POLICE have arrested suspects in two serial killer cases. Gauteng police commissioner Sharma Maharaj and Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi announced the breakthrough on Tuesday, saying a suspect who was arrested in Orlando, Soweto, on rape and hijacking charges has been linked to 14 of the Nasrec serial killings. Maharaj added that Pretoria police […]

CHAD’S economy grew by 7% in 1998, helped by good rains which pushed up food production, according to a bulletin published by the presidency’s economic service. The Bank of France’s Franc Zone secretariat has estimated Chad’s 1997 economic growth at 6,5%, the bulletin said. A clear improvement was noted in state revenues, payment of civil […]

THE International Monetary Fund has approved a $14-million loan for the tiny West African country of Benin which borders Nigeria. The IMF expects average real growth of 5,5% of gross domestic product over the coming years. The IMF says the Benin government plans new efforts to restructure its economy, privatising firms and reforming the the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.30am. GAUTENG’S Education MEC Mary Metcalfe denied on Tuesday morning that jobs would be lost as the result of downsizing initiatives in the department. Colette Clark, acting director of labour relations for the department, said on Monday that Gauteng’s education department plans to cut 2800 posts, resulting in 1500 teachers […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 7.00pm. THE rand weakened dramatically on Tuesday, rising above the R6 to the dollar mark for the first time in months and causing anxiety in local bond markets where the yield on the R150 shot up to 15,95%. However, the rand’s weakness pushed up the gold index 13 points to […]

CO-OPERATION between the Mpumalanga taxi industry and Trans Africa Concession, the company building the toll road between Witbank and Maputo, paid off during the festive season, said Trac chief executive officer, Trevor Jackson, on Monday. He said 360 minibus taxis stopped at rest areas along the N4 Toll Route after pamphlets were distributed at taxi […]

FIVE Zimbabwean troops deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were killed when an air force plane crashed on the outskirts of Kinshasa, Zimbabwean defence authorities announced on Monday.”[The] Ministry of Defence regrets to announce that a ZDF (Zimbabwe Defence Forces) CASA 212 transport aircraft crashed a few kilometres outside Kinshasa killing all five […]

TWO Siamese twins born on Saturday and separated on Sunday were stable on Tuesday and remain in ventilators and on intravenous feeding at the Garankuwa Hospital. The two were born connected at the central part of the abdomen. The operation was an interim measure, ahead of a more sophisticated operation planned for six months time.

SOME 700 members of Angola’s Unita movement opened a congress here on Monday to elect a new chairman in place of Jonas Savimbi, whose hardline militarism split the group in September. Angola late last year plunged back into civil war between Unita rebels, who long fought the formerly Marxist regime after independence in 1975, and […]

THE diplomatic missions of Britain and the United States in the Ugandan capital were closed to the public Monday after anonymous callers made bomb threats. Workers, mainly guards, at the building housing both missions on the main street leading to the Ugandan parliament said they had only been told that the offices would remain closed […]