CLAIRE KEETON, Johannesburg | Thursday THE single lightning bolt that killed 13 people in South Africa this week was one of the deadliest strikes ever in a country prone to electrical storms and where poor housing offers little protection. One family lost seven members when their thatch-roofed hut in a remote part of KwaZulu-Natal was […]

A SENEGALESE student has died after being shot in a clash between demonstrators and police near a university in Dakar. Several sources confirmed the student’s death without stating the cause, while university and government sources declined to comment. The students, who have been on strike for three weeks demanding lower food and lodging bills and […]

KENYAN tycoon Kamlesh Pattni has lost his bid to avoid being tried on charges related to the biggest – and most complex – financial scandal in Kenya’s history. Three judges in the constitutional court judges ruled that Pattni, a key player in the so-called Goldenberg Affair, must face trial on charges of defrauding the government […]

PRESIDENT Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola has arrived in Seoul to start a three-day state visit to South Korea and talks dominated by economic cooperation. Dos Santos was greeted at Seoul airport by Foreign Minister Lee Joung-Binn and was to meet with South Korea’s President Kim Dae-Jung later in the day. Dos Santos is […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday SOUTH African base metals group Anglovaal Mining has bought a 15% stake in mining and steel firm Iscor, making it Iscor’s largest shareholder, the Financial Mail business magazine reported. It said Anglovaal Mining, or Avmin, had invited the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which holds 11% of Iscor, to join […]

SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki flew into Kinshasa on Tuesday evening and held talks on ending the war engulfing the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with new president Joseph Kabila. Mbeki appeared cheerful as they emerged from their hour-long talks at Kinshasa’s airport, but the 29-year-old DRC president appeared sombre, as he has since the […]

NIGERIAN President Olusegun Obasanjo’s plane developed a hydraulic problem while about to take off from Zurich on his way back from the Davos economic summit and was forced to delay his return by a day while it was seen to. Last year, the Nigerian leader requested parliament to approve money to buy a new plane, […]

TORRENTIAL rains in central Mozambique are threatening 260_000 people with floods, after killing at least five people and making 18_000 homeless. The Zambezi river has already caused problems upstream in Tete province, where more than 10_000 have had to move to higher ground. The rains have now moved southwards into Sofala province, where one person […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH Africa’s crack investigating unit, the Scorpions, has teamed up with the SA Revenue Services (SARS) to raid the homes and offices of 26 customs officials suspected of being involved in corruption and fraud amounting to billions of rand. The team confiscated computers, other electronic equipment and documents from the […]