African communication ministers are gathered in Kigali, Rwanda, ahead of the signing of a policy framework agreement for one of the continent’s biggest broadband network projects, the South African government’s news service, BuaNews, reported on Monday.
South African hotel and gaming group Sun International on Monday reported adjusted headline earnings per share (HEPS) of 546c for the year ended June — up 33% from the previous year’s 411c. Its full year diluted HEPS declined to 431c from 500 cents before.
At least 150 bodies have been recovered since last week following flash floods caused by heavy monsoon rains in India’s desert state of Rajasthan, officials said on Monday. The toll has risen sharply since Sunday as rescue workers continue to find more bodies as flood waters fell in the normally drought-prone area.
Iran has for the first time given the green light for the breeding and slaughter of crocodiles — as long as they are killed in line with Islamic rules, a newspaper reported on Monday. But it’s unlikely the fearsome beasts will be killed to make handbags, belts or shoes.
The Department of Trade and Industry has unveiled its long-awaited metals sector development strategy to representatives of major industrial associations and companies. Among the aims of the development strategy is to create 45 000 new and sustainable jobs.
The passing on of Professor Mazisi Kunene in Durban brings many thoughts of the past and the present to mind. Not least of these is how easy it is to forget the past and be ignorant of how figures from that past have influenced the present that we currently enjoy.
SABMiller, one of the world’s leading brewers, announced on Friday that its Peruvian subsidiary Backus and Johnston will invest $102-million in infrastructural projects in Peru. The investment will include the expansion of the brew house at its Ate facility to the east of Lima and a significant upgrade of packaging capability across the country.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Herbert Murerwa, on Monday launched a thinly veiled attack on Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono when he told Parliament he had not been consulted on the latest currency initiative that has become a new political front in the Zanu-PF power struggle.
Of all the down-home bits of nitwit advice offered up by hillbilly philosophers, perhaps the most grating is the one that demands participation before it will allow criticism. Invariably delivered with a wry, slightly superior feyness that is intended to look like wisdom but comes off as constipation, it is the last line of defence for a certain kind of cultural collaborator, and it goes something like, "Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it."
Absa was voted the top banking brand in South Africa in the <i>2006 Sunday Times/Markinor Top Brands Survey</i>, announced in Johannesburg on Thursday evening. The <i>Top Brands Survey</i> is considered to be the country’s leading study of an organisation’s brand strength and competitiveness.
South African platinum miner Impala Platinum on Friday reported a 39% increase in diluted headline earnings per share (HEPS) to 5 989 cents for the year ended June from 4 322 cents a year ago. Basic HEPS were also up 39% to 6 006 cents from 4 325 cents before.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>The prosecution of Jacob Zuma and arms company Thint is a mess — but does this justify abandoning the case against them? That’s the question facing Judge Herbert Msimang as the state and the defence gear up for argument on the prosecution application for a postponement of the trial until next year.
South Africans have become vegetally preoccupied with the ramblings of Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, on HIV/Aids. As she tosses her mad Greek salad, we have lost sight of the crumbling of the broader health system. We have visited 26 public hospitals across the country and found a system in crisis.
What brought the above headline to mind was whimsy, detecting a similarity between Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece of the ridiculous and Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin’s tendency to inflate his fantasies to gigantic proportions. Remember when Alice eats the little cake and starts to grow enormously?
Clothing retail group Truworths lifted headline earnings per share by 29% from 144,8 cents to 186,4 cents for the 52 weeks ended June 25 2006. The group declared a final dividend of 45 cents per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 89 cents per share.
ABB, the Swiss power and automation technology group, said on Thursday that it had won a $62-million order from the South African utility Eskom to strengthen one of the region’s most important cross-border power transmission systems. Earlier this month, ABB won a $30-million contract from Eskom for equipment to help strengthen power grid reliability.
South African resources group Mvelaphanda Resources on Thursday reported a sharp rise in headline earnings per share for the year to end June to 1 663 cents from 91 cents a year ago, largely due to a R3,4-billion increase in the value of its Gold Fields investment to R7,4-billion.
China may be giving striptease funerals the last rites after officials arrested five people and ordered an end to the practice, state media said on Thursday. Strip shows have been commonly used to attract more mourners to funerals, as villagers believe a crowded send-off brings more honor to the deceased, Xinhua news agency said.
Unlisted mobile services provider Cell C on Wednesday reported a 23% rise in net profits to R199,3-million for the six months ended June. Jeffrey Hedberg, new Cell C CEO, commented: "While certain key performance indicators reflect that we are moving in the right direction, I am not pleased with our performance over the first six months of 2006."
The country’s biggest short-term insurer, Santam, on Wednesday reported a 16% decline in headline earnings to R583-million for the six months to the end of June. This equates to headline earnings per share of 498 cents against 599 cents for the previous comparable half-year.
Rolling mass action by South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) and other affiliates of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has been scheduled for Friday September 1 as a show of solidarity with the cleaning sector, "whose conditions of work are characterised by low wages and poor working conditions", Satawu said on Wednesday.
Media group Caxton and CTP Publishers on Wednesday reported a 13,5% increase in headline earnings per share from 69 cents to 109 cents for the year to the end of June. Turnover for the 12 months grew by 8,2% from R3,2-billion to R3,5-billion. The group declared a dividend of 45 cents per share.
South African low-fare airline kululu.com on Wednesday launched a credit card backed by Visa that will reward purchases with flying rewards. Kulula.com credit-card holders will earn kulula "moolah" on all their purchases, which matches real currency rand for rand. kulula moolah will be able to be used towards any available flight on the airline.
South African trade union Solidarity on Wednesday welcomed the proposed enlarging of Sasol’s coal-to-liquid fuel operations. This comes after reports that Sasol and the government were engaged in talks regarding expansion of the operations.
Kevin Bacon did it in <i>Wild Things</i> and again in <i>Invisible Man</i>; Ewan McGregor has done it repeatedly – in <i>The Pillow Book</i>, in <i>Velvet Goldmine</i>, and recently in <i>Young Adam</i>. And now Will Smith and Colin Farrell have done it – well, almost.
The latest FNB residential property barometer indicates a continuing cooling-off in the South African residential property market. It indicates that the interest-rate hikes in June and August had an immediate effect on activity and sentiment within the property market.
It’s a dilemma for a dedicated environmental activist: your friend is getting married in Australia, you’re in Britain, what do you do? Travel overland to avoid carbon emissions from aircraft, of course. Barbara "Babs" Haddrill (28) is doing just that, undertaking a six-week trip from mid-Wales to Brisbane by train, bus and boat.
Thousands of people flocked to temples in northern India on Monday hoping to see a miracle as word spread that idols of Hindu gods were drinking milk, television reports said. Television pictures showed milk disappearing as people held up spoons full of the liquid to idols of deities such as Lord Shiva and Ganesha.
European economic growth is likely to slow going into 2007, as weaker exports to the United States and a softening of consumer demand and business investment take affect amid higher interest rates, international ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) says in its latest economic forecast for the region.
South Africa’s real gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally annualised and adjusted basis rose by 4,9% in the second quarter of 2006 from a revised 4% (4,2%) in the first quarter of 2006, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.
Pick ‘n Pay chairperson Raymond Ackerman confirmed on Tuesday that company CEO Sean Summers would be succeeded by current retail MD Nick Badminton in March 2007. Summers will have spent 34 years at the company and eleven years at the helm.
Al-Jazeera International, a subsidiary of famous Arabic television channel al-Jazeera, has opened a two-man bureau in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. Al-Jazeera International, which like its parent company is headquartered in Doha, Qatar, broadcasts news and current affairs in English 24 hours a day. It is the only English news channel with its head office in the Middle East.