The remains of the celebrated 18th-century Italian castrato Farinelli have been exhumed to find more about his peculiar powers as a singer, a university professor said on Thursday. The remains were removed from a cemetery in the northern city of Bologna where the singer died in 1782.
Local government needs to realise that it cannot handle electricity supply on its own, Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin said on Friday. ”Honestly, I have a lot more confidence in Eskom than in all of the municipalities put together,” Erwin said at a briefing of Business Unity South Africa in Johannesburg.
A Cape High Court judge ruled on Friday that the Southern Spears do not have to put down almost a quarter of a million rand as security for costs ahead of next week’s court battle against SA Rugby. ”I’m absolutely thrilled and delighted,” said Spears chief executive Tony McKiever afterwards.
Just a week after the statue of Chief Tshwane was unveiled in front of the city hall in Pretoria, vandals have painted it in the colours of the old South African flag. Tshwane metro police spokesperson Superintendent Alta Fourie said the statue, which was found painted on Friday morning, must have been vandalised on Thursday night.
There is a good chance that the Reserve Bank may increase interest rates further this year, an economist said on Friday. ”The bottom line is that interest rates will have to rise,” ABSA chief economist Christo Luus said. Luus was confident that borrowers will have to face hikes of only about 2% this cycle.
The ending of Japan’s zero interest rates marks the end of an extraordinary policy prompted by a situation not seen in any other major economy in post-war times — deflation. Japan entered its deflationary spiral in the wake of the bursting of the asset bubble in the early 1990s.
The South African government has assured the country’s Muslim leadership that there was no security policy specifically directed at the Muslim community. The government said on July 13 a ministerial delegation headed by the Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad had met with a delegation of 60 representatives of the South African Muslim community at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
South Africa’s inflation outlook has become "complicated" as South Africa is dependant on imported oil and this will place pressure for further rate hikes, say Moody’s researchers Dr Ruth Stroppiana and Paul Guest. According to Absa’s chief economist, the country could be in for another 200 basis-point rate rise.
The JSE was weaker in noon trade on Friday as concerns about the record high oil price and its inflationary effects continued to dampen global market sentiment. The bourse was well off its lows, however, helped by a higher gold price and an element of bargain hunting.
Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy has verbally agreed to join Real Madrid on a three-year deal, according to a Dutch press report on Friday. The country’s biggest newspaper De Telegraaf said: ”Ruud van Nistelrooy (30) has come to a verbal agreement with Real Madrid.