World number-one rough diamond miner De Beers, 45% held by Anglo American, on Wednesday announced that its marketing division, the Diamond Trading Company (DTC), will with effect from its August 2004 sight increase rough diamond prices by an average of 5%.
Algeria’s roads are some of the deadliest in the world with 550 people killed in accidents there since the beginning of June. The figures show that every two hours a person is killed in a traffic accident in Algeria, with more that 4 000 killed annually and more than 57 000 injured, among them 500 who are left severely handicapped.
Suave, English and debonair: a spy with a dated attitude to women and often in trouble with his superiors. No, the name’s not Bond, James Bond, but Ian Fleming, the creator of the Cold War’s archetypal secret agent. Fleming died 40 years ago on Thursday at the age of 56 after penning 14 Bond novels, which have sold more than 65-million copies worldwide and have been translated into at least 36 languages.
A powerful father from beyond the heavens sends his son on a fateful journey to Earth to become a saviour for humanity. James Caviezel starred in the Biblical version of that story in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Could he play out that premise again under different circumstances? Say, the comic-book version, with blue tights and a cape?
Violence in Iraq has shattered Lebanon’s trade with that country, with shipments through Tripoli port halved and road transport down 70%, as Lebanese remain prey to Iraqi hostage-takers. Out of about 15 Lebanese kidnapped in Iraq, telecom employee Hussein Olayyan was found murdered in Baghdad in June and three others are still being held.
Road-rage murder accused Edward Kekana was granted bail of R5 000 and his case was postponed to August 31 by the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. The call centre supervisor handed himself over to police last Monday after allegedly shooting three people dead and wounding another in an alleged road rage confrontation last month.
A centuries-old historical row over the whereabouts of the body of Christopher Columbus appeared to have been solved on Tuesday when scientists in Spain conceded that the corpse buried at Seville’s gothic Santa Maria cathedral was not that of the famous explorer.
After getting off to a good start on the back of a softer rand and stronger United States markets overnight, the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was off the boil in noon trade on Wednesday due to weaker European markets and US futures and the currency recovering from its worst levels seen earlier in the morning.
Annoyed by a stream of unwanted kisses, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo warned overzealous male fans and supporters on Wednesday that to avoid embarrassment they should not pucker up in her direction. ”I do not want to be kissed by any man but my husband,” she told a meeting in Laguna province.
Bosnian forensic teams have exhumed 59 bodies including 18 children, believed to be Serb civilians, from a mass grave in the north-east of the country, a forensic expert said on Wednesday. So far about 18 000 bodies have been exhumed from more than 300 mass graves throughout the country.