No image available
/ 18 February 2004
Close to 200 people were killed and hundreds of others injured on Wednesday when runaway rail wagons loaded with an explosive cocktail of sulphur, petrol and fertiliser derailed and blew up in northeast Iran, local officials said after a day of wildly varying tolls.
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday brushed aside questions about the state of his emotions on the release of the 2004/05 Budget, saying it was a ”bloody good” one. Briefing the media ahead of his Budget speech in the National Assembly, Manuel shook his head when told he looked ”down”.
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
Various political parties on Wednesday reacted to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s 2004/05 Budget speech in Parliament. "The Budget showed that after several years of plenty, now the pantry is getting empty," said Pieter Mulder, head of the Freedom Front Plus.
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
At least 11 Iraqi civilians were killed on Wednesday morning when a pair of suicide bombers tried to attack a coalition base where international troops are based, a coalition spokesperson said. The attack outside Camp Charlie in Hillah left wounded 58 coalition troops, including Hungarians, Poles and an American.
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
The Tobacco Institute of South Africa on Wednesday described as "regrettable" the increase in excise duties on tobacco, cautioning it could negatively affect the country’s tobacco farmers. The increase of 64c in excise on a pack of 20 cigarettes translates into a 16,5% increase in cigarette excise tax.
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday that he was once given a T-shirt by an NGO that carried the slogan "Debt sucks", and this was a sentiment that he shared. "What is good for the individual should be good for the state and that sentiment has informed our budgetary process over the past decade," he said.
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
”We are going to shout about bride price across Africa and we are going to say ‘no’ to the sale of women,” exclaimed Atuki Turner to a crowded hall at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Turner was speaking at the opening this week of the first international conference on the tradition of bride price.
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
Initial reaction to Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s annual Budget speech has been favourable. Manuel had some good news for taxpayers on Wednesday in his 2004/05 Budget, although the R4-billion in personal-income tax relief did not match the whopping R13,3-billion he dished out in 2003/04.
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
The Bagle.B Internet worm on Wednesday continued to propagate itself throughout the world, with experts ranking the virus as the third most dangerous computer bug to date after the notorious Sobig.F and Mydoom.A. ”It will probably not reach the same catastrophic proportions as Mydoom.A and Sobig.F,” an expert said.
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
The South African government says that the annual average increase in spending on the land restitution programme between 2000/01 and 2006/07 is 31,5%, according to the estimates of national expenditure. The estimates, released on Budget day, February 18, showed that total expenditure had increased to R1,7-billion.