DARREN SCHUETTLER, Johannesburg | Tuesday WORLD number one gold producer AngloGold has agreed to sell two South African mines to rival Harmony Gold for R1bn in cash. In the latest example of consolidation in South Africa’s gold industry, the two companies said the deal would deliver substantial benefits to their respective operations. Harmony said the […]

AN offer from France of 800m francs ($109.3m) to pay off Ivorian debt arrears risked being withdrawn for political reasons and Ivory Coast may have to look for help elsewhere, President Laurent Gbagbo said. Ahead of December 10 parliamentary elections in the West African country, France had called for open, inclusive elections and it subsequently […]

NEARLY two hundred people have died in an outbreak of yellow fever in Guinea, health ministry officials said, adding they feared the epidemic would soon reach the capital. They said over 20000 people had been infected since the outbreak was first discovered in early November in the central Mamou regions. – Reuters

AN East London High Court judge has dismissed a probation officer’s report and sentenced a 19-year-old man to life imprisonment for raping a six-year-old girl. Judge Johan Froneman said the officer had failed to consider the trauma suffered by the girl and had focused on the advantages of the accused receiving a suspended sentence. The […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Monday ZIMBABWE’S farm invasions and current economic slump have left the country “extremely vulnerable” to an epidemic of the deadly cattle anthrax disease, which has already killed nine people and hospitalised more than 600 since it was first detected two weeks ago. British Airways Travel Clinic medical director Dr Andrew Jamieson […]

AN Mpumalanga man accused of killing his wife and hacking her genitals has applied for legal aid. The 31-year-old mechanic was not asked to plead. He was arrested after his 25-year-old wife’s mutilated body was found naked near the N4 highway at Ngodwana on Monday. The woman’s identity is being withheld until her family has […]

A CONGOLESE human rights association has expressed concern about the alleged extra-judicial execution of a Congolese army commander and dozens of his colleagues by the Kinshasa regime. The Congolese Association for the Defence of Human Rights (Azadho) has accused President Laurent Kabila’s government of having executed Commander Masasu Lindaga and 36 of his colleagues early […]

A NURSING sister who stole a heart monitoring machine valued at R75000 is still working for the Northern Province health department. Eunice Nthlane, 38, of Mokopane Hospital near Potgietersrus was found guilty in September of stealing the electro cardiograph (ECG) machine and was fined R2000 and given a suspended 12-month jail term. An internal disciplinary […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday INTERNATIONAL financier George Soros has criticised South Africa’s policy on Zimbabwe and launched a fierce attack on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in an interview published on Sunday. “Mugabe has poisoned the neighbourhood,” the Hungarian-born philanthropist told the Sunday Independent. South African President Thabo Mbeki’s policy of “quiet diplomacy” towards its […]