The Department of Labour ordered on Wednesday that all work stop on a construction site at Volkswagen SA’s (VWSA) Uitenhage plant while it investigates the deaths of three workers in a crane accident. Three construction workers died on Tuesday when a crane they were dismantling collapsed and they were trapped in the debris.
The incidence of new HIV infections appears to have stabilised for the first time in the 25-year history of Aids, although the global pandemic will still have a deep, long-term impact, according to a new United Nations report. However, huge problems remain, the UN agency coordinating the fight against HIV/Aids warned on Tuesday.
Alleged dissidents from a holdout Darfur rebel group may sign a peace pact for the troubled Sudanese region, diplomats said on Wednesday, as an African Union deadline loomed for the deal’s acceptance. A group claiming to represent a splinter faction of the Justice and Equality Movement arrived at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
German airliner Lufthansa is to pay an R8,5-million administrative penalty for colluding with South African Airways on price-fixing. The Competition Commission disclosed on Wednesday that the German airline had signed a consent agreement with the competition authority.
Saddam Hussein’s defence team has accused a prosecution witness of perjury and on Wednesday demanded that the court be halted to allow an investigation into the veracity of all those the prosecution has brought to the stand during the seven-month trial.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday called for regular inspections to be conducted at construction sites to ensure compliance with safety standards. The call followed the death of three construction workers on Tuesday afternoon while working on a construction site at Volkswagen in Port Elizabeth.
The father of Princess Diana’s dead lover welcomed the news on Wednesday that fresh witnesses and evidence have been found as part of a probe into the car crash that killed the couple in Paris in 1997. Mohammed al-Fayed also said he hoped Sir John Stevens, a former top police officer who is leading the investigation, would continue his work until he found "the truth".
South Africa recorded a deficit of R2,418-billion for its trade with non-Southern African Customs Union trading partners in April after a deficit of R2,877-billion in March, according to the latest Customs and Excise figures released on Wednesday. Said Ridle Markus, economist at Absa: "The figure was slightly above expectations."
Islamic militias and secular warlords resumed fighting for control of the Somali capital on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people and wounding at least 11 others after a five-day lull, witnesses and medical workers said. The fundamentalist Islamic militia expanded their control of parts of Mogadishu in the battle that began shortly after morning prayers.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said on Wednesday she was optimistic that a European Union country would offer to jail her predecessor if he is convicted of war crimes. Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is awaiting trial before a United Nations-backed war-crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone.