The retail price of all grades of petrol will rise by 23 cents per litre from Wednesday June 6, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. The latest changes bring the retail price for a litre of 95 octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng to R7,24 a litre and to R7 a litre at the coast — the highest to date.
The trials and tribulations of Marat Safin might have detained Leo Tolstoy for only a couple of chapters, but in tennis terms it has been a long-running story that has brought both rapture and intense frustration over the past decade — the tale of a huge talent, capable of hitting undreamed-of heights, but one that may ultimately be looked back on as wasted.
”I’m ecstatic and I can hardly wait for Saturday morning when I touch down at Heathrow,” Allan Donald says with typical fervour as he anticipates becoming a highly paid consultant to England’s bowlers for the next five weeks. Yet it is soon evident that the amiable yet passionate 40-year-old, known by the dramatic nickname of White Lightning, craves the position on a permanent basis.
The reason rugby internationals came to be called ”Tests” is precisely because that is what they were. They were tests of strength. Neighbours would gear up and go and test themselves against another distant band at the game they both loved and enjoyed.
The JSE was higher at noon on Friday as miners gained on the back of higher commodity prices, but overall trading was cautious ahead of United States economic data this afternoon, dealers said. At 12pm, the all-share index was up 0,61%. Resources gained 0,38%, the gold- and platinum-mining indices picked up 1,75% and 1,71% respectively.
The Zambian government announced on Friday that a much-trumpeted Aids cure that a local businessman claimed to have discovered has been found to be a pesticide used to clean swimming pools. Tetrasil, a drug which is being promoted by a newspaper proprietor, is a pesticide that was used as a disinfectant, said a government specialist in Aids drugs.
Already translated into more than 40 languages, the latest version of the Mozilla Firefox web browser now sports an Afrikaans interface thanks to Translate.org.za, a non-profit organisation working to give local flavour to open-source software. The Afrikaans version was translated by one man and rigorously tested thereafter.
United Kingdom power provider Ipsa is making good progress in expanding its portfolio of power generation projects in the Eastern Cape. Two important additions to capacity are now planned at the Elitheni Clean Coal Project and at the combined heat and power project for Da Gama Textiles.
Black Earth Communications turned out to be the second applicant — after the Ndabenhle Group on Wednesday — whose submission imploded at hearings on Thursday by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) into highly lucrative pay-TV licences.
New Zealand’s players have been warned not to overplay their hand in Saturday’s first Test against France at Eden Park. Assistant coach Wayne Smith has ordered his players to curb their natural instincts so as not to give away any secrets before this year’s World Cup.