South African trade union Solidarity on Wednesday welcomed the proposed enlarging of Sasol’s coal-to-liquid fuel operations. This comes after reports that Sasol and the government were engaged in talks regarding expansion of the operations.
Heavy rain, swirling waters, mud, silt and marsh combined on Wednesday to hamper frantic efforts to reach thousands of villagers marooned by deadly flash floods in southern Ethiopia, officials said. The elements, combined with the reluctance of pastoralist herders to leave their surviving cattle for higher ground, frustrated the delivery of the first overland relief supplies.
Businesses reopened and people reappeared on Kinshasa’s streets on Wednesday as fighting appeared to have ceased following three days of clashes between troops loyal to the two presidential candidates in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) capital.
Investigators recovered flight recorders from the charred wreckage of a Russian airliner on Wednesday as grief-stricken families prepared to travel to the site to identify remains. Relatives of the 170 victims, who included 45 children under 12, are due to fly out from Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg to the scene of the crash, 45km north of the Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
Britain’s housing boom may be a blessing for homeowners, but with prices trebling in a decade, first-time buyers are being forced to dream up increasingly complex arrangements to get a foot on the property ladder. Would-be buyers are asking parents for financial help, buying with friends or agreeing to buy just a share in their future home.
At least five people were killed in an inter-clan revenge attack in southern Somalia, shattering a lull in such violence since Islamists took control of the region, witnesses said on Wednesday. Four people were killed on the spot and a fifth died being taken to hospital after gunmen stormed a crowded cafe late on Tuesday in the town of Wanlaweyne, they said.
A Kurdish mother who lost a child to a poison-gas attack on her village nearly two decades ago cursed ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Wednesday, the third day of his trial for genocide. ”May God blind them all,” cried 45-year-old Adiba Owla Bayez in court, pointing at Saddam and six co-defendants.
Monetary policy had contributed to the containment of CPIX inflation to within the target range against the background of various risks to the inflation outlook, said South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni on Wednesday during his address at the 86th ordinary general meeting of shareholders.
Economic activity in Africa benefited from the strength of the world economy, and there are indications the robust expansion has continued in the first half of 2006, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said on Wednesday in its annual economic report for 2006.
A stronger rand and some profit-taking saw the JSE in the red in noon trade on Wednesday after two days of strong gains. Dealers said profit-taking on resources giant Anglo American, which went ex-dividend in London on Wednesday morning, and on BHP Billiton, which presented strong results during the morning session, was leading the market’s downside.