OWN CORRESPONDENT, Noupoort | Thursday A TEENAGER from Moreleta Park in Pretoria has died in a “detention camp” at a Christian care centre in Noupoort for drug and alcohol addicts, apparently after being chained by his neck in a disciplinary cell, Beeld newspaper reports. The centre, run by clergymen, has accused the police of “unprofessional […]

THE Anglo American-Oppenheimer family deal to delist South African diamond giant De Beers is a “wonderful opportunity for South Africa,” South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Tito Mboweni said on Thursday. Speaking on independent radio station 702, Mboweni said that the SARB would buy as much of the $3.5bn inflows as possible and would use […]

TIMBER production in Congo is expected to reach 850_,000 tons this year as compared with 650_000 tonnes in 2000 because peace has returned after years of civil war, a top forestry official said on Wednesday. The forecast of a 200_000 ton rise in production is based on resumed logging in the central Niari and Lekoumou […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Windhoek | Thursday NAMIBIAS politically influential Council of Churches (CCN) wants to meet President Sam Nujoma after he called Christianity a “foreign philosophy”, the council’s general secretary said on Wednesday. The CCN’s request comes after a recent meeting between Nujoma and farmers where he also accused 19th century Finnish missionaries to the desert […]

SOUTH Africa’s High Court on Wednesday approved a scheme of arrangement for holders of diamond giant De Beers’ first preference shares, the company said in a statement. The court order followed a vote on May 4 by first preference shareholders who approved an offer from the Anglo American-led consortium bidding for De Beers. The consortium […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki’s office has rejected criticism of the president’s leadership and his policies on race, Aids and Zimbabwe by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The institute, in a report issued in London, said Mbeki’s ”shaky stewardship” of South Africa had helped to create a ”regional leadership […]

TUNISIAN soldiers are preparing to join the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the Tunisian defence ministry. President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali discussed the deployment, set for Saturday, with Defense Minister Dali Jazi in a meeting Tuesday, officials said. The soldiers, thought to number 200 though the […]

THE chief prosecutor of the United Nations tribunal dealing with Rwandan genocide suspects, Carla Del Ponte, on Wednesday rejected charges of racism from several court prosecutors whose contracts were not renewed. “These attacks of racism are absolutely ridiculous,” said Del Ponte’s spokeswoman Florence Hartmann. The only criteria for not renewing the contracts was efficiency, she […]

Race argument at genocide tribunal Seven black prosecutors at the UN tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, have raised issues of racism after not being reappointed by chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte. The BBC ‘Extinct’ plants found in N Cape Botanists from the Royal Botanic Gardens’ millennium seed bank have found healthy specimens of two plants […]