OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday AFRICAN leaders will present a programme to rescue their continent from poverty to the governments of developed countries by the end of the year, says President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki said at the weekend that the plan supported by the US, the European Union and Japan would be issued in draft […]

SOUTH African-based AngloGold, the world’s number one gold producer, and Harmony have said in cautionary announcements they were in talks about AngloGold’s Deelkraal and Elandsrand mines. AngloGold said it was in talks with ”a number of parties regarding their offers to purchase Elandsrand, Deelkraal and some of Anglogold’s assets in the Free State (province).” Business […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Austin | Monday REPUBLICAN George W Bush has claimed victory in the US presidential race, after the state of Florida declared him the winner of its bitterly disputed vote count, but Democrat Al Gore has vowed new legal moves to contest Bush’s ascension to the presidency. Gore’s lawyers have said the vice president […]

INKATHA Freedom Party mayoral candidate for Durban, Gladwin Bheka Ndlela, has denied allegations in a Sunday newspaper that he irregularly appointed four assistant directors in his department, party spokesman Musa Zondi said. The Sunday Times reported that Ndlela, the director for sport and recreation in the KwaZulu-Natal department of education, made the appointments in January. […]

SOUTH Africa’s government has approved the appointment of Pali Lehohla as the new head of Statistics South Africa. Lehohla joined the body, which compiles most of the country’s key economic indicators, in 1995 and has last served as Chief Director of Demography responsible for carrying out population censuses. He replaces acting Stats SA head Ros […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday THE South African government has given Swissair until February next year to exercise its option to acquire a further 10% stake in South African Airways (SAA). ”The South African government, Transnet and Sairgroup have agreed to extend this option for a period of three months, and this option would expire […]

ITALY and the United States have cancelled official debt owed by Nigeria amounting to $2.8bn. Of this, Italy wrote off $2.4bn and the United States $475m. Nigeria is campaigning for massive relief on its foreign debt, which the government’s latest calculations put at $28.8bn. Most is owed to Paris Club official creditors, including $19bn in […]

ENGINEERS have successfully test-fired a new hot-water cannon designed to help a South African team climb to the top of an ice-shelf in Antarctica. The new invention is installed on the research and supply vessel SA Agulhas, which in December will take a South African National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE) team to Antarctica. The cannon is […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Vosloorus | Sunday South African soccer hung its head in shame yesterday as crowd violence forced the final of the African Women’s Championship to be abandoned. Three people were injured and were admitted to the nearby Natalspruit Hospital, in Katlehong on the East Rand. Violence erupted just after the Nigerians had scored their […]

ONE of Mozambique’s most outspoken independent journalists, Carlos Cardoso, has been assassinated in central Maputo. Cardoso, the editor of the independent daily newspaper Metical, was ambushed near his city centre office by unknown assailants just before 6pm on Wednesday. Cardoso has been very vocal in his criticism of hardline factions within both the ruling Frelimo […]