AT least 20 people died and many others have lost their sight after drinking illegal spirits at a slum in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Police said another 75 people have been hospitalised after consuming the illicit brew, known locally as chang’aa. Police have made some arrests. Nairobi’s slums are packed with so-called shebeens, illegal drinking […]

OVER 600000 civilians have been displaced by an upsurge in fighting in rebel-held parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the last few months, a senior United Nations official said this week. The new figure brings the total estimated number of displaced in the northern and eastern halves of the country alone to […]

FIREFIGHTERS have retrieved 34 charred bodies from the wreckage of an Antonov-24 aircraft that crashed shortly after takeoff just outside Luanda amid confusion over how many people were actually on board. The Angolan air force had earlier reported that 40 people had died in the crash, while a correspondent for the Portuguese news agency Lusa […]

SOUTH African industrial group Dorbyl Ltd said this week slow domestic economic growth had capped earnings gains in the first half of the 2001 financial year, but it hoped to improve profits. The transport to building systems group reported interim headline earnings per share at 205.5 cents versus 205.3 previously. ”The anticipated economic growth has […]

SOUTH African retailer Pick and Pay has entered into a deal with online service provider M-Web to develop, maintain and host its new online home shopping site. Pick and Pay said the deal with M-Web formed part of its e-commerce strategy which entailed a planned launch for the group’s new shopping site on the Internet […]

INTERNATIONAL oil and gas exploration and development firm Zarara Energy is to start exploratory drilling at the Kandamis gas development project in Turkey. The first well in the program should spud by November 16 and will target the Osmancik sand at approximately 4 500 feet. Zarara last month announced it had taken a 25% stake […]

MANOAH ESIPISU, Lusaka | Thursday BRITISH International Development Minister Clare Short has singled out Zimbabwe and Kenya as countries that need clean government, urging African leaders to follow Malawi’s lead in fighting corruption. In Zambia on a tour of Africa to promote good governance, Short said it was what was happening to Zimbabwe’s economy and […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday CONFIDENCE in South Africa’s government has plunged over the past year but the African National Congress (ANC) is still expected to dominate municipal elections next month, a recent poll indicated. “Trust in major institutions appears to have hit rock bottom on the eve of South Africa’s local government elections,” said […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Wednesday THE Madhlopa Commission has uncovered another web of corruption in Mpumalanga, finding that the province’s powerful Highveld District Council chief executive Charles Makola irregularly awarded multi-million rand tenders to politicians and friends and intimidated those who threatened to expose him. He also got his job using two fraudulent drivers’ licences […]