FINANCIAL ratings firm Standard & Poor’s said on Thursday it did not believe Tuesday’s attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon would have a long-term adverse impact on the economy. “Our economic, financial and debt analysts continue to assess the situation and we are convinced that this will not have a negative long-standing […]

GRIFFIN SHEA, Hwedza, Zimbabwe | Monday DESPITE three separate agreements aimed at resolving Zimbabwe’s land crisis, three more people have died during the last week as violence in the countryside rages unchecked. The latest deaths came on Saturday, when two people died during a clash on a white-owned farm in eastern Zimbabwe. A 70-year-old farmer […]

POLICE have detained more than 300 people in Lagos over Christian-Muslim violence that left more than 500 dead in the city of Jos last week. It was not clear if all would be charged with some offences or if some had already been released after questioning. Nigeria was shaken by violence that broke out in […]

RWANDAN-backed rebels said on Sunday around 2 650 child soldiers are waiting to be demobilised in the territory it controls in the east of the DRC. Crispen Kabasele, head of exterior relations for the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), said the majority of the children had been recruited by Alliance of Democratic Forces for the […]

LUNGA MASUKU, Nhlangano, Swaziland | Monday KING Mswati III of Swaziland put a dampener on festivities at his 33rd birthday celebrations recently when he announced a five year sex ban for young maidens in the tiny mountain kingdom. In a bid to reduce the soaring HIV/Aids figures the king saw fit to announce the revival […]

THE Bank of England sold 20 tons of gold, or 643_200 ounces, at $280,00 a troy ounce on Wednesday. The scheduled sale, which came in a disorientated market after yesterday’s US terror attack, was 4,3 times oversubscribed, with a scaling factor of 61,3818% applied to the successful bids at $280,00, the Bank of England said. […]

Johannesburg | Sunday AIDS has become the biggest single killer of South Africans, the South African Medical Research Council reports in a study made public on Sunday. It calculates that 40% of the deaths last year of those aged between 15 and 49 were due to the pandemic. The council predicts that about six million […]

New York | Monday THE eyes of the global financial world will be trained on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, with investors looking for signs that the US economy will be able to bounce back after this week’s devastating terror attacks. The exchange, located on New York’s legendary Wall Street, is far and […]

New York | Monday A SENIOR Pakistani delegation began talks with the Taliban in their stronghold of Kandahar on Monday in a bid to persuade the Islamic militia to hand over Osama bin Laden, the Afghan Islamic Press reported. Senior military intelligence chiefs and foreign ministry officials met Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel in […]