Big business and government leaders, including President Thabo Mbeki and Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa, agreed on Tuesday that there was ”no need to panic” over the matters of transition from an Mbeki presidency to a new one. These words were used by Standard Bank’s Saki Macozoma.
Desmond Dekker, who brought the sound of Jamaican ska music to the world with hits such as Israelites, has died, his manager said on Friday. He was 64. Dekker, who lived in England, collapsed from an apparent heart attack at his home on Thursday, manager Delroy Williams said.
Iran’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that his country was willing to restart negotiations with the European Union immediately over its nuclear-enrichment programme. "Iran is ready to respond positively in resuming negotiations," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said following Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) talks.
A South African court on Tuesday began hearing an appeal from 13 HIV-positive prisoners demanding access to free anti-retroviral treatment in line with a government scheme launched in 2003. Lawyers representing the prisoners from Westville jail are arguing before the High Court in Durban that a series of bureaucratic hurdles are preventing them from accessing free ARVs.
Springbok coach Jake White landed a small surprise when he named centre Jean de Villiers to lead the team in their unofficial match against the World XV in Johannesburg on Saturday. De Villiers, by his own admission, has limited captaining experience but feels he is equipped for the job.
The South African economy grew by 4,2% in the first quarter of this year, Statistics South Africa announced on Tuesday. ”According to preliminary indicators, the seasonally adjusted real GDP prices for the first quarter of 2006 increased by an annualised rate of 4,2% compared with the fourth quarter of 2005,” it said.
European Union (EU) enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn on Tuesday urged Belgrade and Podgorica to engage in constructive talks on their ”velvet divorce” after Montenegro’s historic independence referendum on May 21. Rehn said that both sides must adhere to standards agreed upon with the EU over the dissolution of their loose federation.
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has defended the high revenue overruns of the state saying it was natural in an environment of strong growth, high corporate profits and more money being about. He was present at the Finance Portfolio committee hearing on Tuesday with the South African Revenue Service — which has reported strong revenue growth for some years.
Heavily armed Somali fighters have occupied Mogadishu’s main hospital, forcing a near shutdown in key services to patients wounded in factional fighting that has rocked the city, witnesses said on Tuesday. Dozens of gunmen from a United States-backed warlord alliance took over the Keysaney Hospital in northern Mogadishu.
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Striker Michael Owen has been given the all-clear to play in the friendly against Hungary at Old Trafford on Tuesday after a new injury scare. Owen has only just fully recovered from breaking a bone in his foot on New Year’s Eve, but it was a ”tight thigh” after training on Monday that caused manager Sven Goran Eriksson to send him to hospital for a scan.