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."
A man who gunned down a white Zimbabwean farmer four years ago has been sentenced to death by the Zimbabwe High Court, reports said on Wednesday. Munetsi Kadzinga (31) was sentenced to death by high court Judge Bharat Patel on Tuesday after he was convicted of murdering farmer Charles Anderson in 2002, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported.
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.
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.
The United States is ready for the first time to join talks with Iran over its nuclear programme, provided Russia and China agree to sanctions if Tehran refuses to limit its atomic ambitions, diplomats said on Wednesday. A Western diplomat said the US was "willing to sit at the table with the Iranians", together with the four other permanent United Nations Security Council members.
America’s Andy Roddick and Nadia Petrova of Russia became the first major casualties of the 2006 French Open on Tuesday. Roddick, the fifth seed, retired from his first-round match with Spanish journeyman Alberto Martin trailing 6-4, 7-5, 1-0, still feeling the effects of the ankle injury he picked up at the World Team Cup in Germany last week.
After its slide at the opening on the back of weaker United States markets, the JSE was well off its worst levels in noon trade on Wednesday, following a turnaround on European markets. Overall, sentiment remained on the negative side, however. By 11.57am, the all-share and all-share industrial indices were 0,69% and 0,71% lower respectively.
The global economy has entered a strong growth trajectory, and sustainable economic recoveries in regions such as the Euro zone and Japan are adding impetus to the process, says Chris Hart, Absa Group treasury economist. However, serious global economic imbalances are a blight on the otherwise positive outlook in the global economy.
Four police officers have been arrested over a burglary from the serious and violent crime unit’s safe in Benoni on the East Rand, media reports said on Wednesday. The reported arrests come a week after millions of rands in foreign currency were stolen from the safe last Wednesday night.