Cape Town | Thursday THE South African government on Wednesday presented a R287,9 billion budget which lowers taxes and raises welfare grants and spending on Aids but failed to satisfy calls for poverty relief. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel forecast economic growth of 2,1% in 2002 and vowed to increase spending by four percent in the […]

GORDON BELL, Cape Town | Thursday FINANCE Minister Trevor Manuel on Thursday warned about the cost of providing antiretrovirals (ARV) nationally, saying the drugs were not the only weapon in South Africa’s fight against HIV and Aids. Speaking on SABC radio, he said if government were to provide ARVs countrywide, the cost would use up […]

Cape Town | Wednesday CHILDREN from across South Africa gathered in Cape Town on Tuesday to speak out on their experiences of poverty ahead of Budget day. ”In our area there are many children suffering, including us,” a girl from Cape Town’s Samora Machel informal settlement told a public hearing organised by the Alliance for […]

Harare | Thursday ZIMBABWE’S President Robert Mugabe has said he can resist European Union (EU) sanctions slapped on him and his close associates. ”They are saying that they are placing sanctions on leaders so that they don’t come to Europe? What is Europe?” Mugabe was quoted as saying by the state daily The Herald on […]

PARLIAMENT is to undergo a fundamental culinary change from Wednesday when take-away meals and any other beverages will no longer be served in polystyrene containers from its various staff canteens. Secretary to Parliament, Sindiso Mfenyana, said in a memo to parliamentary staff this was aimed at counteracting ”the problem of cockroaches, rodents, littering and spillage […]

Pretoria | Tuesday SOUTH Africa will hold talks with its neighbours to promote a regional free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States amid “general support” for the plan, Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin said on Monday. Speaking after lengthy talks with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in Pretoria, Erwin said South Africa’s partners […]

The JSE’s gold index tumbled by 5,4% by noon Monday after the price of bullion retreated to $297,75/oz. The JSE overall index dropped by 1% to 10921 following a weaker Wall Street close on Friday.With the rand stronger at R11,35/$, the JSE’s resources counters dropped almost two percent while the banks and financial services index […]

FRANCE has struck a deal with the Egyptian government to renovate the main subway line in Cairo after 15 years of operation have taken their toll, both sides said on Monday. Under a contract to be signed here on Tuesday, the French engineering group Alstom will do most of the work to repair 52 three-carriage […]

Al Ayatt | Wednesday At least 200 people were killed early on Wednesday in a fire on a train south of the Egyptian capital Cairo, according to a toll given by firefighters. Firefighters and an AFP reporter counted 123 bodies lying at the scene of the accident, around 70 kilometres south of Cairo. Firefighters said […]