No image available
/ 21 November 2006
As interest rates rise, homeowners have an even bigger incentive to invest in their bonds, as they will be saving even more interest while benefiting from the secondary advantage of a shorter term of repayment. When interest rates rise, putting money into one’s bond guarantees a bigger interest saving.
No image available
/ 21 November 2006
Lebanese Christian Cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel, an outspoken critic of Syria, was assassinated near Beirut on Tuesday, plunging Lebanon deeper into a crisis that threatens to destabilise the country. At least three gunmen rammed their car into Gemayel’s vehicle, then leapt out and riddled it with bullets, witnesses said.
No image available
/ 21 November 2006
Almost two-thirds of South African black women entrepreneurs — more than one million business owners overall — have no access to credit or loans and represent a lucrative new market, a World Bank study found on Tuesday. About 38% of black South African women are formally banked compared with 44% of black men.
No image available
/ 21 November 2006
The Democratic Alliance on Tuesday urged Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to establish a special task team to investigate the ”complete breakdown” of financial and operational management in the Limpopo health department. The Auditor General issued the department with a 21-page qualified audit report for 2005/06.
No image available
/ 21 November 2006
A University of Johannesburg project hopes to track down the elusive genetic barcode of Earth’s plant species through research at the Kruger National Park, the university said on Tuesday. A small team of scientists aims to collect examples of all the plants in the park, said university spokesperson Herman Esterhuizen.
No image available
/ 21 November 2006
Fire raged on Tuesday at the Supreme Court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after clashes between police and supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba, who has filed a legal challenge after losing the country’s presidential election. Black smoke poured out of the court building at about 1pm local time.
No image available
/ 21 November 2006
One in six Gauteng adults, or over a million people, run small businesses and the growing diverse sector accounts for 35% of the province’s employment a survey has found, the FinMark Trust said on Tuesday. The survey, commissioned by the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller and the FinMark Trust, aimed at accurate information and better understanding about the small-business sector.
No image available
/ 21 November 2006
The Gauteng government will be considering a ”provincial tax” to ease pressure on resources from inter-provincial migration, provincial minister of finance and economic affairs Paul Mashatile announced on Tuesday. A feasibility study has already been completed and will soon go to the executive council for deliberations, he said in tabling his medium-term budget policy statement.
No image available
/ 21 November 2006
Legislation on the Western Cape’s proposed fuel levy is expected to come into force in 2008, according to the provincial mini-budget tabled on Tuesday. Western Cape provincial minister of finance Lynne Brown first mooted the tax two years ago, saying then that the target date for implementation was this year, at 10c per litre.
No image available
/ 21 November 2006
South Africa on Tuesday urged the loser of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) presidential election to accept defeat, while giving the country’s first democratic poll in more than 40 years a broad seal of approval. South Africa’s Deputy Defence Minister Mluleki George urged ”the people of [DRC] to accept the outcome of the elections”.