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/ 21 October 2004
The Victoria Falls bridge, one of Zimbabwe’s most famous landmarks, is old and possibly dangerous, railway officials said on Thursday. The bridge, which opened in 1905, was designed to last 100 years. Now officials say it carries 170% more weight than it was designed to carry 100 years ago, despite its age.
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/ 21 October 2004
Health and beauty retailer New Clicks Holdings is confident that its model for including pharmacy dispensaries and related health services across its Clicks chain of stores will prove profitable, even if the current regulations fixing dispensing fees and establishing single exit prices for medicines prove to be permanent.
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/ 21 October 2004
The board of listed passenger transport company Putco on Thursday said it is of the opinion that the offer by Hosken Consolidated Investment (HCI) to buy it out is defective. The company added that the offer does not comply with the Securities Regulation Code on Take-Overs and Mergers.
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/ 21 October 2004
The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was slightly higher on Thursday afternoon on the back of a weaker tone to the rand earlier in the day and higher resources stocks. At 11.55am, the all-share index was 0,34% higher. Resources added 0,76%, the platinum-mining index was 0,16% and the gold-mining index was 1,35% firmer.
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/ 21 October 2004
Blackmailers have threatened to poison the products of eight big food, drink and cosmetics multinationals in France unless they pay a ransom of 1-million euros (,2-million). A police spokesperson confirmed that a surveillance operation involving 350 officers began last week in Toulouse, the south-western city where the threatening letters were posted.
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/ 21 October 2004
Germany’s foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, on Wednesday launched a trenchant attack on attacked the British media, saying it too often portrayed Germany as the land of the ”Prussian goose-step”. Hostile coverage of Germany by British newspapers had created an image in Britain that was more than three generations out of date and was harming relations between both countries, Fischer said.
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/ 21 October 2004
An Ethiopian high court on Wednesday sentenced three genocide suspects to death and a fourth to 20 years in prison for murders carried out during the reign of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. The court sentenced Iman Kelil Oumar, Beyan Ahmed Ousman and Asli Ahmed to death and Biftu Roba to 20 years behind bars for their role in the death of 207 people.
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/ 21 October 2004
As peace talks aimed at finding a political solution to the crisis in Sudan’s western Darfur region were due to resume in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday, the African Union (AU) approved plans to boost its military force in Darfur. The last round of peace talks ended last month without any real results.
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/ 21 October 2004
A forensic auditor who describes himself as a "bloodhound" is expected to give several days of testimony about Schabir Shaik’s financial affairs. KPMG director Johan van der Walt told the court the Scorpions asked his firm in September 2003 to draw up a report on payments made by Shaik to Deputy President Jacob Zuma and his dependants.
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/ 21 October 2004
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has paid tribute to the Cape Town based non-governmental organisation You and Your Money — for trying to assist and provide guidance to people in severe debt. At a macro-economic level, household debt was a reasonable 55% of disposable income, Manuel said.