FORMER Zimbabwean President Canaan Banana, 64, jailed for a year on gay sex charges, has been freed four months early after receiving time off for good behaviour. Banana was convicted on 11 counts of sodomy and abusing his power to rape, assault and carry out “unnatural acts” with men, most of whom were on his […]

AT least 10 people were killed in an attack this week by Guinean helicopter gunships on the Liberian border town of Solumba, Defence Minister Daniel Chea said. Chea told reporters he had instructed his artillery units to bring down any helicopter that enters Liberian airspace. The Liberian government, he added, was also registering its protest […]

TWENTY-TWO passengers drowned when their minibus plunged into the River Nile after colliding with a truck on a bridge between the two parts of the Sudanese capital. Police said nine men, nine women and four children drowned, while six people, including a woman, survived. Only five people, including the two-man bus crew, had been identified […]

JEFFREY Ericsson, the new chief of Air Afrique, has pledged to carry out the “stabilisation and restructuring”, and the privatisation, of the African airline company within 14 months. Since 1993, Air Afrique has been facing a grave financial crisis, with debts amounting to 506m euros. Creditors seized four of its Airbuses in 1999. Created in […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday OPPOSITION parties and political analysts across the board have slammed South Africas ruling ANC for trying to control a probe into alleged corruption in the governments massive arms buying programme, saying parliament’s oversight role over government had been placed under threat. Democratic Alliance deputy leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said […]

A SWISS pharmacologist has told the trial of chemical warfare expert Dr Wouter Basson in the Pretoria High Court that he undertook a feasibility study for Basson aimed at determining the marketability of a SA Defence Force front company, the Roodeplaat Research Laboratories at Irene near Pretoria. Basson has pleaded not guilty to 61 charges […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday THE Department of Correctional Services may release jailed cleric Allan Boesak on parole in two weeks, three months earlier than they initially indicated, the Cape Argus reports. If this happens, the former apartheid activist would have spent eight months of his 36-month sentence in prison, the newspaper said. This […]

MALAWI police have intensified the country’s campaign against small-scale marijuana growers, warning that both growers and smugglers would be charged. Small-scale subsistence growers have traditionally been ignored by Malawi police, who arrested 1 364 traffickers and confiscated roughly 288 tonnes of the narcotic during 2000. Malawi marijuana is reputed to be amongst the best in […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday WORLD number one gold producer AngloGold posted a R132m net loss in the fourth quarter of 2000, due mainly to R700m in asset impairments reflecting a lower gold price. Operating profit rose 9% to R889m in the quarter to December 31, while headline earnings improved 1% to R430m. But the […]

GROWTH in South Africa’s broadly defined M3 money supply accelerated to 7.58% in the year to December from 6.56% in November, dampening hopes of a quick cut in rates. It slowed to 11.07% from 11.84% in November versus forecasts of a modest quickening to 12.1%. – Reuters