No image available
/ 26 October 2006
Starbucks, the giant United States coffee chain, has used its muscle to block an attempt by Ethiopia’s farmers to copyright their most famous coffee bean types, denying them potential earnings of up to -million a year, said Oxfam. The development agency said the Ethiopian government last year filed copyright applications to trademark its most famous coffee names.
No image available
/ 26 October 2006
Africa’s political leaders are being offered a -million prize and a stipend for life if they do not plunder the national coffers or rig elections.
No image available
/ 26 October 2006
European planemaker Airbus agreed on Thursday to sell 150 of its narrow-bodied A320 family of aircraft to China and reached a final deal to make the jets in the country, its chief executive said. The deal also involves options for 20 A350s, said Airbus president and chief executive Louis Gallois in Beijing, where French President Jacques Chirac is also visiting.
No image available
/ 26 October 2006
Rescue workers in search of the three miners still trapped underground in AngloGold Ashanti’s Tautona mine have been delayed by ”a difficult rock”, the company said on Thursday morning. ”There was slow progress during the course of the night because the rock that rescuers have to go through to reach the trapped miners is difficult [to dig past],” spokesperson Steve Lenahan said.
No image available
/ 26 October 2006
South Africa will enhance peacekeeping and conflict resolution in Africa while serving on the United Nations Security Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Wednesday. She said at the London School of Economics that the government’s vision for a prosperous, peaceful, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and united Africa would influence its work on the council.
No image available
/ 26 October 2006
Two senior KwaZulu-Natal education officials have been suspended amid a probe into alleged procurement irregularities, media reports said on Thursday. The staff at the education department head office in Pietermaritz Street were surprised to see a team of people arrive on Wednesday with boxes.
No image available
/ 26 October 2006
It’s 5am and dawn is still far off, but Keti and Bela are already at work and don’t seem to mind the cold autumn mist shrouding the Motovun woods in the heart of the Istria peninsula. "Come on Bela! Shoo, shoo! Where is it? Go for it Keti! Shoo, shoo!" Milena Labinjan briskly encourages her two dogs.
No image available
/ 26 October 2006
This week Finance Minister Trevor Manuel became the king of bling. The mini-budget released this week is replete with showy and insubstantial spending. South Africa is to splurge — on 2010; on the Gautrain; and on a series of sometimes dubious industrial projects. What’s going on?
No image available
/ 26 October 2006
An overflowing pit latrine empties its contents in a thick stream of worm-infested filth at the doorstep of Catherine Kithuku’s home in Matopeni, a slum on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Less than 10 such latrines serve a population of 2Â 000 to 3Â 000 people in this area.
No image available
/ 26 October 2006
When the transitional federal government (TFG) of Somalia sits down for the next round of peace talks with its Islamist rivals in Khartoum on Monday, the main objective will be to hash out the terms of an arrangement to share power. But much more is at stake. The clouds of regional war are darkening.