AFP, Johannesburg | Wednesday THE Anglican Church in South Africa has waded into a huge Aids controversy, saying history will rank the current lack of action by the government against the disease as a crime against humanity on the same scale as apartheid. Cape Town archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, the head of the church, issued a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietermaritzburg | Wednesday GOVERNMENT is considering compensating farmers for losses following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease on a pig farm at Camperdown in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, which has already seen Namibia banning all pork imports from South Africa and Botswana and the European Union weighing their options. Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza […]

DEFENCE Minister Mosiuoa Lekota says he cannot rule out racism as a motive for the shooting of a naval officer by a subordinate at Simon’s Town. “It’s not impossible that it was racial,” he said, adding that racism was endemic to South African society. However, South Africans were generally quick to resort to extreme violence […]

REUTERS, Mexico City | Wednesday A THIRD of the world’s six billion people live in a state of extreme poverty, a state of “brutal inequality” that mars the dawn of the new millennium, says the United Nations. In a preview to a report on world population, the UN Population Fund representative in Mexico said one […]

Former South African president Nelson Mandela and regional African leaders have begun arriving in Kenya for a summit aimed at consolidating a fragile peace accord in the tiny nation of Burundi.

SOUTH Africa’s Anglo-American Platinum Corporation (Amplats) says production at the world’s biggest platinum producer has been unaffected by a strike that started this week. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said its work stoppage was gaining momentum with around 10000 members off the job since Monday night. An Amplats spokesman said only 5500 workers out […]

TEN people, including children, were killed when a wedding party was bombed during the military assault on Muslim rebels on the remote Philippine island of Jolo. Many of the 700 civilian evacuees, arriving in nearby Zamboanga after fleeing the assault on the Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo, reported hearing artillery and bomb explosions day and […]

SOUTH Africa’s Finance Ministry has frustrated efforts by Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin to create a strong package of incentives aimed at wooing foreign investors, a local newspaper has reported. Business Report, citing unnamed government sources, said the cabinet had approved three incentives earlier this month: a development programme for SMEs, a skills support […]

SOUTH Africa’s Metropolitan Life (Metlife) says it is confident of its future as a stand-alone entity despite the failure of a planned merger with life assurer Sanlam. Sanlam, Metlife and black empowerment company New Africa Investments Ltd (Nail) said this week they had called off talks to form South Africa’s second largest financial services group […]

RATINGS agency Duff & Phelps Africa has accorded South African Eagle Insurance Co a domestic claims paying ability rating of AA – among the highest ratings accorded to a local insurer, defining it as an organisation with a very high claims-paying ability. SA Eagle got the rating on the basis of its good risk diversification, […]