Global mining giant Anglo American plans a bonus dividend of -billion and a big share buy-back programme, it said on Friday after delivering bumper first-half earnings from record metals prices. Anglo American said net profit surged 60,1% to ,943-billion in the six months ended June 30 from the equivalent figure in 2005.
Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats (ID) has come out in support of a march organised by the Coalition for Sanctions against Israel, which is taking place in Cape Town on Saturday. "The ID has always stood on a platform from where human rights abuses must be condemned wherever they occur in the world," said De Lille.
Cuba’s communist government said on Friday that Raul Castro was firmly in charge of the country but uncertainty over its political future grew as the acting president still did not appear in public. The Granma newspaper provided no new details on the condition of ailing leader Fidel Castro four days after he handed over power temporarily to his brother.
Eritrea on Friday denied charges it is backing Islamists in Somalia to fight a proxy war with arch-rival Ethiopia, which has sent troops to support the weak Somali government. In a ”working paper” Eritrea rejected as ”groundless” claims it is supplying arms to the Islamists, who have seized Mogadishu and are expanding control in the south of the nation.
British defence giant BAE Systems has awarded South African company Aerosud a -million (R137-million) contract to make components for the European Eurofighter programme. The deal satisfies part of a contract-offset obligation by BAE Systems under a 1999 multibillion-dollar contract for South Africa to buy 24 Hawk fighter trainers and 28 Gripen light fighters.
A top Ugandan official said on Friday that the government is committed to peace talks to end a brutal 19-year insurgency, even if the leaders of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army refuse to come out of hiding to attend. LRA leader Joseph Kony and his deputy, Vincent Otti, are under indictment by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
The towns flooded in the southern Cape and Eastern Cape this week are being assessed for aid, provincial officials said on Friday. All except one of the national roads in the Eastern Cape are now open. Meanwhile, a three-night ordeal for eight people trapped in their cars by snow in the mountains in Lesotho has finally come to an end.
The rise in popularity of blogging has inspired new writers and creators to share their voices with the world, <i>Pewsearch.org</i> reported recently. A national phone survey of bloggers in the United States found that most are describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers.
Massive investments to upgrade and build new infrastructure ahead of the 2010 soccer World Cup could spark a revival in South Africa’s overcrowded and underfunded cities, urban planners said on Thursday. ”There will be a lasting legacy beyond four years from now,” Andrew Boraine, chairperson of the South African Cities Network, said at a news briefing.
As the rest of Zimbabweans readjust to life under a redenominated currency introduced by the central bank in an operation codenamed "Project Sunrise", the sun has virtually set for a new breed of entrepreneurs who had turned the need for consumers to carry around large amounts of the old money into a thriving business.