SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Monday 3.00pm STANDARD Bank Investment Corporation (Stanbic) on Monday lost its high court bid to have its proposed acquisition by smaller rival Nedcor adjudicated by the Competition Commission. Pretoria High Court Acting Judge Nico Coetzee ruled that the minister of finance has the final say about the proposed the hostile […]

EGYPT’S attempt to retain the African Nations Cup received a terrible blow when star striker Hazem Emam was ruled out of the tournament with an ankle injury. Emam hurt himself in a crunching tackle with Abdel Aziz Ayman during training at the Kano Pillars’ stadium and was rushed to hospital on Saturday evening. Egypt coach […]

GOLD mining giant Gold Fields reported higher quarterly profits on the back of a stronger gold price and confirmed it is eyeing neighbouring gold miner Western Areas. Gold Fields also forecast a strong second half to the financial year, including a higher dividend payout for shareholders. Western Areas management said on Wednesday the company’s future […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 10.20am PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki on Sunday denied confrontation is looming with the African National Congress and its ruling labour and communist allies over his tough macro-economic strategies. In a setback for the Congress of South African Trade Unions and a boost for employers, Mbeki said in his State of the […]

DIVERS searching coastal waters off Cote d’Ivoire have retrieved one of the black box recorders from a Kenya Airways plane that crashed and killed 169 people. Members of Abidjan’s diving club pulled one of the black boxes from the water on Friday morning and also said they had seen bodies among the fuselage and debris. […]

LANCE Klusener on Wednesday became the second fastest player to achieve the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in one-day internationals when he trapped Zimbabwe’s Murray Goodwin lbw. Klusener, playing his 70th one-day international, took one for 45 to claim his 100th wicket. His unbeaten 65 earlier in the match took his run tally […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Sunday 8.45pm SOUTH Africa’s labour laws are stangling small business, and have to be amended, President Thabo Mbeki said in an interview published on Sunday. Mbeki expanded on his parliamentary address, and told the Sunday Times that labour laws, planned to overhaul exploitative labour legislation, were a problem, as they […]

SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Friday 6.00pm BUSINESS has given President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation address the thumbs up in what it has digested as a market friendly statement — but one that lacked in depth and detail what it made up in for with good cheer. “As expected and in true political […]

MOROCCAN minister for youth and sport, Ahmad Mussawi, held talks with Saudi officials in Riyadh on Sunday in connection with his country’s bid for the 2006 World Cup. Mussawi, touring the Gulf Arab states to seek backing for the bid, met Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz and the head of the kingdom’s sports and […]