The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was ensconced in positive territory in noon trade on Wednesday, helped by continued weakness in the rand and firmer world markets. Better-than-expected consumer inflation numbers released just after noon further lifted the JSE’s spirits.
It’s bigger and uglier than its male counterpart. Sometimes it even makes a noise. But many South African women who have used it say they prefer it. Ten years after it was first introduced to South Africa, the female condom, or femidom, is gaining popularity in the country, but cost is limiting its use. The government buys it at about R7 a unit, which is at least 10 times the price of a male condom.
John Kerry borrowed President George Bush’s tactic of using military hardware as a campaign prop on Tuesday as the Democratic camp sought to promote his credentials as a trustworthy commander-in-chief. With the latest polls giving Kerry a slender lead with little more than three months to November’s elections, the challenger presented his vision of national security with the guns of the USS Wisconsin as a backdrop.
Grain South Africa was disappointed with the Agricultural Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) framework document launched on Monday, the body’s chairperson said on Tuesday. Bully Botma said many of the elements agreed upon by the stakeholders were left out of the published document, while many others had been unilaterally introduced.
Google’s initial public stock offering next month will instantly transform hundreds of Silicon Valley workers into millionaires, at least on paper. Google has doled out stock options to virtually all its 2 292 employees. From senior executives to administrative assistants, self-described ”Googlers” get options — which may eventually be sold for cash — when they start work and when they’re promoted.
More than half of the drivers on Eastern Cape roads do not have legal licences. Eastern Cape transport department spokesperson Tshepo Machaea said on Tuesday about 530 000 of roughly one million drivers in the province had either obtained fraudulent licences by bribing departmental officials or were carrying out-of-date licences.
KwaZulu-Natal’s provincial government may seek to have Inkatha Freedom Party member Philip Powell extradited from Britain, SABC radio news reports. A call for Powell’s extradition by Safety and Security MEC Bheki Cele followed the discovery of two caches of weapons in the storeroom of the Ulundi legislature two weeks ago.
The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa forged ahead in early trade on Wednesday, following Wall Street’s strong performance overnight and a stronger opening on European markets. Continued weakness in the rand added to the positive picture.
Lawyers for most of the 70 men held in Zimbabwe on charges of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea said they would plead not guilty to breaching Zimbabwe’s firearms and security laws on Wednesday, SABC radio news reports. On Tuesday, 67 of the men pleaded guilty to lesser charges and were quickly convicted.
The controversy surrounding botched circumcisions at initiation schools is well known but a new phenomenon is taking place — naming initiation schools after war-torn cities and countries around the world. Initiation schools in Mdantsane, outside East London, carry names such as Afghanistan, Kuwait, Beirut, Bosnia, Rwanda and Panama City.