THE London-listed base metals group Billiton plc has confirmed that it has offered shareholders of Rio Algom Limited CD27 (Canadian dollars), or R129,87 a share, in pursuit of its bid for the Canadian zinc and copper producer. Billiton said the company had posted the offer to shareholders on Friday. Billiton is competing for the stake […]

EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak has set October 18 as the date for launching the country’s “free” parliamentary elections. Voting has been divided into three stages to ensure compliance with an electoral law adopted in July, requiring a magistrate to be present in each of the country’s 15 000 or more polling places. Voters will choose […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and REUTERS, Johannesburg | Monday SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki has restoked the ongoing controversy over Aids in an interview with US-based news magazine Time, in which he reiterates that he believes HIV is not the only cause of the disease. “No, I am saying that you cannot attribute immune deficiency solely and […]

NDIVHUWO MUSETHA and JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Johannesburg | Sunday PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki is expected to announce the axing of two provincial premiers as well as a major cabinet reshuffle when he returns to South Africa from the United Nations Millenium 2000 Summit of world leaders in New York. Speculation is mounting that the African National Congress […]

RADIO 702’s station manager Dan Moyane has denied all knowledge of an apology letter sent to Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang by the station’s owner, Primedia, after an outcry by the ANC over an on-air row between Radio 702 talk-show host John Robbie and Tshabalala-Msimang. Robbie allegedly told the minister that she was talking ”rubbish” […]

BRITISH paratroops have attacked a rebel base in the Sierra Leone jungle, freeing six British soldiers and a Sierra Leonean officer held hostage since August 25. Britain’s defence minister, Geoffrey Hoon, said the decision to mount the rescue followed repeated threats by the maverick West Side Boys hostage takers to kill their captives and reports […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and REUTERS, Luanda | Monday SEVEN elephants airlifted from South Africa are settling into their new home in the Angolan veld, spearheading an infusion of wildlife into the war-torn country’s decimated national reserves. The elephants’ new life in the grassy river plains of Kissama, south of the Angolan capital Luanda, began after a […]

A HONEYMOON couple from New York has been robbed of their car and belongings by an armed gang as they left the Kruger National Park at the weekend. Scott Newman, 29, and his wife Lesley, 28, were driving on a dirt road outside the country’s largest game park when they were overtaken by a truck […]

THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has suspended trade in automotive paint company Amlac, citing unusual trading since July. ”A high percentage of the trading in this share since the middle of July 2000 has been undertaken for the accounts of parties who appear to be connected,” the JSE said in a statement. The exchange said […]

VOTERS in Mauritius have gone to the polls in a test of whether the island state’s old guard can wrest power back from a beleaguered new generation. More than 500 candidates are standing in 21 constituencies for 62 seats in the national assembly. Up to eight other ”best losers” are appointed by the electoral commission, […]