TRADE unions and labour research analysts have rejected the results of the latest Statistics South Africa annual survey, which reported that the unemployment rate had fallen by 1.9 percent. Claire Horton, a senior economic researcher at the National Labour and Economic Development Institute said that the results were unreliable as current definitions of unemployment were […]

UNITED Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan has been decorated with Ghana’s highest honour, Companion of the Order of the Star of Ghana, while on an official visit to his West African homeland. Speaking at a state banquet for the occasion, President Jerry Rawlings described Annan, the first UN secretary-general from sub-Saharan Africa, as a man […]

THREE alleged Rastafarians are scheduled to appear in the Warmbaths Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in connection with keeping nine children in an old mineshaft. The five girls and four boys, aged between five and 13, were rescued on Friday after police responded to a complaint that there were trespassers at the old Zwartlkloof mine, 10km […]

POLICE are investigating the involvement of more South African celebrities in an international child porn syndicate. The revelation comes a day after freelance journalist Tasco Luc de Reuck, 27, and film critic Leon van Nierop, 47, were each granted bail of R5_ 000 in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court after the Pretoria child protection unit allegedly […]

SOUTH African Breweries Plc (SAB) said its growing international operations helped to offset a slower performance in South Africa. The company’s international division’s total volume was up 30 percent for the quarter ending June 30, a performance attributed to a good early summer in Europe.”Overall, the group’s financial performance was ahead of the prior year […]

THE High Court in London has rejected various applications brought against Thor Chemicals by about 20 former employees seeking compensation for suffering mercury poisoning while working at the Thor plant in Pietermaritzburg. The court ruled that expert evidence submitted by Thor was admissible after the claimants’ lawyers applied to have it struck out, and an […]

INTELLIGENCE Minister Joe Nhlanhla has suffered a mild stroke and his poition will be assumed with immediate effect by Justice Minister Penuell Maduna. Nhlanhla’s condition was confirmed by a spokesman in President Mbeki’s office, Joel Netshitenzhe, who said Nhlanhla is in a stable condition at a Johannesburg hospital. Doctors attending to Nhlanhla expect him to […]

SCIENTISTS have made a breakthrough that could pave the way for a treatment for the deadly Ebola disease. Researchers from the US National Institutes of Health and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, have found a protein manufactured by the Ebola virus that disrupts the cells that line the blood vessel walls. It is believed […]