Anglo Zimele, Anglo American’s empowerment initiative, has acquired a 10% stake in Specialised Rubber and Industrial worth R2,5-million, Anglo Zimele said on Monday. The company manufactures a diverse range of rubber and industrial products, including flexible metallic hoses, for the mining, industrial and materials handling sectors.
Ethiopian police have arrested more than 3Â 000 opposition supporters in a crackdown following deadly clashes last week during protests over alleged election fraud, a human rights group said on Monday. An official at the capital’s only morgue said the death toll from election-related violence now stands at 36.
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown on Sunday night called on the rich countries of the West to match words with action as he hailed pledges by the G7 on debt, aid and trade as a major breakthrough in Britain’s campaign for Africa.
With 12 months to go until the 2006 World Cup, football fans will have an early taste of what to expect when the Confederations Cup starts in Germany on Wednesday. For Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s team and the World Cup organising committee the competition serves as a dress rehearsal for the main event.
Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats (ID) party announced on Monday that Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Mervyn Cirota had resigned from the official opposition to join the ID. Cirota said the DA had created the perception that its policies were ”separate and contrary to the ideals of the majority of South Africans”.
The United States has imposed sanctions on Israel after a dispute over Israel’s sale of drones — unmanned aerial vehicles — to China, according to news reports. The US has suspended co-operation on several development projects and frozen delivery of night-vision equipment.
The concept of willing-buyer, willing-seller has been underscored by Minister of Agriculture and Land Thoko Didiza in reply to a question about government’s target of 30% of white agricultural land being redistributed to black farmers by 2015.
The elderly man in the dark green tinted glasses looked intently into his cup, took a small sip of the treacle-like coffee, glanced around the room and then began to whisper in his rich Latino accent: ”Luis Posada Carriles. He is a very good guy. Super guy. He is a good friend. The CIA and the government, maybe they will do the right thing and help him out.”
Team chief Ron Dennis was angry and happy at the same time on Sunday night as he celebrated Kimi Raikkonen’s victory for McLaren in the Canadian Grand Prix and disputed the disqualification of his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya. For Raikkonen, who saw Alonso crash out while running at the front, it was some consolation for suffering a similar fate in the previous race at the European Grand Prix.
Explosions in Tehran and southern Iran killed at least nine people and injured 70 on Sunday in attacks apparently aimed at disrupting this week’s presidential elections. A small bomb concealed in a rubbish container exploded in central Tehran, killing at least one person and wounding three, officials said.