SOUTH Africa’s Competition Tribunal on Thursday approved the $31-billion merger of Australia’s BHP Ltd and London-listed miner Billiton Plc, which has major operations in South Africa. BHP Billiton is set to become the world’s largest diversified miner when the deal closes on Friday, with the eventual split in ownership to be 58-42 in favour of […]
Washington | Thursday ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon huddled with South African President Thabo Mbeki here on Wednesday to discuss the Middle East crisis and the UN conference on racism set for late August in South Africa. ”We need to see what we can contribute to facilitate peace in the Middle East,” Mbeki told reporters […]
LUNGA MASUKU, Mbabane, Swaziland | Thursday SWAZILAND’s former colonial master, Britain, registered its concern on Wednesday about the perceived erosion of the independence of the kingdom’s judiciary and media. Outgoing British High Commissioner to Swaziland, Neil Hook, said that a contentious decree published at the weekend had disappointed both political and business observers in the […]
ZIMBABWE’S central bank is soon to issue a Z$500 note and a Z$5 coin. News reports quoted Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe spokesperson Ignatius Mabasa saying on Sunday that the new denominations were “for the convenience of the public”. There have been calls for several months for new denominations to be introduced as rampant inflation forces […]
Monrovia | Wednesday UNCONTROLLED logging in Liberia is playing havoc with the country’s rich forest resources and environment and helping President Charles Taylor’s government to stay afloat despite UN sanctions. Environmentalists in Liberia deplore the phenomenon. Elsewhere, there is growing criticism that timber is helping fuel sub-regional tensions on the borders of Liberia, Sierra Leone […]
AT least 10 people have been killed, six of them at the weekend, in Sudanese government bombing raids on the southern town of Raga, which fell to rebels earlier this month, the Roman Catholic church said on Wednesday. A mother and her baby were among those killed in an air strike on Sunday, according to […]
A COTTON producer and five other companies in western Cameroon have been ordered to pay pollution penalties of up to 24-million CFA francs ($31_000) an official source said on Monday. Cameroon Industrial Cotton (CICAM) has until June 30 to pay a five million CFA franc ($6_500) fine for the reckless release into the environment of […]
THE rogue hippopotamus that attacked and killed a security guard at an up-market Mpumalanga resort died of stress during a large-scale capture operation in the Sabie River on Monday afternoon. The adult bull hippo, described as a “trouble-maker” that regularly fought with other hippos, was cornered and darted by Mpumalanga Parks Board (MPB) but died […]
AT least six people were killed in a shooting incident on Tuesday at a Ugandan polling station during legislative elections. The bloodshed began in Bubulo East constituency when the bodyguard of one candidate, Simon Mulongo, shot the brother of a rival, according to police representative Asuman Mugenyi. “Then the mob got the bodyguard and lynched […]
VETERAN journalist and editor of the Malawi News, Horace Somanje, was buried in Blantyre on Monday after he died on Saturday following a short illness. The Journalists Association of Malawi (Jama) said Somanje’s death was a great loss to the nation and the journalism fraternity. He was founding chairman of JAMA and contributed to the […]