Six-time Grammy Award-winner Billy Joel will be bringing his world tour to South Africa in October, Big Concerts said on Thursday. The tour by Joel and his eight-piece band — including a four-piece horn section — will start on October 26 at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg. It then moves on to Cape Town’s Bellville Velodrome.
The elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were conducted in a peaceful, democratic and credible manner, the South African observer mission said on Thursday. All but a few voting stations opened on time on election day. Problems included lack of electricity and late delivery of election material.
Following a process of consultation in all of the branches, members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday that they had arrived at a decision to reject the offer Kumba Resources made on Wednesday. "Members also feel that their contribution needs to be recognised and, as such, affirmed," said Eddie Majadibodu, NUM’s chief negotiator.
Landslides and flash floods caused by torrential rains have killed at least 14 people, including four children, living in tents in earthquake devastated areas of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, police said on Thursday. Ten people were killed during early morning prayers when a mudslide hit their tents at the foot of a mountain in Dadar Kadim.
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The South African Presidency said on Thursday that it would not discuss the details of the deliberations about funding the legal costs of former deputy president Jacob Zuma — until an agreement is reached. In a statement the Presidency said it had ”noted media reports to the effect that it is considering funding [the] legal costs of … Jacob Zuma in his forthcoming corruption trial”.
The South African Reserve Bank raised its key repo rate, at which it lends money to commercial banks, by half a percentage point to 8% on Thursday and warned that the inflation outlook has deteriorated in the past few weeks. This means the prime interest rate is to rise to 11,5%. Mike Schussler, economist at T-Sec, commented: ”It was as the markets expected.”
New outbreaks of bird flu in Thailand and Laos are fanning fears the disease is flaring up again in Asia, although concerns the virus was mutating in Indonesia have subsided. In Vietnam, which has not reported any outbreak of the H5N1 virus in poultry in the last seven months, a 35-year-old man was hospitalised in the southern province of Kien Giang.
Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi on Thursday refused to resign despite a mass exodus of Cabinet ministers and mounting criticism over the deployment of Ethiopian troops to protect his feeble 18-month-old administration. Government spokesperson Abdirahman Mohamed Nur Dinari said Gedi was instead working to replace the 36 ministers who have quit in the past week.
Fraud and theft made up the bulk of financial misconduct cases reported in the 2004/2005 financial year, the Public Service Commission said on Thursday. The highest number of cases were reported by national departments, which had 39% of the 513 cases of financial misconduct. The Free State and Eastern Cape reported 10% each.
Burundi has arrested an eighth person in a suspected plot to overthrow the Central African nation’s government in a bloody coup, an intelligence source said on Thursday. The authorities say they have evidence that former high-ranking politicians and a dissident rebel leader — all arrested this week — planned to kill President Pierre Nkurunziza in June with military support.