Intel plans to leap ahead this year with a strategy based on its Core Solo and Core Duo processors, a new media PC platform called Viiv, and a new logo where the ”Leap Ahead” tagline replaces ”Intel Inside”. That is the gist of the speech that Intel boss Paul Otellini will give later on Thursday on the first day of the giant Consumer Electronics Show.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress is ”confident” of winning the metropolitan city of Cape Town in March, the only metropolitan area in the country that eluded it electorally in the last municipal poll in 2000, says the party’s deputy secretary general, Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele.
Violent protests by residents of Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, on Thursday were a result of the community misunderstanding service-delivery plans, the Tshwane municipality said. Protesters blocked the intersection of Soutpan and Hammanskraal roads with objects including burning tyres.
The JSE moved into the red on Thursday on profit taking on lower metal prices after the first two days of the year saw the bourse move to fresh all-time highs, brokers said. By 12.05pm, the all share index lost 0,27%, the industrial index climbed 0,12%, the financials index fell 0,48% and the banks index declined 0,73%.
Business confidence in December rose to its highest level for 2005, the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) said on Thursday. The business confidence index (BCI) registered 129,4 in December after measuring 126,5 in November. The BCI increased by 3,6 index points during the course of 2005.
Municipal headquarters in the Zimbabwean capital Harare have been without power for the past five days, reflecting the poor state of basic infrastructures in the country, according to local reports on Thursday. The power cut has severely curtailed activities at the imposing Town House building in the centre of the city, the state-controlled Herald newspaper said.
International investigators and western intelligence have for the first time named Sudan as a major conduit for sophisticated engineering equipment that could be used in nuclear weapons programmes. Hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment was imported into the African country over a three-year period before the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington in 2001 and has since disappeared.
In its 28-year history, the Dakar Rally has criss-crossed most of North Africa, but the gruelling event is still waiting for an African competitor to take the race by storm. Only 12 African competitors were at the start line in Lisbon on December 31 for the start of the 2006 edition. In 2005, it had been 18.
Captain David Beckham has insisted that England stars have taken a pay cut for the World Cup finals this summer. The Real Madrid midfielder denied that players were to receive bonuses of £300 000 (R3,24-million) if they win in Germany, The Sun newspaper reported on Thursday.
A huge explosion on Thursday rocked the centre of the Iraqi city of Karbala, 100km south of Baghdad, killing at least 42 civilians and injuring dozens of others, an Iraqi police source said. The source said the death toll is expected to climb following the massive blast that ravaged a number of shops and hotels in the area.