South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance has announced a reshuffle of four key posts in its shadow cabinet, including the shifting of fiery health spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard to the safety and security portfolio. Kohler-Barnard takes over from Free State MP Roy Jankielsohn.
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz urged the G8 +5 leaders, which includes South Africa, over the weekend to reach an agreement in the faltering Doha round trade talks when they meet in St Petersburg on July 17. The Doha round has been reeling against the ropes after talks in Geneva in the first week of July ended without a deal.
The latest Ernst & Young investment management index shows that all investment managers who responded to the survey are satisfied with current business conditions. On the back of this continued confidence, they have increased their spending levels considerably in the second quarter of 2006.
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One person was conspicuous by his absence from the podium when Italy’s players received their winners’ medals and German President Horst Koehler handed their captain Fabio Cannavaro the World Cup. The president of football’s world controlling body Fifa Joseph Blatter was not amongst the host of dignitaries present at the award ceremony after the 5-3 penalty shoot-out win over France.
Uganda added more than a month to a deadline for thrashing out a peace deal with northern rebels on Monday, boosting landmark talks this week that will aim to end one of Africa’s most neglected wars. Tentative discussions between Ugandan officials and representatives of the Lord’s Resistance Army are due to begin on Wednesday in Juba, in neighbouring southern Sudan.
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To the very end of his career, Zinedine Zidane could dictate the flow of play with rare skill and elegant control of the ball. In the World Cup final, Zidane lost control of his temper. The parting image for the France captain will forever be him rearing back in anger, lowering his head and launching his bald crown into the chest of Italy defender Marco Materazzi after the two exchanged words.
The leader of Somalia’s Islamic militia said on Monday that his group will "fight to the finish" against supporters of a secular warlord in the war-torn capital, one day after fierce fighting killed at least 20 people. The Islamic fighters fired mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades on Sunday at supporters of Adbi Awale Qaybdiid.
Russian investigators reconstructed the last moments of Sibir airlines flight 778 on Monday while passengers’ relatives prepared for the grim task of identifying their loved ones among at least 122 people who died. The Russian Airbus A-310, on a domestic flight from Moscow, failed to stop after it touched down in the Siberian city of Irkutsk on Sunday.
The South African Medical Association has called for an investigation into the release — by the director general of health — of a consignment of anti-Aids food supplements from the Dr Rath Health Foundation. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> reported on Friday that the consignment allegedly contained a scheduled substance.
The United Nations world conference on small arms has collapsed without agreement — despite the majority of governments, including the European Union and many African and Latin American governments, backing tougher controls on the international trade in small arms and light weapons, Oxfam Great Britain said on Monday.