Harare | Wednesday THE Zimbabwean government, faced with increasing poverty and a deteriorating economy, has ordered price controls on basic commodities to ease hardship, the state-run Herald said on Wednesday. Manufacturers and retailers have been ordered to revert to prices used in August this year, the paper said, saying the order was issued by Industry […]

Meyerton, Gauteng | Tuesday A ZIMBABWEAN healer wants to promote the use of a traditional spell that ensures fidelity, alongside the more conventional methods of condoms and abstinence to curb the spread of Aids in the country. Healer Mutsa Chikede came up with the idea of using a technique that involves magically “locking” women and […]

FIVE regions in Tanzania are threatened by famine following a rodent invasion that has destroyed several hectares of crops and seeds in farms and barns. “The rodents are multiplying at an alarming rate in some regions, where a house can host up to 300 or 400 rats. It is alarming,” said an agriculture ministry official, […]

THREE potential investors have paid a $25 000 commitment fee in order to bid for a stake in the state-run Nigerian telecoms firm Nitel. The government privatisation agency, the Bureau of Public Enterprises, named the consortia of local and foreign investors as Telnet Consortium comprising Korean Telecom and Swedetel AB, a Swedish firm; Newtel Consortium […]

AN Islamic court in northern Nigeria has sentenced a woman to death by stoning after convicting her of adultery, the Punch newspaper reported on Wednesday. Thirty-year-old Safiya Tungar-Tudu was sentenced by the Upper Sharia Court in Gwadabawa, Sokoto State, on Tuesday after pleading guilty to the offence, it said. Adultery is contrary to Islamic law, […]

Pretoria | Wednesday THE Congress of SA Trade Unions, which represents the majority of public servants in the country, on Wednesday remained adamant it would not accept the state’s current pay rise offer which it fears could lead to major job losses. The employer has said its offer of between 6,5 and eight percent for […]

LAURENT BARTHELEMY, Brussels | Wednesday LEADERS of the European Union are due to meet here on Wednesday with African heads of state speaking for some 50 nations, to take stock of a radical new development partnership for Africa. On Wednesday, the current Belgian EU presidency will meet with presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun […]

Johannesburg | Friday AS the rand collapses and global recession threatens South Africa, the Mail & Guardian has invited leading economic thinkers to explain what these recent, sudden changes in our economic environment mean – and what we can do about them. Despite the writers’ diverse backgrounds, there is agreement that a major rethink of […]

Cape Town | Wednesday THE bitter power struggle in the Democratic Alliance has led to accusations by the Democratic Party that its alliance partner the New National Party is fraudulently padding membership in the Western Cape and Northern Cape. A DA source told Sapa on Wednesday that trust between the two parties had reached an […]

IAN BLACK, Brussels | Wednesday THE United States finally showed its Nato allies ”clear and compelling” evidence yesterday that last month’s terror attacks on New York and Washington were launched from abroad by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network. Speaking after a classified briefing by a senior US official, Lord Robertson, the Nato secretary general, said: […]