More than 100 Ethiopian refugees are missing after the boat they were sailing on to Yemen sank when it collided with another vessel in Somali territorial waters on March 20, a United Nations official said on Wednesday. ”The boat sank with 120 refugees aboard,” said the official.
The US has approved the use of oral fluid samples with a rapid HIV test kit that provides screening results with more than 99% accuracy.
Unruly and disruptive behaviour caused the adjournment of a regular monthly general meeting of members of the Aids Consortium at Cosatu House in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on Tuesday. A spokesperson said members of the National Association of People Living with HIV/Aids ”were clearly at the meeting to cause disruption”.
Nedbank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nedcor, on Wednesday reported a headline loss per share of R36,29 for the year ended December compared with a profit of R15,21 the previous year. This was on the back of an attributable loss of almost R1,8-billion from a previous profit of R969-million.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Polls indicate that South Africa’s former ruling party will be lucky to get 15% in the upcoming election — down from about 38% in 1999 — in its stronghold of the Western Cape. But there was no sign of despondency in its ranks when its leader, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, took to meeting voters on the West Coast on Tuesday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
Marginal gold miner Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) will continue to pursue its R3,5-million lawsuit against Roger Kebble for breaching a restraint of trade agreement, DRD CEO Ian Murray said in a statement on Wednesday. The legal action was heard in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday.
Former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba, who is facing corruption charges, has likened his ”suffering” to that of Jesus Christ, after watching the film The Passion of the Christ. ”I have suffered after stepping down from the presidency but not like Jesus did. I have just suffered a quarter of that,” he said.
Namibian President Sam Nujoma says he might run for a fourth term in office, but only ”if requested by the people”. Namibia’s Constitution was amended to allow Nujoma to serve a third term in 1999, but the veteran politician has repeatedly insisted he does not want a fourth.
Former security policeman Gideon Nieuwoudt says he would have been prepared to lie under oath in his criminal trial for the 1989 Motherwell bombing but was telling the truth in his amnesty application. He was testifying under cross-examination by advocate Kessie Naidu.
United States President George Bush has surrendered to public demands for greater disclosure from the White House to the investigation into the September 11 attacks, authorising his national security adviser to testify in public before the commission.