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/ 10 December 2004
A group of high-profile South Africans, including former president Nelson Mandela, have condemned attempts to force United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to resign. Mandela, Graca Machel — a member of the Board of the United Nations Foundation and chairperson of the Board of the Vaccine Fund — Bishop Desmond Tutu, author Nadine Gordimer and human rights lawyer George Bizos signed an open letter sent on Thursday.
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/ 10 December 2004
A letter from Sasol chief executive Pieter Cox to two senior government ministers over the nomination of a black female director to the liquid fuel giant’s board illustrates how fearful the company is of the presidency. Cox wrote to Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel last week to "clarify matters" about his company’s clash with the Public Investment Commission.
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/ 10 December 2004
There are cities in South Africa where the traffic lights work, electricity flows steadily, jobs are created and finances are in order. Business is attracted to them and contributes to tax revenues, which are used to improve delivery and create long-term economic growth. These cities are Durban and Port Elizabeth.
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/ 10 December 2004
The Human Rights and Democracy Awards returned on Friday night after a one-year hiatus. Last year’s awards were cancelled as the Independent Electoral Commission — which co-sponsors the awards with the Human Rights Commission and the Commission on Gender Equality — was preparing for the elections.
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/ 10 December 2004
Did Thebe Tourism Group (TTG) attempt to steal a lucrative joint venture from a partner or is the company simply defending its rights against a jilted collaborator? This appears to be one of the questions before the Cape High Court in the liquidation of Thebe Retail, a company founded in 2002 by TTG, and Charlotte Steere, a Johannesburg businessperson, to develop a series of tourist shops.
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/ 10 December 2004
France is to launch a French-language news channel next year in a long-awaited attempt to challenge the dominance of the American view of world current affairs, the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said on Thursday. The government will provide â,¬30-million in start-up funding for the channel, which will ”allow international broadcasting that will express the diversity to which our nation is attached,” Raffarin said.
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/ 10 December 2004
Brazil and Peru have announced a -million plan for a highway to link Brazil’s Amazon basin to the Pacific, raising concerns about further devastation in the rainforest. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Peru’s president, Alejandro Toledo, outlined plans for the 1 137km road linking Amazon river port of Assis in Brazil with Peru’s Pacific ports of Matarini, Ilo and San Juan.
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/ 10 December 2004
A senior CIA analyst who was once decorated for his work on weapons proliferation in the Middle East has accused the spy agency of ruining his career as punishment for his refusal to adhere to official pre-war ”dogma” on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
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/ 10 December 2004
Ariel Sharon beat off resistance to his Gaza pull-out plan on Thursday to win the backing of his ruling Likud party to invite the Labour opposition into the government. The prime minister’s victory appears to assure his plans to close Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank next year.
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/ 10 December 2004
The HIV/Aids pandemic is the worst catastrophe in history and is blighting childhood across the developing world, especially sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations said on Thursday. Advances in children’s survival, health and education are being reversed by a ”triple whammy” of Aids, conflict and poverty, according to the UN children’s agency, Unicef.