Power failures may have darkened the prospects of some tenants, but there may be some light ahead for listed property investors, says asset manager Stanlib. This relates to new construction supply constraints, ensuring continued high demand for existing space.
"The starting point of the Protection of Information Bill is that excessive secrecy harms security and that the flow of information is necessary to promote security." Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils responds to Sam Sole’s article in the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> of March 7 entitled "Malice in Wonderland".
More than a year ago, Côte d’Ivoire’s President Laurent Gbagbo signed a peace deal and formed a joint government with rebels who had held the north of the country for five years. But the former rebels continue to levy taxes on trade and transport in the north and the government has not brought large parts of the country under its control.
<b>ON CIRCUIT:</b> The lovely kids’ animation flick <i>Horton Hears a Who!</i>, as well as <i>The Nanny Diaries</i> and <i>Walk Hard</i>.
The retail price of petrol will increase by between 66 cents and 68 cents a litre (c/l) on Wednesday April 2, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. This follows an increase of 61c/l last month, and 17c/l the month before. The retail price of a litre of 95 octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng increases to R8,91 and to R8,67 at the coast — new highs.
"I had done my homework for Paris. I had read up on all the food blogs to find out what was hot in Paris, and it was mostly chocolate. And yet when the moment of truth came, my spirit failed me. You see, until I spent a wintry week there in early March, I hadn’t realised quite how seriously the French take their chocolate," writes Jocelyn Newmarch.
The will of the suffering masses versus the gritty determination of Robert Mugabe to stay in power — that, in a nutshell, is the contest taking place across Zimbabwe this weekend. This time the people’s yearning for freedom appears greater than any force, including Mugabe’s desperation, writes Trevor Ncube.
Oil prices leapt higher on Thursday as concerns about tight supplies were stoked by news that saboteurs had blown up an Iraqi export pipeline, traders said. New York’s main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, rose by $1,68 to close at $107,58 per barrel. In intraday trade it had hit $108,22.
African businesses and consumers are increasingly adopting broadband for basic internet access and voice services, adding momentum to the move from dial-up to ADSL, a study by BMI-TechKnowledge has revealed. Access to international capacity remains an inhibiting factor to the development of broadband services on the continent, with the notable exception of North Africa.
France is considering giving asylum to a renegade Comoran leader who fled an invasion by Comoran and African Union troops, a minister said on Thursday. French security forces guarded the main airport on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte where Bacar was taken on Thursday.
Top jewellers De Beers and Swarovski on Thursday opened flagship stores in Tokyo in a bid to lure customers in the highly lucrative but increasingly saturated Japanese luxury market. De Beers, the British-South African diamond giant, and Switzerland’s Swarovski cut the ribbons on the stores blocks away from each other in Tokyo’s Ginza district.
A South African has been killed in unclear circumstances in Iraq, in a week of violent clashes which has claimed the lives of more than 100 people, the Foreign Affairs Department said Thursday. Spokesperson Manusha Pillai said the department had no details on the circumstances of the man’s death.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Thursday said that production at the Golden Falls mine, formerly Cape Diamonds Elandslaagte mine, has been brought to a halt by mineworkers who have downed tools until they are awarded better wages. The NUM said the workers downed tools on Wednesday and were willing to strike indefinitely.
China requires the Dalai Lama to stop sabotaging the Olympics as a condition for talks, Chinese President Hu Jintao told his United States counterpart, George Bush, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Hu’s demand appeared to mark a new addition to a list of actions the exiled Tibetan leader must undertake before China is willing to talk with him.
You will be paying an extra R20-billion to Eskom this year — over and above the R40-billion collected last year — for it to buy billions of litres of diesel to fuel its peaking power plants. Further steep tariff increases are likely as new peaking power becomes available and is relied upon more heavily.
Shareholders of British media group Reuters voted in favour of a takeover by Canadian peer Thomson Corporation, the London-based company said in a statement on Wednesday. "Reuters shareholders vote in favour of acquisition by the Thomson Corporation," the company said in a brief statement to the London Stock Exchange.
Efforts to combat the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in the DRC have been slowed by the problem of TB patients also infected with HIV.
The increase in South Africa’s consumer price index excluding mortgage rate changes (CPIX) for metro and other areas, which is used by the South African Reserve Bank for its inflation target, was 9,4% year-on-year in February from 8,8% in January. The key drivers were higher food and petrol prices.
An Australian toddler who saved his mother’s life by phoning emergency services has been nominated for a bravery award, national radio reported on Wednesday. Three-year-old Noah Opris called 000 on Monday and said his mother, who suffers from epileptic fits, was asleep on the floor and bleeding.
A Zimbabwean national was among two foreigners who have been burned to death during an attack by a mob in a slum area close to the Pretoria, police said on Tuesday. The Zimbabwean was repeatedly assaulted before his attackers set fire to his shack in the Brazzaville settlement in Atteridgeville and then threw him inside, police spokesperson Patricia Simelane said.
China’s notoriously sex-shy pandas are being put through a rigorous "sexercise" programme in a new effort to encourage them to mate, state media reported on Tuesday. The Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Centre in the province of Sichuan is making male pandas walk on their two legs to strengthen their pelvic and hip muscles, to better prepare them for sex.
The JSE set a new trading record of 119 548 trades on Thursday March 20, the exchange reported on Tuesday. This follows what it terms "an exceptionally successful" futures close-out on Thursday, which contributed to the record. "Once again, this reaffirms our position as the number one market for single stock futures in the world," said Russell Loubser, CEO of the JSE Ltd.
How much is black economic empowerment (BEE) political patronage rather than a rational political programme to redistribute assets? Two recent BEE deals have thrown the issue into stark relief. One is the pending R7,5-billion Vodacom BEE deal, writes Reg Rumney.
The Southern African Litigation Centre has submitted a dossier to South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), calling on it to investigate, with a view to prosecuting, senior Zimbabwean police officials who have allegedly committed crimes against humanity by using torture against those they believe to oppose the government.
<i>Dreams, Miracles and Jazz</i> (Picador Africa) is a wide-ranging anthology of African writing. Edited by Helon Habila and Kadija Sesay, it is aptly subtitled <i>New Adventures in African Writing</i>. We publish an extract from <i>The Miracle Worker</i> by Sefi Atta.
"I came to <i>The Bad Girl</i> by Mario Vargas Llosa (Faber and Faber) with the memory of <i>The Feast of the Goat</i>, Llosa’s searing portrayal of ageing Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo and the last days of his regime, so I could be forgiven for high expectations."
Some parents will do almost anything to get their children into good schools, but Spanish couples are setting new standards of commitment. In Spain, entry into secondary school is based on a points system. Judges in Seville believe that some parents are divorcing just to earn the crucial points needed to get their offspring into the top schools.
The collapse and fire sale of Bear Stearns, the fifth-largest United States investment bank, might seem bad news, but it is actually good. The excesses of Wall Street firms in recent years were so egregious that a shake-out simply had to happen. It would have been a travesty — and rather surreal — if we had had to wait much longer.
First came Betty Grable’s legs, Dolly Parton’s chest and Keith Richards’s hands. Now a Dutch winemaker has set a new standard for the insurance of strange body parts by taking out a £3,9-million policy on his nose. Ilja Gort, a Dutch musician, prides himself on his range of wines and clarets.
A 114-year-old woman, considered the oldest person in Texas, has died at a Dallas retirement home. Arbella Perkins Ewings celebrated her birthday on March 13 with a proclamation from mayor Tom Leppert and speeches by friends and family. She blew out all 114 candles on her birthday cake.
A San Diego judge on Thursday ordered coffee giant Starbucks to pay more than $100-million in tips and interest owed to staff across outlets in California. It was not immediately clear how the money might be divided up between the estimated 100 000 current and former baristas.
"I have travelled throughout the country, and I have listened to people. In Nkayi, in Gutu, in Chiredzi, in Mudzi — everywhere I have been, it is evident that the people want change. They want a better life. People are desperate for a new beginning. They are desperate for national renewal and rebirth."