Officials said on Tuesday they had recovered the black box that could confirm government speculation that excess speed caused a metro-train accident in Valencia, in which 41 people were killed. ”The black box has been found and is in the hands of our agents,” said Jose Ramon Garcia Anton, head of infrastructure in the regional government.
Well-known Zimbabwean opposition legislator Trudy Stevenson has been attacked with stones and a machete by youths belonging to a rival opposition faction, reports in Harare said on Tuesday. Stevenson had to be rushed to a private Harare hospital on Sunday after the attack, which left her with a deep gash to her head.
Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s former deputy president, took aim at the media on Monday, suing publishers, editors, reporters, a cartoonist and newspapers for their coverage and comment of his rape trial. The defamation claims run into hundreds of millions of rands, much of it directed at reporters and editors of Independent Newspapers.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, supported by Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Minister of Sport Makhenkesi Stofile, will pay a working visit to Berlin, Germany from Friday to Sunday, where the president will hold discussions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Transport parastatal Transnet on Tuesday reported a massive 57% jump in profits from continuing operations to R8,5-billion for the year ended in March 2006. This represented an increase of R3,1-billion — achieved on the back of a 7% growth in revenue to R26,3-billion.
Johnnic Communications group CEO Connie Molusi has been suspended with immediate effect, a board statement said on Tuesday. Business Day earlier reported that Molusi had had several run-ins with Johncom chairperson Mashudu Ramano over the company’s empowerment strategy and faced possible dismissal.
The Pentagon said on Monday it had charged a former United States soldier with raping and killing a young woman in Iraq and killing three members of her family in what may prove one of the most incendiary war crimes investigations since the invasion in 2003.
The JSE was weaker in noon trade on Tuesday, dragged down by lower precious metals prices, softer European bourses and a general lack of buying interest in a market that was very quiet due to the Independence Day holiday in the United States.
Speaking during the July update on the government’s programme of action for 2006, the second report back since the State of the Nation address, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said in Pretoria on Tuesday that all of the programmes of the economic and investment cluster were "well on track".
The 37-year-old man who allegedly killed his wife before driving into Durban’s harbour in a bid to cover up the crime has claimed he is mentally unstable. Dhanendra Heeralall appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday to face charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice.