FRANCE and Nigeria have struck an agreement on three statues that were smuggled out of Nigeria and are currently on show in Paris’s Louvre museum, France’s minister for European affairs, Pierre Moscovici, said Tuesday. Nigeria has agreed to allow the 1,500-year-old terracotta figures to remain in Paris on a 25-year renewable basis in return for […]

THE Health Department said on Tuesday it had assigned an inspector to ascertain whether the consignment imported by the Medicines Sans Frontiers complied with its authorisation terms. The company was last year granted permission by the Medicines Control Council to import five generic drugs that were not registered in South Africa in terms of section […]

A 25-year-old man was arrested on Saturday after he allegedly raped two girls aged four and 11 at their Florida home, West Rand police reported. Captain Paula Nothnagel said on Monday the man, who was known to the girls, came to their house at 5.15pm to watch television. Nothnagel said when he realised the girls […]

GRIFFIN SHEA | Wednesday AS Zimbabwe’s government tries to block out independent media ahead of the March presidential election, a new shortwave radio station has managed to bypass the regime and take to the airwaves. Barred by restrictive legislation from broadcasting within Zimbabwe, SW Radio Africa has set up in Britain, but is run by […]

Pietersburg | Wednesday AN extensive Afrikaner backlash is gaining momentum in the Northern Province, in the wake of Monday’s announcement that place names such as Pietersburg, Potgietersrus, Louis Trichardt, Tzaneen, Nylstroom and Soekmekaar are to be changed. The process is to be fast-tracked, with municipalities required to hold public hearings and to finalise the entire […]

THE Mail & Guardian’s literary editor and film reviewer Shaun de Waal has been awarded the 2001 FNB/Vita Thomas Pringle award for his film reviews. The judging committee praised De Waal’s “exceptional way of dealing with a diverse range of subject matter” and noted that his “skill as a reviewer brings in the many nuances […]

EMSIE FERREIRA, Cape Town | Tuesday THE South African government and the European Union on Monday signed a long-awaited trade deal on wine and spirits that will allow South Africa to export 42-million litres of wine duty free to the European market annually. It was the last outstanding component of a free trade agreement between […]

Durban | Tuesday THE anti-Aids drug Nevirapine could be dispensed from 20 major hospitals in South Africa’s eastern KwaZulu-Natal Province in six months, the province’s Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Monday. Mkhize said research scientists, who are engaged in pilot projects ahead of the potential widespread use of Nevirapine, had made good progress in […]

Lagos | Tuesday THOUSANDS of children are still missing 36 hours after fleeing the explosion of a weapons store in Nigeria’s main city, Lagos, a representative for the Nigerian Red Cross said on Tuesday. “Many thousands of people, most of them children, have been displaced. There are thousands still missing,” said the representative Patrick Bawa. […]