CABINET on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for the introduction of inflation targeting as part of the framework for South African monetary policy. Annoucing the decision, Finance minister Trevor Manuel said the new policy will take effect in the first quarter of next year.

US Defense Secretary William Cohen held talks on Thursday with Egyptian Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi on sharing missile early-warning data with Gulf and Middle East allies. The talks kicked off a two-day visit by Cohen, who is also scheduled to meet with President Hosni Mubarak on Friday and observe a major wargames exercise involving […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Freetown | Thursday 5.30pm CLASHES between former rebels and their ex-junta allies in a northern Sierra Leonean town have left dozens of civilians dead and caused many residents to flee the area, local media said on Thursday. This comes a day after a symbolic ceremony to mark the start of disarmament in Sierra […]

NIGERIA’S main trades union body on Tuesday issued a two-week notice of a public sector general strike if the government does not resolve the problems of striking teachers. Nigerian public workers will embark on nationwide strike on November 2 if the pay and conditions of teachers on strike since last month are not improved, the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 12.30pm. PUBLIC Works Minister Jeff Radebe has announced that the government is to sell the abattoir parastatal, Abakor, as well as several non-core businesses of Denel. Speaking after a meeting of the inter-miniterial Cabinet committee on the restructuring of state assets, Radebe said Abakor will be sold “voetstoots”. The decision […]

MORE than 200 Delmas Colliery workers in Mpumalanga are to lose their jobs, and contractors will forfeit work worth millions of rands when the company restructures at the end of the month. This is due to the low demand for low-grade bituminous coal in the domestic heating and metallurgical markets, said Ingwe Coal Corporation spokesman […]

SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Wednesday 4.45pm THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange fought its way back after a relatively volatile day’s trade to close in positive territory on Wednesday, despite an earlier blip as the market fell in sympathy with European markets. The JSE’s gains came later in the afternoon when United States markets jumped higher […]

THE Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday reserved judgment in the appeal against the conviction of rape handed down earlier in the year. Judgment was reserved to all for a further day of re-examining the evidence. Earlier in the day Ntini’s lawyer Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett, SC, argued that he finds fault with six critical respects of […]

ADRIAN WARNER, London | Thursday 10.30am. BATTERED and bruised England admitted they will have to sharpen their game considerably — especially in defence — to have a chance of knocking defending champions South Africa out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals on Sunday. The English booked their place in the Paris quarter-final with a […]