed tools on Monday after a wage dispute was declared against their employer, said the union’s deputy general secretary.
There may be "Aida" and even some "Fans" — but the jumble of Asean acronyms isn’t music to anyone’s ears. For the hundreds of reporters who can’t tell their Aasroc from their Elto, the blizzard of bureaucracy at the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) meetings can be pretty daunting.