Good quality refurbished PCs can be a viable technology choice — and sometimes even preferable to lower-quality new PCs. That’s one of the key findings of a total cost of ownership study into new and refurbished PCs by South African-based research consultancy Open Research.
It’s time for the yearly Oppikoppi Easter music blast, this time quaintly titled the Dust on My Meerkat festival. The line-up includes a host of excellent local acts, as well as guest Canadian singer Tal Bachman, who spoke to Riaan Wolmarans.
Global banking group Barclays is expecting the rand to strengthen again to below R6 per dollar in the coming months and bond yields to recover on the back of continued strong commodity prices, low inflation and lower interest rates in 2005, according to a recent research report by Barclays Capital.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday said the situation in Côte d’Ivoire is in danger of spinning ”out of control” if militias in the divided African nation are not controlled. ”The mobilisation of militia-type groups is increasing nationwide,” Annan said in a report to the UN Security Council.
Companies guilty of corrupt practices will in future be blacklisted under resolutions adopted at the second anti-corruption conference in Pretoria on Wednesday. The conference also resolved to strengthen legislation to protect whistle-blowers and the capacity of law-enforcement agencies to seize assets obtained through elicit or corrupt means.
The board of directors of Natal Sharks and the South African Rugby Union have asked Kevin Putt to step down as head coach of the Sharks Super 12 regional team with immediate effect. Past home-grown Sharks and Springbok great Dick Muir has been asked to step into the breach and take over the reins as head coach.
Nine people were killed and four others seriously injured when a minibus overturned on the N1 between Richmond and Three Sisters on Wednesday, Northern Cape police said. Among the dead, seven were schoolgirls between the ages of 13 and 15, while the other two were adults.
The Iranian government decided to enter into a fresh round of negotiations with Britain, France and Germany next month, aimed at resolving the nuclear stand-off, after a meeting with British, French and German officials in Paris on Wednesday. A European diplomat said: ”On balance, it is a reasonably positive outcome.”
South Sudan’s provisional government said on Wednesday it will stand by the controversial oil-exploration deal it has struck with a British company fronted by ex-England cricketer Phil Edmonds. But a consortium fronted by French group Total has claimed that it has rights over the area.
Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer is expected to walk out of a Japanese immigration centre on Thursday to begin a new life in Iceland, bringing to an end nine months of detention during which Washington has sought to extradite him to face charges of sanctions-busting. The move seems certain to dismay the United States.