OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Monday 9.30pm. THE Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell has evacuated staff from the most volatile parts of the Niger Delta after a previously unknown group threatened the safety of foreign oil workers, Shell officials said on Monday. Armed youths last week seized 15 flow-stations belonging to the oil giant, which is the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, N’djamena | Sunday 9.00pm. The Sudanese government has meanwhile announced that it wants a ceasefire with southern rebels. However it stopped short of agreeing to a truce declared by the rebels a few days ago. The SPLA said on Thursday that it will extend by another three months a cease-fire set to end […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Sunday 9.00pm. A MAN was beaten to death and four more seriously injured by an enraged crowd at a Lesotho Congress for Democracy rally on Sunday. The rally in Maseru, attended by around 5000 people, had already been scattered by an earlier shooting in which one person was injured. Several people […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kampala | Friday 7.00pm. THE Commonwealth has announced the lifting of santions against Nigeria and a partial return to the fold of the organisation’s most populous member-state. At the end of their two-day conference at the Commonwealth secretariat, members of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (Cmag) said they had reached their decision “in […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Midrand | Sunday 9.00pm. A PRESIDENTIAL summit to discuss farm attacks has ended with all parties in agreement on a 10-point plan to tackle the problem, the Sunday Independent reports. Delegates adopted a resolution committing all parties — government, opposotion parties, labour unions and farmin organisations — to co-operation and mobilisation of their […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT Kisangani | Sunday 9.00pm. THE wreck of an airliner shot down at the weekend by Democratic Republic of Congo rebels has been found about 40km west of the eastern city of Kindu, a Congo Airlines official said on Sunday. “Villagers who found the wreck in the forest found no trace of survivors,” the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kampala | Sunday 9.00pm. THE Ugandan government has confirmed that Ugandan troops now control several airstrips in the easter Democratic Republic of Congo. Regional Cooperation Minister Amama Mbabazi said on Sunday that Uganda was holding the airstrips to prevent Sudan from using them to deliver supplies to Ugandan rebels. “The best achievement has […]

Andy Capostagno Rugby The only certainties in life are death and taxes. So wrote Woody Allen, a man who would have difficulty just pronouncing Loftus Versfeld, let alone finding Pretoria on a map. But he would have sympathised with a few disgruntled punters who last weekend had their dreams shattered by a scoreline of Blue […]

Wally Mbhele `These are times that try man’s soul. The summer-time soldier and the sunshine patriot will shrink from the services of the nation. He or she who stands it now, deserves the honour of the nation.” These were introductory quotes from chief land claims commissioner Joe Seremane in a controversial address he made to […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer One of the reasons forwarded for the poor attendance when Bafana Bafana opened their African Nations Cup campaign against Angola at FNB Stadium last weekend was the clash between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates on Saturday. Word from the far-from-full stands was that supporters with limited pocket money wanted to retain it […]