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All-rounder Jacques Kallis hit back at his critics after he led South Africa to victory with an unbeaten half-century against Ireland in a World Cup Super Eights match on Tuesday. Kallis followed up his knock of 86 against Sri Lanka last week by top-scoring with 66 in South Africa’s seven-wicket win on Tuesday.
Thai inmate Samson Sor Siriporn boosted her chances of freedom by beating Japan’s Ayaka Miyano to win the vacant women’s WBC light-flyweight title at the notorious ”Bangkok Hilton” prison on Tuesday. Under the gaze of dozens of prison guards, Siriporn, a convicted drugs dealer, battled through the unforgiving Thai heat to score a unanimous points victory.
British officials on Tuesday night held direct talks for the first time with Iran’s influential chief international negotiator on the 15 military personnel seized in the Gulf, raising hopes of breaking a 12-day stalemate. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he believed both sides now wanted ”an early resolution” to the stand-off, following the contact with Iran’s national security council head, Ali Larijani.
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards said in an interview that he snorted his father’s ashes during a drugs binge, British media reported late on Tuesday. The top selling Sun tabloid said the interview appeared in the latest edition of the NME music magazine.
The government has warned the loss-making South African Airways (SAA) that it will not bankroll the state-owned airline indefinitely, Business Day reported on Wednesday. In a confidential letter to SAA chairperson Jakes Gerwel, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin wrote that SAA ”cannot and will not be supported at all costs”.
Microsoft on Tuesday released a high-priority software patch intended to fix a dangerous vulnerability in its Vista and Windows operating systems. The world’s largest computer software company made the patch available as hacker groups, most of them based in China, intensified attacks crafted to exploit the weakness that Microsoft disclosed on Thursday.
The barrier between human resources departments (HR) and payroll administration has disappeared in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), thanks to new developments in payroll software that cater for changing demands. New legislation and more expansive requirements from the South African Revenue Service, have led to payroll administration taking on data capture and complex reporting functions that were previously the domain of HR.
The small and medium enterprise sector is seeking accounting solutions that meet the needs of the high-pressure environments in which they operate, according to David Greenleaf, commercial director at Ability Solutions. "They want integrated solutions in which they capture a document once and the information automatically flows through to every appropriate area of the system.
Demand for accounting systems is on the rise in South Africa as companies realise the importance and value of running their businesses in a more efficient manner. Gary Epstein, MD of QuickBooks, says businesses are waking up to the necessity of running their operations in a professional manner.
A desire to focus on core business activities, together with increasingly complex administrative issues, rising costs and a shortage of appropriate skills, is causing many companies to move in the direction of outsourcing their payroll function. Marina Nolte, national outsourcing manager at Softline VIP, says the payroll outsourcing market is growing rapidly.