The 2010 Soccer World Cup will test South Africa’s ”fiscal muscle”, but the country will not run out of money, the chief executive of the local organising committee said on Wednesday. ”We will never run out of money … the project remains within budget,” Danny Jordaan told a 2010 National Communications Partnership Conference in Johannesburg.
The Cape Town Medi-Clinic has laid a charge of theft at the Cape Town police station in connection with missing medical records belonging to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Western Cape police spokesperson Captain Randall Stoffels said on Wednesday the investigation was ongoing and police were busy compiling statements.
World oil prices swirled higher on Wednesday as traders looked to stormy weather that could threaten energy facilities in the United States Gulf of Mexico. Market participants were also awaiting the latest update on crude reserves in the US. New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, rose to $72,56 per barrel.
Kenya’s main opposition coalition has split into two factions ahead of a presidential election in December, boosting President Mwai Kibaki’s chances of re-election, politicians said on Wednesday. After months of feuding between opposition presidential aspirants Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka, the pair have parted ways.
The JSE continues to hover in weaker territory as credit concerns resurface, leading world markets and the local bourse lower. At midday, the JSE all-share was off 1,28%. Resources lost 1,13%, the gold-mining index was 0,56% lower and the platinum-mining index fell 1,82%. Financials shed 1,44% and banks pulled back 1,54%, while industrials were down 1,35%.
A volcano has erupted in Ethiopia’s remote Afar region, leaving two people missing and forcing hundreds to leave the area, the state news agency said on Wednesday. People living on the mountain range fled their homes after hot lava began flowing in different directions along valleys at the weekend, Ethiopia News Agency said.
Six Italian men were found shot dead in an execution-style killing near a train station in the western German city of Duisburg, police said on Wednesday. ”The six men found with bullet wounds to the head were Italians aged from 16 to 39,” Duisburg police spokesperson Heinrich Rotering said.
South Africa’s Solidarity trade union said on Wednesday its striking members in the coal sector had received a new wage offer from employers and it was canvassing workers to see if they would accept it. ”Yesterday evening [Tuesday] we received an offer from the chamber,” Solidarity spokesperson Reint Dykema said.
The daily unleaded petrol price over-recovery on August 14 was 28,892 c/l, bringing the average over-recovery since July 27 to 27,081 c/l. An over-recovery means that the basic petrol price based on the daily product price and exchange rate is less than the basic fuel price used in the calculation of the monthly retail petrol.
South Africa’s rand fell to a four-and-a-half month low to the dollar on Wednesday, and some traders said the rand could weaken even further as investors unload risky assets. At 06h40 GMT the rand stood at 7,39 to the dollar, 0,6% weaker than its previous New York Close. It touched a low of 7,4120 earlier, a level last hit on March 21, according to Reuters data.