Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic deliberately took a drug that neutralised the effects of his heart medicine, an expert who examined his blood said on Monday as the United Nations war crimes court in The Netherlands prepared to release his body.
The African Union has extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in the western Sudanese Darfur region by six months, after which it will transfer the operation to the United Nations, a statement issued in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa said.
Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo briefed his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki on talks concerning the fate of exiled former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, a Nigerian spokesperson said. In August 2003, Obasanjo and Mbeki persuaded Taylor to step down and accept asylum in Nigeria in a bid to end his country’s 14-year-old civil war.
The JSE was firmer just before midday on Monday lifted by stronger global markets and higher precious metals prices. The gains came on fairly low volumes, however. By 11.54am, the all-share index added 0,73%. Resources rallied 1,91%, the gold-mining index jumped 2,78% and the platinum-mining index perked up 1,1%.
South Africa’s largest retail bank, Absa, on Monday announced a new fee structure that will offer its more than 7-million customers greater levels of choice and value for money in their banking activities. The new fee structure is effective from April 1 2006.
Will our grandchildren spend their vacations on the moon, or their honeymoons in a hotel orbiting Mars? A few dreamers at the International Tourism Fair say space tours for average travellers could come sooner than we think. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are rumored to have booked tickets on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Spaceship, which is due for lift-off in 2010.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has asked the Cape High Court to dismiss with costs an application forcing the government to spell out what it intends doing about prison overcrowding. A prisoner and an NGO want the court to rule that prison overcrowding is unlawful and a violation of constitutional rights.
African Diamonds on Monday announced further results from its joint venture with De Beers at the AK6 diamond discovery in the Orapa province in Botswana. From the LDD016 drill-hole a total of 2 258 diamonds weighing 122,1-carats were recovered from 316-tonnes from one 23-inch large-diamond drill hole.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived in South Africa on Monday morning for a three-day visit that will include talks with President Thabo Mbeki on the global body’s reform. Annan’s visit is his first official one to South Africa since assuming leadership of the UN in 1997, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
South Africa will increase petrochemical imports as well as non-oil products from Saudi Arabia, the two countries said on Sunday following a bilateral meeting in Riyadh. The South African delegation said the country would ”substantially” increase its exports of products including those related to mining and capital equipment, financial services, agricultural products and automotive components.