With global steel production and consumption running at all-time record highs, steel prices around the world have been showing prodigious gains, with United States hot rolled steel coil at all-time highs, said United Kingdom steel consultancy Meps in a statement on Monday.
Eight former South African gold miners and their families on Friday started a legal action in the Johannesburg High Court against the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa, London-based solicitors Leigh, Day and Company said in a statement. The test cases are seeking compensation for gold miners affected by silicosis and phthisis.
Fears were mounting on Sunday night for the safety of three western journalists who have disappeared in Iraq on the road between Baghdad and Najaf, where fierce fighting between United States forces and Shia militiamen continued on Sunday. Two French journalists, George Malbrunot of Le Figaro and Christian Chesnot of Radio France International, have not been heard of since Thursday.
The French government declared war on racism on Monday, one day after arsonists torched a Jewish centre in Paris and scrawled swastikas inside. Responsibility for the attack was claimed on the internet in the name of Jamaat Ansaw Al-Jihad al Islamiya (Group of the Holy Islamic War Supporters) ”in response to racist acts by Jews”.
Shares in media group Naspers jumped 1,21% or 55 cents to R46,05 by midday on Monday following subsidiary M-Web’s successful R320-million successful bid to buy internet service provider Tiscali South Africa on Friday. "I do believe that this is the best outcome," said Diego Massida, managing director of Tiscali SA.
The chief economist of the World Bank predicted in an interview published on Saturday that oil prices will return in a matter of months to a stable level of about a barrel after hitting record highs last week of nearly . Although prices closed down on Friday, many traders predicted that the volatile hikes will continue.
United States aircraft on Monday bombed the vast cemetery in Najaf, where Shi’ite Muslim militiamen have been hunkered down, while sporadic clashes continued to flare around the holy Iraqi city’s revered shrine. The US military denied that a US helicopter had fired a missile into the outer western wall of the mosque compound.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=120891">Journalists seized on Najaf road</a>
The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was roaring ahead at midday on Monday, fuelled by a weaker rand and — to a lesser extent — a relatively high gold price. This saw the all-share index top the 11 000 mark for the first time since April 13 and at its best level since March 5.
Threatened native fish species in Australia’s largest river were on Monday given ”ladders” to by-pass obstacles put in their way by man, the government announced on Monday. The so-called ”fish ladders” are passages that will allow the fish to swim past weirs in the Murray river, Australia’s largest, in the hope of reversing a catastrophic decline in their numbers.
She needs to be coddled with sweet talk and pampered with gifts, but you’ll never see her in the flesh, says a Hong Kong company that’s developing a ”virtual girlfriend” for new cellphones with video capability. The gifts will keep the relationship going from one level to the next — and even though it’s all made up of cold, hard data, suitors will have to pay cold, hard cash for the gifts.