OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday THE South African central bank’s net open forward position (NOFP) dipped $400m in April, buoyed by inflows from a E500m bond issue, figures on Thursday showed. The NOFP – a measure of the central bank’s uncovered exposure to its forward foreign exchange commitments – dropped to $9.0bn, beating market expectations […]

DIAMOND magnate Nicky Oppenheimer has no plans to raise any higher the buy-out bid for De Beers. “This is a take-it-or-leave it offer,” De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer has told the Johannesburg newspaper Business Day. Oppenheimer is driving the move by the bidding consortium, DB Investments, to turn De Beers into a private company run […]

US based Human Rights Watch called on the Democratic Republic of Congo to spare the lives of four child soldiers, who were aged between 14 and 16 when they were sentenced to death by Congo’s Court of Military Order. The rights advocacy group said the DRC has executed at least one child soldier, a 14-year-old […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday CYRIL Ramaphosa, chairman of the Black Economic Empowerment Commission is to suggest that an Act be promulgated for the economic empowerment of blacks, which will force companies to invest 10% of their assets in areas of national priority, Sake Beeld reports. Beeld said that according to an article on the […]

SECHABA KANKOSI, Johannesuburg | Friday PRESSURE is mounting on African National Congress leaders and, in particular, Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete to publicly withdraw claims that some senior party members are involved in a plot to overthrow President Thabo Mbeki. Members of the partys national executive committee (NEC), Cabinet ministers and senior MPs […]

Ntuthuko Maphumulo South Africa fared very well in a report on the state of media freedom in Southern Africa, where Zimbabwe led the charts with the highest number of violations. Thursday was World Press Freedom Day, and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) released its report on the Southern African region titled So This […]

Ntuthuko Maphumulo hockey The Italians arrived in good spirit just 28 hours before the first match in the five-Test series against South Africa hoping to emulate their soccer counterparts, who beat Bafana 1-0 last week. The visitors’ young squad coped with the drizzle and the altitude but not the home side’s stickwork and hunger for […]

Thebe Mabanga in your ear The Internet is increasingly becoming an integral part of how stations pitch themselves to their target audiences. A leisurely browse through the Net to check out various radio stations can spring up surprises ranging from rude to pleasant. You can be jolted into life by the antics of United States […]

Three Gauteng readers can each win the following for the Play Energy Drink Ministry of Sound World Tour, touching down at Vodaworld in Midrand on May 5 with Fragma, Storm, Funkstar de Luxe, the Warp Brothers and many more: n One Play Energy Drink six-pack n One Play Energy Drink cap n One Play Energy […]

Andy Capostagno rugby Parochial considerations notwithstanding, for those who cherish the endless complexities that league tables throw up, the climax to this year’s Super 12 is the stuff that dreams are made of. Here we are, three weeks away from the semifinals and any four out of 10 teams can still qualify. Only the Blues […]