"Is the bubble about to burst?" That’s the question many people are asking in the wake of months of a particularly buoyant stock market. According to Robert Keip, CEO of FNB Investment Products, many people have grown their wealth significantly because of the strength of the equities market.
As a result of the high divorce rate in South Africa, financial advisers are increasingly receiving queries from their clients regarding the effect of a divorce on their retirement-fund benefits. The Divorce Amendment Act came into effect on August 1 1989.
Absa’s MyHome gives individuals or couples with joint monthly incomes of between R1 500 and R7 500 access to an affordable 100% mortgage bond that can also include a five-year fixed-rate option. MyHome is a completely unique concept in that the qualifying criterion is based primarily on proof of regular income.
With a mix of flair, an eye for things of beauty and, er, dried bugs, four men are turning food-crazed Barcelona into a candy lovers’ paradise on earth. First up is Christian Escriba, a fourth-generation pastry chef who often seems closer to an artist than the baker down the street. His Candy-Glam rings look like something made by a glass blower.
Tonga produced the only surprise in the opening 12 matches of the Commonwealth Games rugby union sevens competition in Melbourne on Thursday, beating medal contenders South Africa 26-19. The hard-tackling South Pacific islanders deserved their Pool D win at the Telstra Dome and were led superbly by inspirational captain Tevita Tu’ifua.
Australia’s superstar swimmers helped lift the doping gloom which had descended upon their weightlifting colleagues as action at the 18th Commonwealth Games got under way on Thursday. A total of 11 gold medals were to be decided with five in the pool on the opening day and the host nation’s swimmers put down their marker by qualifying fastest into three of four finals.
Egypt unveiled a sleek fleet of eco-friendly, natural-gas run taxis on Wednesday that will soon pick up tourists on Cairo’s pollution-choked streets. The 150 bright yellow Volkswagon taxis are the first wave of about 1 500 cars that will be introduced to the crowded, chaotic metropolis where thousands of dirt-stained cabs belch noxious fumes and dominate the streets.
South Africa’s Mbulaeni Mulaudzi became the second defending athletics champion to be ruled out of the Commonwealth Games in a matter of hours on Thursday. The 25-year-old 2004 Olympic silver medallist injured an ankle when it was spiked in the world indoor 800m final in Moscow last Sunday.
Click on image for full-size view.
Global positioning systems units in South Africa are retailing for twice as much as they sell for in the United States, bringing into question the markup on the latest technologies that are imported into South Africa. A Garmin E-trex Yellow GPS unit retails in the US for about $100 (R617).