Jacques Chirac bade goodbye to the office of the French president but not the international spotlight on Tuesday night as he prepared to launch a private foundation to promote world peace. After urging the country to unite and "respect diversity" in the last of his TV presidential addresses, he on Wednesday hands power to his successor, Nicolas Sarkozy.
On the eve of only its third multiparty parliamentary election, there is concern in Algeria that too few citizens will bother to go out Thursday to cast their ballots. The outcome is forecast to favour a trio of political parties in the 389-seat National People’s Assembly allied with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who since 1999 has wielded real power in North Africa’s biggest nation.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday called on the world community to do more to help Africa as he opened the annual meeting of the African Development Bank in Shanghai. Debt relief and technology transfers were among the tools the wealthier nations could use to help boost growth in Africa, Wen said.
A drought affecting several Chinese provinces has left 4,8-million people short of drinking water, state media reported on Wednesday, citing the state drought-relief headquarters. Eleven million hectares of crops have also been affected by drought in several provinces, the <i>China Daily</i> reported.
World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz implored the lender’s board on Tuesday to keep his job, promising changes in his management style in the wake of a damaging favouritism scandal. The board of executive directors is to continue deliberations on his fate on Wednesday.
Khula Enterprise Finance, the government’s small business finance agency, is planning to stick its toe into the turbulent water of direct lending to owner-managed businesses this year. It’s a sore toe, stepped upon by critics for being ineffective, stubbed by failed microcredit schemes and some internal fraud.
The small business tax amnesty runs out at the end of this month but, so far, fewer than 5 000 of South Africa’s estimated 114 000 minibus-taxi operators have applied for it, setting the scene for what could be a major clash between the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and the country’s most difficult industry.
Indonesia has so many islands it has not been able to count them all and is having a hard time finding names for them. From coral-fringed atolls to jungle-clad volcanoes thrusting up from the ocean, its chains of islands sprinkled along the equator make up the world’s biggest archipelago. Officially there are about 17Â 000 islands.
In the wake of recent developments at the competition authorities, which have so far caused more disappointment than relief for small businesses, an intriguing possibility emerges that an age-old and basic practice by Telkom may well be anti-competitive. Telkom charges business clients R132 a month for the rental of an ordinary business line.
Springbok team manager Zola Yeye on Wednesday rejected media reports that coach Jake White had been instructed not to talk to the media. In a statement issued from the team training camp in Bloemfontein, Yeye said a television station and a newspaper group incorrectly reported that White had been gagged, when that was, in fact, not the case.