OLA AWONIYI, Abuja | Monday NIGERIA will on Monday launch Africa’s first trial programme to use cheap, imported, generic Aids drugs to combat the disease sweeping the continent, officials said on Sunday. Aiming to tackle the effects of an epidemic now affecting almost 3,5-million Nigerians, and 28,1-million Africans, the programme will start in 18 federal […]

Harare | Monday FOREIGN ministers from six southern African countries are due in Harare on Monday to audit developments in Zimbabwe’s controversial land reforms, a government representative said on Sunday. The meeting is a follow-up to a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit of heads of states held three months ago as part of an […]

EGYPTIAN police said on Monday they had arrested a gang which robbed gullible victims of their cash by pretending to change their Egyptian pounds into US dollars with the aid of genies. The four members of the gang gained 150 000 pounds, the equivalent of $35 295, in just a few days, the police said. […]

THE second strike to hit South African ports in two weeks ended on Thursday morning when Portnet management and unions signed an agreement. Two unions — the SA Logistics Services and Transport and Allied Workers’ Union, and the United Transport and Allied Trade Union –downed tools on Monday in a dispute over performance bonuses. Last […]

THE mother of prime terror suspect Osama bin Laden said in remarks published on Saturday that she was not angry with her son though she does not approve the ”ambitions, ideas and actions attributed to him.” ”I do not approve the ambitions, ideas and actions attributed to him. But I deny what was attributed to […]

AMINU ABUBAKAR, Tungar Tudu, Nigeria | Monday SAFIYA Husaini, a 35-year-old Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning, has led a harsh life, from marriage at 12 to a sentence of death which she says is due to rape. Born the fifth of 12 children to a farmer and illiterate herbal doctor in a remote […]

A JAPANESE woman who apparently set out to find one million dollars in ransom money depicted in the hit comedy-thriller ”Fargo” may have died from exposure, Japanese media said on Monday. The body of the woman, a resident of Tokyo, was found in the Detroit Lakes area of Minnesota on November 15, Jiji Press said, […]

A SECURICOR Gray worker is expected to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of killing former first lady Marike de Klerk. De Klerk (64) was found dead at her luxury apartment on the Cape West Coast last week on Tuesday, and was buried in Pretoria on Saturday. The suspect (21) […]

Beijing | Monday CHINA and South Africa will launch a new forum for dialogue on relations during the ongoing three-day visit by South African President Thabo Mbeki, state press said on Monday. Mbeki, the first South African president to visit China since diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1998, will jointly inaugurate […]

THREE people were killed outside the Arthur Nathan municipal pool in Bloemfontein during a shooting over the weekend, Free State police said on Monday. Captain Ernest Mayiki said a man shot dead a woman soon after they got out of a taxi around 7.30pm on Sunday. A second man was wounded when he intervened. During […]