Merrill Lynch was plunged into fresh controversy on Monday when allegations emerged that a former energy trader had embezzled -million from the firm. The claims give another black eye to one of Wall Street’s best-known banks. It has been linked to scandals and allegations of freewheeling and lack of internal controls during the dotcom boom.
Israelis and Palestinians accused each other of wrecking a six-week-old truce after a pair of Palestinian suicide bombings on Tuesday that dealt a new blow to the United States-sponsored peace process. Israel abruptly postponed plans to free 69 Palestinians convicted of criminal offences.
The South African economy has reached its bottom turning point and is now once again on a path towards higher growth, according to Absa senior economist John Loos. Improving domestic growth is expected to come on the back of
a steady decline in interest rates.
The Pretoria High Court dismissed on Tuesday a special plea by 13 of the 22 Boeremag treason trialists that the court had no jurisdiction over them. Seventeen of the 22 trialists after the dismissal proceeded to question the integrity of chief prosecutor Paul Fick and asked for his recusal from the case.
President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday hailed Zimbabwe’s military for successfully crushing anti-government protests organised by the opposition early this year, saying the army had helped secure stability.
The Democratic Alliance is to ask for an urgent parliamentary debate on the question of foreign deployment of the SA National Defence Force.
Is the Oppenheimer family trying to encourage transformation without paying for it? While business has welcomed the Brenthust initiative, others are sceptical about its effectiveness.
Liberia’s main rebel group said on Tuesday it wanted to lead the interim government following the resignation and departure of former president Charles Taylor.
Funeral parlours in Paris are turning away new arrivals as the heatwave in the region continues. At least 50 people, and maybe many more, have died in the French capital. Meanwhile, organised crime is being blamed for many of the forest fires raging in Italy.
Europe crippled by prolonged heatwave
Given the expectation of sharply declining inflation in 2003, real house prices are expected to rise for the fourth consecutive year this year. An increase in house prices of more than 18% nominal and 10% real is forecast.