TWELVE people died in Algeria, including seven Muslim rebels, in the latest wave of clashes with security forces, local newspapers reported. A group of unidentified men shot dead five civilians and burnt their bodies in the town of Bou Ismail, 60km west of Algiers, while army soldiers killed seven Muslim rebels and captured two others […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH African authorities have seized about R40m worth of assets, including a jet and helicopter, belonging to Zimbabwean billionaire Billy Rautenbach, a former boss of Hyundai Motor Distributors. A court order granted the seizure after on the basis of an 18-month investigation which allegedly links Rautenbach to customs […]

REUTERS, Cape Town | Wednesday THE South African oil industry is just months away from starting to hand over 25% of its assets to black-owned businesses, says Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Mlambo-Ngcuka told a news conference she expected black empowerment deals to cover the whole range of the industry, including the mooted state oil company […]

Lunga Masuku and Justin Arenstein, Mbabane | Wednesday INTERNATIONAL pop icon and self-proclaimed Africa enthusiast Michael Jackson has been approached to design and underwrite a multi-million dollar theme park in central Swaziland, former Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa has confirmed. Phosa said Jackson had been requested to throw his weight behind the proposed ‘African’ theme park […]

REUTERS, London | Wednesday TANZANIA has assured major oil companies that its first offshore oil licenses, which have just been launched, will be corruption free and not bogged in red tape. The east African nation, which currently is not a major producer of hydrocarbons, launched the licensing round in Houston last week, followed by a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, New York | Wednesday SOUTHERN African foreign ministers have expressed deep opposition to proposed US legislation to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe if democratic reforms and changes to a controversial land reform program are not implemented. In a meeting here with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the foreign ministers from the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT AND ELLIS MNYANDU, Johannesburg | Wednesday ORGANISED labour in South Africa has uncovered the deepest cracks yet in the ruling alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) government, saying it would not be reduced to “rubber-stamping” ANC-formulated social and economic policies. “The relationship is dangerously undefined. Government takes decisions without effective alliance participation,” […]

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) says health facilities in Sierra Leone refugee camps might collapse under the strain of large numbers of refugees returning back across the border from troubled Guinea. The WHO said a new influx of refugees, spurred by the crisis in Guinea, would be “a step too far” for health facilities in […]

POLICE are investigating whether a missing Kruger National Park field ranger was murdered before being eaten by wild animals. Field ranger Salamoa Mongwe’s torn clothes, identity book, boots and bank card were found in bloodstained grass near the staff quarters on September 4. There were signs of leopard and hyena in the area and bits […]