The world’s largest diamond miner, De Beers, on Friday said it expects the outlook for the global rough diamond market for the second half of 2006 to be difficult. "It has been a testing time over the past six months," De Beers chairperson Nicky Oppenheimer said during a results teleconference.
The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has officially kick-started the construction of its largest facility to date — the R2-billion new central terminal building project at the Johannesburg International airport. The project was officially announced by Acsa CEO Monhla Hlahla at a sod-turning ceremony on Friday.
A second large cargo plane delivered tons of unidentified equipment on Friday to the Islamic militia that controls Somalia’s capital, adding to growing fears that civil war could return to the chaotic country. Fighters loyal to the Supreme Islamic Courts’ Union closed roads around Mogadishu International airport while the plane unloaded the cargo, chasing away onlookers.
Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) plans to get older women to strip during forthcoming anti-government protests, a party official was quoted as saying on Friday. Women are the weapons the MDC will use to put the right leader in power, the Manica Post newspaper quoted MDC official Grace Kwinjeh as saying.
Blackburn Rovers have signed South Africa striker Benni McCarthy from Porto, the Premier League club said on Friday. McCarthy, who joins for an undisclosed fee, has signed a four-year contract. ”We tried to sign Benni 12 months ago and have been tracking the situation since then,” Blackburn chairperson John Williams told the club’s website.
The retail price of all grades of petrol will increase by 31c per litre from Wednesday August 2, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Friday. The wholesale price of diesel with a sulphur content of 0,05% and with a sulphur content of 0,005% will rise by 22c a litre and 25c a litre respectively on the same date.
The JSE was weaker in noon trade on Friday on profi-taking after Thursday’s strong run. Softer world markets contributed to the negativity. By 12.07pm, the all share index slipped 0,73%. Resources retreated 1,07%, the gold mining index tumbled 2,26% and the platinum mining index lost 1,63%.
Rock cliffs loom high above the wingtips of the two-seater plane as it banks sharply through the winding course of a narrow ravine in South Africa’s rugged Cederberg mountains. Pilot Johan Ferreira is in his element — he has found a way to combine his love for flying with a passion for nature by helping to track the elusive leopards that roam the mountain wilderness.
Israel battered Lebanon on Friday, killing 11 people as waves of air raids struck villages in the hills behind the southern port of Tyre and hundreds of artillery rounds crashed across the border.
A six-year-old boy in The Netherlands on Thursday discovered that driving a car is not as easy as it looks, the Dutch ANP news agency reported on Thursday. The boy sneaked out with his father’s car keys and went for a spin. However, driving turned out to be an acquired skill and the wild ride ended after he drove through several gardens to finally crash into the front of a house.