Experts have discovered a major network of underground funerary chambers and arches near the original site of the ancient Axum obelisk in Ethiopia, Unesco said on Monday. The discovery was made last week during a surveying mission in the East African country in preparation for the return of the final piece of the 1 700-year-old obelisk from Italy.
A military court fined a senior defence force officer R2 000 on Monday for having moonlighted in Iraq for four months during his long leave. Lieutenant Colonel Gus Maartens, of 43 SA Brigade, was found guilty on two charges. Accusations against Maartens included fraud, absence without leave and that he neglected to inform the defence force of his intention to work overseas.
After starting slightly firmer, the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) turned around during the course of Tuesday’s morning session as the main indicators pointed to a lower opening on Wall Street later. However, there were pockets of strength on the JSE, notably in banking stocks and telecoms stocks, a trader said.
Arthur Andersen denied wrongdoing on Monday after reaching a settlement with WorldCom investors who had accused the telecommunications company’s former outside auditor of failing to protect them from WorldCom’s historic $11-billion accounting fraud.
Horses are dying in their hundreds from an outbreak of African horse sickness and the problem is worsening, the Cape Times website reported on Tuesday. It said 586 horses in KwaZulu-Natal’s Midlands area and two horses in the Western Cape had died of the disease in the past two months.
CPIX inflation (headline inflation excluding mortgage costs) was up 3,6% year-on-year (y/y) for metro and other areas in March, compared with a record low 3,1% y/y in February, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. "March’s CPIX inflation rate rose mainly on the back of the petrol price hike," commented an economist.
Despite the reported haggling about a price, economist and analyst Dr Iraj Abedian believes there is little chance of United Kingdom banking group Barclays’ bid for a 60% stake in South Africa’s biggest retail bank, Absa, being scuppered. "It’s just too good a deal to walk away from," he told a television interviewer.
Listed retailer and distributor Massmart has added yet more popular retail chains to its already wide array of brands, announcing the acquisition on Tuesday of a controlling stake in sports specialist Moresport for R403,8-million in cash. Moresport owns Sportsmans Warehouse, Sport Shoe World and Outdoor Warehouse.
The Competition Tribunal on Tuesday made public its reasons for the conditional approval of the merger between Multichoice Subscriber Management, a subsidiary of M-Web Holdings, which owns M-Web and Tiscali. On January 17 this year, the tribunal approved the merger subject to two conditions.
For some it is the end of the blog. For others, it is proof that blogging has earned its place in the media. Blogs, or online weblogs, in which opinions and reports are posted on the internet for everyone to read, are to get a dose of celebrity. Arianna Huffington, commentator, one-time Republican and candidate for governor of California, has recruited a bevy of close friends to create an über-blog.