After reaching its highest level since August 2003 of 6% year-on-year, core inflation in South Africa dropped to 5,7% in June, but analysts said on Wednesday this does not change underlying concerns, and interest rates are still likely to rise. Core inflation excludes volatile changes in food prices, municipal rates and monetary policy.
Grindrod, the listed shipping and logistics business, on Wednesday announced the sale of 18% of its subsidiary, Grindrod Bank, to three independent black economic empowerment (BEE) entities. Alan Olivier, Grindrod Limited CEO, said the vision of Grindrod Bank is to become a meaningfully empowered bank.
Clean up your act. This was the message 1 600 people received on Wednesday at a pep rally addressed by Liu Qi, head of the organising committee for the Beijing Olympics. The long-awaited Olympics open in just over a year — August 8 2008 — and Liu’s speech signals the games are fast approaching.
The case in which Robert McBride is suing the Citizen newspaper for R3,6-million for defamation resumed in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Testifying in court, acting editor of the Citizen Martin Williams said the published articles stating that McBride was not suitable for the position of chief of metro police in Ekurhuleni were because of his criminal record.
A Kenyan court ruled on Wednesday that Thomas Cholmondeley, descendant of one of the country’s most famous white settlers, should present his defence in a murder case that has stoked longstanding racial tensions. The great grandson of Lord Delamere has admitted shooting Kenyan stonemason Robert Njoya, whom he accused of poaching on his Soysambu farm.
The Foreign Affairs Department on Wednesday condemned the criminal attack in Johannesburg on South Africa’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York. Spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said the criminal attack over the weekend on Dumisani Kumalo and his family should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
South-eastern Europe was a tinderbox on Wednesday in the grip of an unrelenting heatwave that has claimed hundreds of lives as wildfires swept southern Italy and bit into a national park in Slovakia. Southern Italy is sweltering under a heatwave that has brought temperatures often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.
Cell C said on Wednesday it was investigating the cause of their network’s disruption on Monday and Tuesday that left 600 000 subscribers high and dry. According to Cell C’s executive head of corporate communications, Shenanda Janse van Rensburg, they had identified that there was a problem on Monday afternoon.
Rain continued to fall in the Western Cape on Wednesday following the occurrence of a cold front in the area this week. Spokesperson for the South African Weather Service Mnikeli Ndabambi said rainy conditions would continue until the end of the week. ”Cold and rainy conditions will persist until the end of the week,” said Ndabambi.
Ethiopian authorities have ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to pull out of the volatile Ogaden region for allegedly interfering in political issues, officials said on Wednesday. ”We have asked the ICRC to leave the region within seven days because they have been meddling in the region’s affairs,” said Jema Ahmed Jema, the vice-president of the region.