DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday called on African police chiefs to unite against crime groups on the continent. Speaking at meeting of the African region of the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), Mbeki said the international syndicates have the money to finance sophisticated and successful criminal activities. He said African police forces have to […]

THERE is to be no inquiry into the circumstances of the assassination of Niger’s president Ibrahim Bare Mainassara of Niger, the junta which took over at the weekend said.”We cannot talk of an enquiry into the accidental demise of president Mainassara,” junta spokesman Captain Djibrila Hima Hamidou told a press conference Tuesday.According to numerous witnesses, […]

A SOUTH African man appeared in a London court on Monday charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft and its passengers following an incident in which he allegedly went on a rampage during a flight between Johannesburg and London in January, causing more than R300000 worth of damage. Ian Bottomley (36), allegedly flew into […]

THE third general assembly of the African Population Commission is to be held in Abuja, the Nigerian capital from 10-14 May. It is to discuss population issues as they affect the continent, said to have one of the fastest growth rates worldwide, and how to achieve sustainable development. The assembly is also expected to consider […]

TWENTY people have died in a cholera outbreak in Kano, northern Nigeria, in the past three weeks, health workers said in Lagos on Monday. The humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres, which has set up a treatment centre in the city, has seen some 350 cases of cholera since March 24 around Kano, one of the […]

LABOUR Minister Membathisi Mdladlana launched the National Skills Authority on Monday, saying it will promote training for school leavers and the unemployed, as well as improving the relationship between the education system and the job market. The authority replaces the National Training Board in terms of the Skills Development Act. Another new law, the Skills […]

THE Nigeria Labour Congress, the main trade unions’ federation, on Tuesday launched strike action over a minimum wage and said it expects “solid support” in two th The NLC last week called the strike to press for application of an agreed minimum wage which the governments of 24 states say they cannot afford to pay. […]

HOME Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Monday asked his director general, Albert Mokoena, to respond in writing and in detail to each of the allegations against him. This is despite a written denial by Mokoena two weeks ago that the claims are false. The allegations pertain to Mokoena’s ownership of the Mecer Panthers basketball team, […]

President Nelson Mandela will formally proclaim June 2 as the election date by the end of the week.

ELECTRICITY was restored on Monday in Pointe Noire, Congo’s main port and its economic capital, after being cut off since January, local residents report. Power supplies to the city were cut off when rebels loyal to former president Pascal Lissouba captured the Moukoukoulou dam some 350km south-west of the capital Brazzaville. Two weeks ago, government […]