Some members of the World Trade Organisation are outraged at secret debates among five key players on how to salvage global trade talks, with one delegate warning on Thursday that a price will be paid. Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India and the United States wrapped up two days of closed door talks at midnight on Wednesday.
A court in Zimbabwe on Thursday adjourned until next month the trial of 70 men arrested in Harare on charges of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea. Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe granted a request from state prosecutor Stephen Musona to adjourn the trial until August 18 and said that proceedings will wrap up at about that time.
Indigenous oil workers in Nigeria, the world’s sixth-largest oil producer, are angry with multinational oil companies operating in the country’s Niger Delta region over the influx of foreign oil workers, mainly from the United States and Europe. Communal unrest is also taking a toll on the country’s oil production.
The Federation of Unions of SA expressed concern on Thursday at the ”apparent rushing and fast tracking” of the draft Public Investment Bill currently before Parliament, and hinted at possible legal action. Fedusa challenged Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to ”be transparent” and support good governance regarding the Bill.
Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Thursday promised South Africans an accessible, caring and high-quality health system. She was speaking at the media launch of the Department of Health’s Strategic Priorities for the National Health System: 2004 to 2009 in Pretoria.
Cape Town gangster Amien Andrews was found guilty in the regional court on Thursday of keeping a brothel, and as an accomplice on two rape charges involving minor girls. Andrews’s brothel was well known in the underworld as ”Amien’s girls”, where girls aged between 12 and 16 were on offer for sex.
Zambia’s government is to present a tough Bill on cyber crime to Parliament on Friday that will see convicted hackers and other offenders face harsh sentences ranging from 15 to 25 years in jail. The Computer Misuse and Crimes Bill enjoys strong backing from bankers and the Computer Society of Zambia.
The International Criminal Court said on Thursday it has launched an investigation into atrocities in Uganda including the slaughter of more than 200 people this year. ”The massacre is part of the investigation,” said a spokesperson for the prosecutor, referring to the killings in the Barlonyo displaced persons’ camp in northern Uganda.
Investment groups Rebserve Holdings and Mvelaphanda Holdings are to merge. The two groups said on Thursday that they have signed a merger agreement that will see control of Rebserve pass to Mvela. The merger creates a "truly empowered, broad-based, black-controlled, -owned and -managed, diversified South African group".
World number-four gold miner Gold Fields is looking to further restructure its South African operations, following the decline in the rand gold price below R80 000 a kilogram, Gold Fields CEO Ian Cockerill said on Thursday. Earlier, Gold Fields reported a loss after tax of R155,1-million for its June quarter.