When Nedcor’s hostile takeover attempt of Standard Bank was shot down by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel three years ago, the South African banking group’s long-cherished dream of becoming the region’s biggest bank able to compete with global players seemed all but dead.
National Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Rapport editor Tim du Plessis says voter apathy among Afrikaans speakers is reflected in newspaper sales when lead stories focus on political issues.
An audiotape attributed to ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on Wednesday warned that the war against the US-led coalition was not over and called for Iraqis to continue their resistance.
At terminal two of Havana’s Jose Marti airport the daily invasion of the revolutionary republic by Miami Cubans is under way. Weighed down by gold chains, wearing ”I love NY” caps or struggling to steer trolleys piled high with suitcases and electronic goods, passengers from the first of three afternoon flights from Miami are greeted with kisses and tears of joy by relatives.
Ethiopia has bought 60 Russian-made tanks from Yemen at a cost of over -million dollars, a privately-owned weekly newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Shoved into cells by the dozens, prisoners in Russia’s jails are subject to incessant outbreaks of tuberculosis and Aids, according to a report handed to a Council of Europe envoy as he was to begin a tour of the country’s prisons on Wednesday.
Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has come out of a coma and his condition is improving, a source at a hospital in this Red Sea city said on Wednesday.
The British Broadcasting Corporation has an audiotape that could back up its disputed report on the government’s handling of intelligence on Iraqi weapons, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The Zimbabwe Council of Churches has apologised for ”not having done enough at a time when the nation has looked to us for guidance” during the current crisis.
”Citizens of Gettysburg, before I give my address I would like to thank our sponsor, Richard Jordan Gatling of Gatling Guns. I think it goes without saying that without the financial help provided by Mr Gatling, this speech would not be taking place.”