Ethiopia is to issue its first-ever private radio broadcasting licences in the next two months, Bereket Simon, the information minister, said on Monday. The licences, he added, will be issued ahead of the 2005 elections that analysts say will be a litmus test of the government’s commitment to democracy.
Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) are expected to hold general meetings at all car manufacturers this week to mobilise workers for what the union describes as inevitable strike action. This comes after wage negotiations between Numsa and the Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation hit a snag.
Listed South African retailer Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon) is optimistic that it will attract good investor interest, as well as a lower price, for its second securitised debt issue from its OntheCards securitisation programme, based on its customers’ store card debt, according to CEO for group services, Mark Bower.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner is in a ”critical but stable” condition on Monday following Sunday’s gun attack in Saudi Arabia that left a colleague, Simon Cumbers, dead. Richard Sambrook, the BBC director of news, said that Gardner received ”extensive surgery” for abdominal gunshot wounds following the attack in a suburb of the Saudi capital Riyadh that is a known al-Qaeda stronghold.
The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa (JSE) was forging ahead at midday on Monday, fuelled by stronger world markets. A slight weakening in the rand lent the bourse further support. By 12.09pm, the all-share and all-share industrial indices jumped 1,6% and 1,33% respectively.
About 5 000 people have been left homeless after more than 200 shacks burned down at the Slovo informal settlement in KwaMbonambi on KwaZulu-Natal’s north coast, police said on Monday. Umfolozi police spokesperson Superintendent Jay Naicker said it was believed that a candle left unattended in one of the shacks caused the fire, which quickly spread through the settlement on Sunday night.
Sea turtles can navigate themselves around the world with their own equivalent of the global positioning system, scientists believe after new research. Turtles are able to navigate across thousands of kilometres of ocean relying on the Earth’s magnetic fields. Scientists have wanted to know how turtles make vast Atlantic journeys, returning to specific feeding sites with pinpoint accuracy.
South Africa’s largest mobile communications group, Vodacom, which is 50% owned by listed telecommunications giant Telkom, reported a 36,9% growth in net profits to R3-billion for the year ended March. The group’s customer base increased by 29,7% over the year to 11,2-million customers.
The European Union is considering sending peacekeepers to Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where scores have died since the town was overrun by rebellious soldiers, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said on Monday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67487">SA peacekeepers die in DRC</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67464">Rwanda accused of fuelling fighting</a>