The JSE was in positive territory at midday on Monday in line with European markets. Gold stocks bucked the trend, however, dragged down by the lower bullion price. By 11.49am, the all-share index added 0,87%. The all-share industrial and financial indices firmed 1,26% and 1,1% respectively, while the banks index climbed 1,28%.
Public funds for national roads will almost triple to R3,5-billion in the 2008/09 financial year from the R1,2-billion allocation of 2002/03, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe has divulged. In reply to a question on Monday from Democratic Alliance MP Stuart Farrow, the minister said that provincial roads’ allocations will grow from R5,2-billion rand to R11,8-billion in the same period.
"Yoh! When was the last time I did this?" mutters Xoli Ntshingila as she looks around for a brush. Ntshingila recently won the Black Trophy at the World Hairdressing Championship in Moscow, making her the best ethnic hairdresser in the world. She’s about to give me a haircut, a privilege she doesn’t often extend to men these days, writes Kwanele Sosibo.
A group of Soweto residents is challenging the very basis of South Africa’s water for households strategy. The residents, who filed papers in the Witwatersrand High Court against the City of Johannesburg and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, are asking that the government’s capped free water allowance as well as prepaid water meters be declared unconstitutional.
The Presidency should release the final reports of the Khampepe and Jali commissions of inquiry, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday. ”Evidence is growing that the Presidency is being selective about which reports it deems fit for public discussion. It would appear that reports that damage the government’s record or reveal fissures in the ruling party are suppressed,” party leader Tony Leon said.
Food emergencies in Africa are occurring three times more often now than in the mid-1980s, but the global response to famine continues to be ”too little, too late”, the international aid agency Oxfam said on Monday. Conflict, HIV/Aids and climate change are exacerbating food shortages for sub-Saharan Africa’s 750-million people, with innovative solutions and long-term support needed to break the cycle.
Forget about Japanese technology. Japan’s latest contribution to the war on terrorism is tiny fish, which will be deployed to detect contamination of water supplies. Light-orange rice fish, which are about 4cm long and are commonly kept as pets in Japan, will alert authorities if their movement is irregular.
The first men on the moon had to use a pen to fix a broken switch on their lunar module and return home to earth, British newspaper the <i>Daily Mirror</i> reported on Monday. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, and Buzz Aldrin, his fellow astronaut, accidentally snapped off the switch of a circuit breaker, and found they could not take off without it.
For those who relish looking back on the small, often inconsequential details of their lives, a Japanese company has come up with a "Big Brother" mobile network that makes up where human memory fails. Japan’s number two telecom operator KDDI said on Monday that it had developed a server that keeps a record of the smallest events in a person’s electronic life.
Last ditch talks to keep hopes alive of a global free deal faced a deepening crisis on Monday after trading powers failed to achieve a breakthrough at a marathon first session, diplomats said. The so-called G6 — Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, the European Union and the United States — must reach agreement on how to boost trade in farm and industrial goods.