Johannesburg | Tuesday PRESS freedom has come under attack in virtually every region of the world this year, with an alarming number of journalists killed or imprisoned, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) said on Monday. The Paris-based organisation said in a statement that 56 journalists have been killed worldwide this year — 41 of […]

EGYPTIAN police have arrested the son of a poet and playwright who posted his father’s unpublished and allegedly obscene magnum opus on the web, his lawyer said on Sunday. Shohdy Naguib was arrested Thursday night on charges of “distributing immoral materials” for having published his father’s poem on a server outside of Egypt. The prosecutor […]

OLA AWONIYI, Abuja | Tuesday NIGERIA’S privatisation agency scrambled on Monday to rescue a $1,3-billion dollar sale of a controlling stake in the state-run telecoms agency after last minute hitches stopped the deal. On Thursday, Vice President Atiku Abubakar was scheduled to preside over the signing of documents between the government and an international consortium, […]

CLAIRE KEETON, Pretoria | Tuesday THE anti-AIDS drug Nevirapine could save the lives of thousands of newborn babies every year in South Africa if the government made it freely available, a leading anti-Aids group said on Monday in a landmark legal case against the government. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is trying to force the […]

SPECIALIST banking group Investec has acquired Merrill Lynch South Africa’s private client operation in Cape Town. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Said CEO Stephen Koseff on Tuesday: “Investec has sought to offer its clients the best in products and services, including advice, structured lending, stock […]

AMINU ABUBAKAR, Kano | Tuesday LYING on a stretcher covered in his own excrement, a young man pleaded on Monday for help from exhausted hospital workers and volunteers, overwhelmed by a cholera outbreak here. The young mechanical apprentice, surrounded by hundreds of other cholera sufferers in Kano’s Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), pleaded in vain. There […]

Rand detectives and crime prevention units have arrested 144 wanted suspects on a widespread raid that began at 10pm on Sunday night and ended at 6am on Monday morning. Superintendent Andy Pieke said those arrested in the swoop were suspected of crimes ranging from murder, attempted murder, rape, robbery to housebreaking. One suspect was arrested […]

AFRICAN National Congress MP Ruth Bhengu has called on government to introduce mandatory Aids tests to determine the true extent of HIV/Aids in the country, according to the Sunday Independent. Bhengu said laws should be passed to make testing mandatory. Consitutional provisions for the right to privacy — used by some not to take Aids […]

A leopard was injured after it was caught in a trap that was set by a farmer in Baviaanskloof in the Eastern Cape, SABC radio news reported on Friday. The farmer set a small gin trap to catch what he thought was a karakul which had been killing his livestock. The animal was not seriously […]

A SOWETO secondary school would be renamed after anti-apartheid activist Dr Beyers Naude on Tuesday, Gauteng education department said on Monday.Education MEC Ignatius Jacobs would rename Phuti Junior Secondary School in Dube Soweto as Dr Beyers Naude Secondary School. Representative Lebelo Maloka said that was in recognition and appreciation of the contribution and invaluable service […]