A SINGAPORE Airline flight carrying a consignment of wild animals bound for a Chinese safari park left as scheduled on Tuesday, a spokesman for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said. NSPCA executive director Marcelle French said all 167 animals being exported by controversial game exporter Riccardo Ghiazza had been declared […]
THE first summit of heads of state and government of the European Union and Africa will be held next April 3 to 4 in Cairo, an EU source said Friday. The summit will be held under the Portuguese EU rotating presidency that begins in January. Africa is alone among the world’s great regions in not […]
DESMOND DAVIES, London | Tuesday 3.00pm FOUR European organisations have launched a campaign to highlight how illegal sales of diamonds have been fuelling wars in Africa. The diamond centres of London, Antwerp, New York and Milan are being specifically targeted by the organisations. Diamonds from Angola, Sierra Leone and Liberia are being used by rebel […]
TWO of the critically ill British patients in the Nelspruit Medi-Clinic in Mpumalanga are in a stable condition again after suffering a relapse over the weekend, a doctor at the hospital said on Monday evening. Tour manager Caroline Sandover, who suffered severe head injuries, and Catherine Thompson, who suffered chest injuries, were injured when a […]
CONGO’s government and the Norwegian cement group Scancem have signed an agreement to renew production in the central African country. The Brazzaville government and the Norwegian company, which had withdrawn in 1996, on Thursday signed the deal to set up a new firm, Les Ciments du Congo, which will take the assets of the former […]
SWAZILAND’s embattled editor of the Sunday edition of the Times of Swaziland had his R3000 bail extended on Monday after appearing briefly in the Mbabane magistrate’s court on criminal defamation charges. Bheki Makhubu was arrested just over one week ago after publishing a story and photograph saying that the new fiance of the small country’s […]
AT least one man was shot dead and two injured when gunfire broke out during an attempted eviction of squatters in Lawley, south of Johannesburg on Monday. Vaal police could not confirm reports that a second man had died in hospital after the shooting. According to police, A crowd of about 600 people confronted and […]
THE Saudi minister of water and agriculture said on Sunday a ban on beef imports from Africa imposed 17 years ago do not include imports from South Africa. Minister Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz bin Muammar told journalists onthe sidelines of a farming exhibit in Saudi Arabia that Riyadh hs “rectified” a situation which arose after the […]
CAPE TOWN is preparing to put on a millennium party for 200000 foreigners expected to flock to the city for festivities that include watching the sun set on 1999 from the top of Table Mountain. The tourist industry says the rush has already made it hard to find a plane ticket to Cape Town or […]
PROLIFIC and distinguished cinematographer, author and publisher, Tom Bulpin, died at his Muizenberg, Cape Town home on Sunday, the Cape Argus reported on Monday. He was 81. Bulpin was the author of 27 books, many of them best-sellers, including “Discovering South Africa” — the latest edition of which he was attempting to complete before his […]
AN American tourist claims he was thrown into a filthy holding cell full of dagga smokers at the Newcastle Magistrate’s Court last week because of a misunderstanding over a bill. Dean Michaels (40) said on Friday: “Nearly all of them were smoking dagga, or rolling something in the corner. I could not believe the smell.” […]
BRITAIN’s Prince Edward is due to visit South Africa next weekend for the commemoration of the centenary of the Boer War, the British High Commission said on Monday. The prince, the third son of Queen Elizabeth II who she recently made the Duke of Kent, will along with President Thabo Mbeki attend the official launch […]
THE Pioneer Food Group has acquired 37,5% of shares in Ceres Fruit Juices. The shares were previously owned by South African Breweries. The other shareholders are Ceres Fruit Growers (CFG) with 37,5% and KWV with 25%. The transaction provides both the Pioneer Food Group and Ceres Fruit Juices with more flexibility to compete successfully on […]
FORMER Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere is in a “critical” condition, a spokeswoman for the London hospital where he is being treated said on Sunday. “He is critical at the moment… his condition has worsened,” she said. Nyerere, (77) was admitted to St Thomas’ hospital in London on September 9. He is suffering from leukaemia. In […]
THE Nigerian government has ordered 20 privately owned television and radio stations to stop broadcasting because they have failed to pay their licence fees, officials said Tuesday. The stations which include Africa Independent Television (AIT), Raypower FM, and Minaj television, were shut down on Tuesday morning, the acting director-general of the National Broadcasting Commission said. […]
KHULUMA Cellular 084, which is bidding for the third cellular licence, told the South Africa Telecommunications Authority on Tuesday that it has already obtained commitments for the some R3-billion needed to set up its network. “Our strong financial backing has enabled us to create a true partnership, with no need for any of the empowerment […]
SPECULATION of a partial merger between two of South Africa’s biggest information technology firms pushed the IT index up sharply on Monday despite lingering Y2K fears. Under speculation are Comparex Holdings Ltd and Dimension Data Holdings Ltd (Didata). The Business Day reported on Monday that the announcement of talks by both companies has fuelled speculation […]
AN unidentified driver shot himself in the head with an AK 47 rifle after shooting at policemen who stopped him following an accident in another town. Bushveld police spokesman Captain Blackie Swart, who reported the incident on Monday, said the man shot himself at about 11am on Saturday. Police stopped him at Nylstroom for allegedly […]
ANDY COLQUHOUN, Edinburgh | Monday 4.00pm. DAY off on Monday and time to reflect on a job well done for the Springboks. Mallet and Honiball leading their four-ball at the halfway house as 12 players and staff headed to St Andrews while the rest stayed back in Edinburgh for a little city R&R. The game’s […]
A UNIQUE conservation project that re-introduces captive chimpanzees to the wild is under threat because of political instability in Congo, scientists warned Sunday. Since 1989 the programme, run by the Franco-Congolese assocation HELP (Ecological Habitat and Liberty for Primates), has prepared more than 40 illegally-captured chimpanzees for release back into the forest. But chronic civil […]
THIRTY-TWO primary school children were treated for bruises and minor shock at Boland hospitals after the bus ferrying them home on Monday afternoon overturned in one of Paarl’s main streets. Police spokesman Captain Francois Rossouw said none of the children, who were all from the Charlton Hill Primary School, was injured. The children were taken […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 1.15pm. A GAMBLE by Brazilian coach Djalma Cavalcante paid off as Angola won the Castle Cup Southern Africa championship for the first time at the weekend. Cavalcante decided to use only local players when he succeeded Yugoslav Vesselin Jelusic last February after a stunning 2-0 home loss against Mauritius in […]
AT least 54% of Zambia’s 9,8-million citizens are forced to drink untreated water containing everything from Cholera to microbes that cause blindness, diarrhoea and other potentially fatal diseases, Zambian health authorities said at the weekend. Central Board of Health (CBH) director general Galvin Silwamba confirmed on Saturday that only 46% of Zambians have access to […]
URUGUAY recorded their first ever victory in the World Cup finals as the South Americans beat Spain 27-15 in the ‘battle of the amateurs’ Pool A match here on Saturday. Two late breakaway tries by full-back Alfonso Cardoso and substitute Juan Mancheca sealed the win in a tight match against an enterprising but lightweight Spanish […]
THREE gunmen hijacked MP and chairman of the Correctional Services parliamentary portfolio committee, Aubrey Mokoena, outside his Orlando East home in Soweto on Friday night. It was the second attack this week on a Portfolio Committee head in Soweto, during a 48-hour time frame, and both men drove the same make of vehicle. Mokoena stopped […]
MATRIC exams in the Northern Province begin on Tuesday, with a big failure rate looming after disastrous mid-year trials. In the June trials, only 11% of pupils passed. Education MEC Edgar Mushwana has attributed the high failure rate to the fact that most teachers had not completed their syllabuses by June. Officials on Friday said […]
DYNAMIC hooker Keith Wood led the way with four tries as Ireland swamped the United States 53-8 in the opening World Cup Pool E match for both teams at Lansdowne Road on Saturday night. The fiery Irish had too much pace, too much poise and too much power for their largely part-time opponents and Wood […]
BILL BARCLAY, Edinburgh | Sunday 7.55pm. HOLDERS South Africa survived a mighty scare on Sunday as they overturned a half-time deficit to beat Scotland 46-29 in their opening Group A match of the tournament at Murrayfield. Scotland led 16-13 at the interval but five second-half tries, helped by some unforced Scottish errors, ensured the Springboks […]
A LATE try by star French winger Emile Ntamack assured France of a winning start to their World Cup campaign as they ran out 33-20 winners over Canada in their Pool C match in Beziers on Saturday – only their fifth win in 12 tests. The 29-year-old veteran, scoring his 23rd try in 36 appearances, […]
PARLIAMENT’s correctional services portfolio committee chairman, MP Aubrey Mokoena, has rejected a call by the Democratic Party for him to step down as committee head. According to the DP, there is a conflict of interests in his sumltaneously chairing the committee and the company that secured the R244-million contract to build a new super-maximum prison […]
MICHAEL VLISMAS, Johannesburg | Friday 7.45pm. ALLAN Henning claimed his first Vodacom Senior Tour victory this year when he won the R140000 Vodacom Cadillac Classic by a comfortable three shots at the Glendower Golf Club on Saturday. Henning was one of three leaders overnight together with Richard Lyon and Gabriel Putsoe, the leader on the […]
FIJI produced an uneven performance in Beziers on Friday but it was still way too good for World Cup newcomers Namibia as they ran out 67-18 winners in their Pool C match. The Africans, who are made up of fanatical amateurs, mostly farmers who travel hundreds of kilometres to train, had much to be proud […]