Organisers at the World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town were tallying up on Friday morning the number of signatures of business leaders endorsing the recommendations of the Commission for Africa. "It’s looking good," said Africa Economic Summit spokesperson Matthias Luefkens.
United States President George Bush has dug in his heels ahead of British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s visit to Washington on Monday, when the prime minister will attempt to convince the US to accept a new action plan on Africa that would require a doubling of American aid.
European leaders were on Thursday night inching towards accepting that the EU Constitution has been all but killed off by the double rejection of French and Dutch voters. A series of emergency talks was launched by key figures in the EU establishment amid divisions over whether the ratification process should continue.
Gold stocks were the main feature on the JSE Securities Exchange in noon trade on Friday, with Gold Fields coming under particular pressure following the sale of part of Harmony’s stake in the company in New York overnight. The market was flat overall and trade was brisk.
Some of the luxurious, lush suburbs of Nairobi justify the slogan that tourism promoters have given the Kenyan capital; ”The Green City under the Sun”. Quiet streets are lined by perfectly manicured lawns and shadowed by giant jacaranda trees.
Local white novelists are shying away from the usual racial encounters, that seem to dominate most South African stories, writes Shaun de Waal.
It is possible that Pretoria will not be renamed Tshwane, Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan said in Cape Town on Thursday. He said he was still awaiting a recommendation in favour of the re-naming from the South African Geographical Names Council.
And so, on the ninth day, the semi-final that everybody wanted to see became a reality. Roger Federer, the world number one, beat Romania’s Victor Hanescu 6-2, 7-6, 6-3, and Rafael Nadal, the second most successful player on the men’s circuit this year, defeated fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2, 6-0.
The curtain has fallen on the Premier Soccer League (PSL), but for the four teams in the promotion-Ârelegation play-offs, the season has just intensified. Manning Rangers, who averted automatic relegation from the premiership, this weekend enter the first round of their quest to retain a place in the top flight against aspirants from the Mvela Golden League teams (Hellenic, Classic and Durban Stars).
A Nepalese United Nations peacekeeper died overnight from injuries he sustained in an attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s troubled region of Ituri, the UN mission announced on Friday. His death brings to 18 the number of UN peacekeepers killed in the central African country since the UN mission was deployed there in 1999.