Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Tuesday brushed off the threat posed by Linux software in Asia and pushed for the use of the Windows operating system in Malaysia. Unlike expensive Windows operating systems, Linux is available for free over the internet while piracy of Windows software in Asia is rampant.
<li><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=117756" class="standardtextsmall">Shuttleworth returns to the source</a>
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor could be brought to trial in the near future if the government of Liberia issues a request, said United Nations officials visiting the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, on Friday. Taylor left Liberia on August 11 for exile in Nigeria.
Vodacom Mozambique, a subsidiary of South African mobile services provider Vodacom, last week reached the 100 000 customer milestone after commencing commercial operations in one of Africa’s most promising economies in December last year.
Atlanta Bread executive Basil Couvaras plans to return to South Africa to face fraud charges, a spokesperson said. ”Basil is voluntarily going back to South Africa. We are working on the details of when that will occur,” said Jane Langley, spokesperson for Couvaras and his brother, Jerry, who was arrested by South African officials in March.
The largest diamond cutting and polishing factory in Africa, owned by Russian-Israeli tycoon Lev Leviev, opened in Windhoek on Monday, officials said. The Leviev group, one of the world’s largest cutters and polishers of the precious gems, took over offshore diamond mining concessions from the liquidated Namibian minerals corporation, which collapsed in 2001.
A Cape Town man who shot dead his nine-year-old daughter and wounded his wife before shooting himself, died at the Groote Schuur hospital on Monday night. Hospital spokesperson Leigh Pollio said on Tuesday that Peter Prinsloo (59) died at 7.40pm.
The United States resumed direct diplomatic ties with Libya on Monday after a 24-year break, even as the Bush administration pursued reports that Moammar Gadaffi had taken part in a plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s crown prince. President George Bush said recenlty that US investigators were looking into reports of such a plot.
Three more people were arrested on Monday in the continuing blitz on soccer match-fixing in the country, police said. Premier Soccer League referee Enoch Hadebe and Dumisani Ndlovu of Hellenic Football Club were arrested in Durban, and Dolf Rousseau, the owner of Basotho Tigers, was arrested in Johannesburg.
Cops to stop counting chickens
The commissioner of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) has spelt out four major obstacles to ending conflict on the continent. At a meeting at the AU’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, Said Djinnit said limited resources, lack of support for peacekeeping operations and poor conflict early warning systems all served to hamper efforts to resolve the conflicts ravaging Africa.
South African investment trust Hosken Consolidated Investments Limited, which is suspended from the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa pending the outcome of court action over its plans to delist, on Monday reported diluted headline earnings per share of 2,65 cents.