Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana was dismayed at the slow pace of negotiations between striking airport baggage handlers and Equity Aviation Services, his department said on Wednesday. He said the strike had dragged on for too long and should be resolved as a matter of urgency.
Three children and one adult were killed in a series of rocket strikes by insurgents on Baghdad on Tuesday night, a United States army officer said on Wednesday. ”Three rockets were fired. They were from outside the city. One landed in the south, one in the north and one in the city centre,” the officer said.
Meningitis has killed 403 people between 1 January and 7 March 2004 in Burkina Faso, where 2 060 cases of the disease have been reported. According to the Ministry of Health, the disease has reached epidemic proportions in two of the country’s 53 districts -– Diebougou in the south west and Nanoro in the central region.
The sale on Tuesday by the Botswana government of its holding, through its diamond mining arm Debswana, of 90-million pounds sterling in Anglo American, is seen as a move to halt a two year slide into deficit budgeting. The government, a 50% partner with De Beers in Debswana, will net 45-million pounds sterling — around 670-million pula.
Two South African hedge funds managed by Peregrine Capital have come in tops in terms of investment performance in the latest Hedge Fund Review conducted by Nedcor Retail Investments for the 12 months to end-January 2004.
The rape case against Judge Siraj Desai in Mumbai, India, was once again postponed on Wednesday as no judge was available, his lawyer said. ”The case cannot be heard. There is no judge,” said Desai’s lawyer RA Shaikh. Desai has denied any wrongdoing.
Microsoft is already known for its aggressive efforts to extend its global reach. Now, it’s taking those efforts one step further. The latest versions of the company’s dominant Windows operating system and Office software will soon be available in languages ranging from Ethiopia’s Amharic to Inuktitut of the Arctic’s Inuit.
The Merrill Lynch survey of South African fund managers in March saw managers turn net sellers of equities for the first time since 1998, but over 12 months, managers remain equity bulls and cash and bond bears. In March 2003, all managers thought equities offered value, but a year later only a net 14% think so.
Humanitarian agencies are gearing up this week to assist close to 800Â 000 people after a tropical cyclone hit Madagascar twice in the past 10 days. The death toll from Gafilo now stands at 74 and an estimated 200Â 000 people are without shelter, according to officials.
The death toll in the explosion that toppled part of an apartment building in northern Russia reached 41 on Wednesday, the Emergency Situations Department said. Rescuers worked through the night to pull bodies from the rubble of the building, which was torn apart by an apparent natural-gas explosion on Tuesday.