BAHRAIN and Egypt are a step closer toward linking their stock exchanges following talks between officials from both markets, a newspaper said on Monday. Sameh al-Turjuman, chairman of the Cairo/Alexandria stock exchange, told the Gulf Daily News that efforts to implement a $20-billion-market capital agreement reached last September in Egypt are “encouraging.” But regulatory measures […]
DAVID LE PAGE, Johannesburg | Tuesday 6.00pm. GOLD shares made something of a dramatic recovery on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Tuesday, rising 22 points to 969, as bullion scratched back a dollar. Financials and industrials crept up, 12 points to 9954 and 45 points to 7345 respectively. The overall index however, suffered, dropping a […]
ETHIOPIA’S first colour television assembly plant became operational over the weekend and the country plans to export the sets to such neighbouring countries as Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The new plant at Kaliti, 15 km on the eastern outskirts of Addis Ababa, was financed at a cost $600000 by an Ethiopian private family concern, Yitb […]
ORLANDO Pirates contnued their late-season surge with 3-0 drubbing of Bush Bucks at the FNB Stadium on Wednesday night. The Buccaneers move into third place in the Castle Premiership with the win. They have now been unbeaten in 8 outings. Pirates were 2-0 up at the break, and completely dominated the first half. They wandered […]
A 900-ton arsenal of weapons was tracked down and destroyed in Mozambique during the last few months by a specialist unit of the South African Police Service. Sunday newspaper Rapport said the top secret operation formed part of Operation Rachel, which was started in 1995 to stop the flow of weapons into South Africa. Included […]
THE World Health Organisation on Friday confirmed that the epidemic of haemorrhagic fever in northeastern DRC is not due to the Ebola virus, but could be caused by the related Marburg virus. One of five samples analysed in South Africa tested positive for Marburg virus, the other four were negative. Revised figures from the WHO […]
A DELEGATION representing families of victims who died in the 1989 bombing of a French airliner asked the United Nations Friday to block the lifting of sanctions against Libya. Francoise Rudetzki, the head of the French association SOS Attentats (SOS attacks), which represents the families, met at the United Nations on Friday with chief UN […]
NIGERIA’S military ruler General Abdulsalami Abubakar has put a stop to 660 million dollars’ worth of last minute spending plans by his outgoing administration, a report said Saturday. Abubakar, who steps down at the end of this month, ordered the freeze on new capital project spending at a meeting of the military-led government in Abuja […]
DIMENSION DATA, South Africa’s largest communication systems integration company, completed an excellent six months to end March 1999, with turnover increasing 54% to a record R2,7 billion. Headline earnings rose 90% to R176,9-million and headline earnings per share increasing 61% to 27,1 cents. The group ended the six months with a 178% increase in its […]
HOOKER James Dalton, only recently recovered from a groin injury, has re-injured his groin on the same side while kicking in a training session. Dalton has played a couple of club games for Rand Afrikaans, but has not suited up for a Super 12 match yet, and will miss tests against Italy and Wales. James […]
MICROSOFT SA, the Associated South African Music Industry and the Pretoria branch of the police commercial crime unit this week joined forces against copyright violation. In a joint statement issued on Friday, the three bodies said the police, at the request of Microsoft and ASAMI, conducted a raid on a person suspected of making illegal […]
SIX people, including an elderly blind man, were shot dead in Tugela Ferry in volatile KwaZulu-Natal province on Thursday, police said on Friday morning. The murders seemed to be the work of gunmen going from hut to hut in the village, firing into the victims’ homes early Thursday, police spokesman Captain Vishnu Naidoo said. Police […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bissau | Monday 6.00pm. GUINEA-Bissau’s small port capital calmed down on Sunday after post-coup clashes between military junta forces and backers of the toppled head of state killed at least six people. Troops patrolled the city where the main Bandim market and stores were open, while the radio of victorious forces headed by […]
JONTY Rhodes is due to help South Africa wade through English county sides in preparation for the upcoming World Cup. REturning from a slight strain, Rhodes helped SA roll over Kent, and captain Hansie Cronje doesn’t see Middlesex as too much of a threat. The SA skipper does think it will be tougher than the […]
ANGLOGOLD, the world’s largest gold producer, said on Friday that it was unperturbed by the proposed sale of more than half of the British Treasury’s gold reserves. AngloGold marketing director Kelvin Williams said that the quantities of its gold reserves Britain is planning to sell would not impact severely on the market. The British Treasury […]
THE Bank of Uganda on Wednesday blamed “speculators” for the free-fall of the shilling, after its efforts to shore up the currency by selling $25,6-million failed to halt the slide. On Wednesday the dollar bought 1535 shillings and was selling for 1570 shillings. BOU spokesman Walugembe Musoke said speculators are creating abnormal demands on the […]
ALLAN Boesak, who has petitioned the Chief Justice for leave to appeal following his recent six-year sentence for theft, has confirmed that his wife Elna is five months pregnant with their second child. “I’m ecstatic,” Boesak is reported in the Cape Times as saying. He was sentenced in March to six years imprisonment for stealing […]
EGYPT announced on Thursday it is to impose a 30% duty on sugar imports to protect the local industry against dumping and declining world prices. Public Enterprise Minister Atef Ebeid said the price of one ton of imported sugar plunged from $434 in 1997 to $160. Importers took advantage of the low prices to hoard […]
MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Monday 6.00pm. MOST indices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange drifted without direction on Monday, while gold lost over 5%. The rand stayed in a range around R6,15, while bonds slipped. Dealers lamented the lack of direction in the equities market, as a firm opening on the JSE gave way to moderate […]
SIERRA Leone’s rebel movement will deliver its peace proposals to the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Tuesday, a rebel spokesman in Lome said. “We will be delivering our document to Togo’s President Gnassingbe Eyadema tomorrow, who will then likely hand it over to the Sierra Leone government,” said Omrie […]
VISITING Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe held talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Khatami on Saturday on ways to promote political and economic ties, state radio said. Mugabe, who arrived here on Friday, said Zimbabwe was willing to expand cooperation in various sectors, including agriculture, mining and refining. During his three-day visit, Mugabe is also due […]
PEACE talks between leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and rebels which were scheduled to take place in Nairobi later this week have been postponed, Kenya’s foreign ministry said on Monday.”The proposed national debate for the Democratic Republic of Congo scheduled to take place in Nairobi in mid-May has been postponed to early June, […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kingston | Monday 9.00am BAFANA BAFANA completed a two-match tour of the Caribbean by drawing 1-1 with Jamaica at the Independence Stadium in Kingston on Sunday. The 1996 African champions, who suffered a shock 2-0 loss in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday, showed greater urgency and commitment in a friendly match that seldom […]
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela is to honour his director-general Jakes Gerwel and Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, for their efforts in mediating an end to the Lockerbie dispute, his office said on Saturday. The two men will receive special awards at a lunch hosted by Mandela in Cape Town on Tuesday, an […]
A CALLER who made a telephonic bomb threat to the Graceland Casino in Secunda, Mpumalanga, on Friday claimed he represents People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) Global Resorts MD Ernie Joubert confirmed on Saturday. The casino received four telephonic bomb threats on Friday. The threats were allegedly made by four different people and one of […]
THE Jewish Board of Deputies in the United Kingdom is investigating complaints that an exhibition by leading South African artist, William Kentridge, is anti-Semitic. Offence has reportedly been caused by some of the animated films which form the focus of the exhibition and depict characters called Soho Eckstein and Felix Teitelbaum. Kentridge, himself a Jew, […]
FIGHTING between Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers over gold in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed 213 lives, the Congolese Press Agency said on Thursday. Quoting army headquarters, the official news agency said 200 Rwandan soldiers and 13 Ugandans were killed “recently” in Orientale and Maniema provinces, areas under the control of the rebels […]
NINE oil exploration firms have come together to launch the Offshore Petroleum Association of South Africa (Opasa), a pressure group to convey the upstream industry’s interests to the government. The firms are Energy Africa, Forest Oil Corporation, Mossgas,PanCanadian Petroleum Limited, Phillips Petroleum SA, Petroleum Limited, Pioneer Natural Resources SA, Sasol Petroleum International and Soekor. The […]
THE two journalists from The Standard Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto, have returned to Zambia after spending two months receiving medical and psychological treatment from London’s Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. Although the Medical Foundation wanted the two, who were illegally detained and tortured by the military, to continue receiving treatment, […]
ARMY rebels torched the presidential palace and the French embassy in Guinea-Bissau on Friday, the second day of heavy fighting in the capital Bissau, Portuguese and French sources reported. The residence of President Joao Bernardo Vieira, who has reportedly asked for asylum after his troops were defeated by mutinous soldiers, was ablaze like the French […]
A CHARGE of being in possession of a stolen vehicle was withdrawn against Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Lifa Gqosha when he appeared in the Protea regional court in Soweto on Thursday. Soweto police spokesman Inspector John Shiburi on Thursday said that police had withdrawn charges against Gqosha of possession of a stolen vehicle and resisting arrest, […]
SECURITY has been tightened in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands town of Richmond ahead of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s visit to the area on Sunday. Roadblocks have been set up in the main entrances of the town and the nearby residential areas of Endaleni and Magoda. Both defence and police force personnel are patrolling the ANC stronghold […]