Although still in positive territory, the JSE was well off its highs in noon trade on Wednesday as the chill wind of Thursday’s expected rate hike swept through the market. Gold stocks continued to shine, however, as the metal reached the $650 level for the first time in over two weeks.
Somalia’s government was trying to regroup on Wednesday after nearly 30 lawmakers resigned in less than a week, saying the virtually powerless administration has failed to reconcile with Islamic militants who have taken over the capital. ”The prime minister has failed to talk to the Islamic union,” said Hasaan Abshir Farah, an ex-minister.
Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony told journalists he was committed to negotiating peace after 19 years of war, and denied he had committed war crimes. Kony, whose Lord’s Resistance Army is fighting a rebellion in northern Uganda, rarely appears in public.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party is to set up a political school to train cadres along the lines of China’s communist party, it was reported on Wednesday. Elliot Manyika, Zanu-PF’s national commissar, made the announcement following a lecture by visiting academics from the Communist Party of China, said the state-controlled Herald newspaper.
Hezbollah guerrillas battled up to 6Â 000 Israeli troops on five fronts in south Lebanon on Wednesday, escalating a conflict that Israel’s prime minister vowed to pursue until a strong international force arrived. Israeli commandos snatched suspected Hezbollah members from Baalbek in a helicopter-borne night raid backed by air strikes that killed 19 people, including four children.
Parliament’s planned discussion on floor-crossing, called for by President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation address earlier this year, will take place from September 19. The chairperson of Parliament’s standing committee on private members’ legislative proposals and special petitions, Vytjie Mentor, said there was no way discussions could take place without public hearings on the matter.
French midfielder Patrick Vieira has sealed his move to Inter Milan from crisis-torn Juventus, the Turin club announced on Wednesday. The transfer will cost Inter €9,5-million, payable over three years, said Juve, who were last week stripped of the Serie A titles they won in 2005-06 and in 2004-05 and relegated to the second division with a 17-point penalty for match-fixing.
South Africa is confident in its ability to host the 2010 World Cup, claiming on Wednesday it is better prepared than Germany was at this point before the 2006 tournament. ”We are absolutely on target with World Cup preparations. We are well within the time frame,” Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk told reporters in Tokyo.
South Africa’s veteran all-rounder Shaun Pollock returns for the second Test against Sri Lanka on Friday with a war cry to teammates to rise from despair and defeat. The 33-year-old missed the first Test, which Sri Lanka won by an innings and 153 runs, to be by wife Trish’s side for the birth of their second daughter.
Light snow fell over Sandton, north of Johannesburg, on Wednesday as a cold front gripped the country. Snowflakes were also falling in Rosebank, Bryanston, Soweto and Hyde Park. ”Snow over Gauteng seems to occur once every eight to 10 years,” said weather forecaster Kevin Rae.