No image available
/ 3 August 2006

Absa warns earnings could be lower in second half

South African banking group Absa cautioned on Thursday that its headline earnings for the second half of the year could be somewhat lower than that achieved in the first six months. The group’s earnings for the first half of the year ended June were up 22,4% to R3,46-billion compared to pro forma earnings of R2,83-billion for the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

No image available
/ 3 August 2006

From Maggie to Marx

At last — leadership from President Thabo Mbeki on a crisis that, by his own admission, has gripped the ruling African National Congress for two years. He told his party’s warring factions to stop putting petty turf battles before the real work of development. He asked what ANC branches were doing to ensure the provision of decent sanitation and adequate water supplies.

No image available
/ 2 August 2006

Cosatu reports raid on Zim union offices

South Africa’s Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) reported on Wednesday that a raid took place last week by four Zimbabwe police officers on the office of its counterpart, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Cosatu said the policemen confiscated over 2 000 flyers which contained information about the ZCTU’s campaign against high taxation.

No image available
/ 2 August 2006

Buffalo take over northern Canada town

Wild buffalo have taken over a small town in Canada’s far north, but unlike stray cats, pigeons, and other nuisance animals, these massive bovine pests can smash a truck, a local official said on Tuesday. The so-called wood bison wandered into Fort Providence in the North-west Territories in May.

No image available
/ 2 August 2006

Kumba set to meet striking unions

Kumba Resources will meet with striking trade unions on Wednesday to discuss a final revised wage-settlement offer made by the resources company on Thursday and Friday last week. The unions involved are National Union of Mineworkers, Solidarity, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the Building, Allied, Mining and Construction Workers’ Union.

No image available
/ 1 August 2006

Thailand hit by 40 bomb, arson attacks

Suspected Islamic militants staged about 40 bomb and arson attacks in Thailand’s Muslim-majority southern provinces late on Tuesday, injuring at least one, officials said. The attacks struck government and civilian targets including the homes of local officials and a train station in Thailand’s three restive provinces along the southern border with Malaysia, they said.

No image available
/ 1 August 2006

Telkom tariffs reduced by 2,1%

Telkom’s tariffs are 2,1% lower overall as from Tuesday. On June 5, Telkom filed price adjustments with the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa, which were subsequently approved. Steven Hayward, Telkom’s managing executive for retail marketing, said that although the net impact of the proposed prices will vary, the overall effect will be a reduction in cost.

No image available
/ 1 August 2006

Arnie tips Blair for Terminator Tony

<i>Terminator</i> star Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday gave Tony Blair a few suggestions for when he says "Hasta la vista" to being British prime minister. The Hollywood actor, now the Republican Governor of California, was asked if he had any tips for Blair, with whom he signed a partnership agreement to tackle global warming.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

Johncom terminates Molusi’s employment

Media and entertainment group Johnnic Communications (Johncom) announced on Monday that it had terminated the employment of its suspended CEO Connie Molusi forthwith, saying it had lost confidence in him. "The board of directors of Johncom has lost confidence in its chief executive officer, Mr Connie Molusi," the group said in a terse statement to the JSE.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

Small-business tax amnesty about to take effect

The tax amnesty for small businesses — as promulgated by the President on July 25 this year and contained in the Small Business Tax Amnesty and Amendment of Taxation Laws Act — takes effect on Tuesday. The amnesty will introduce a window of opportunity to a wide spectrum of small businesses in South Africa to regularise their tax affairs.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

UN sets deadline for Iran to halt nuclear work

The United Nations Security Council on Monday passed a resolution ordering Iran to halt its controversial nuclear work by August 31 or face possible sanctions. Resolution 1 696 expresses "serious concern" at Iran’s refusal to comply with International Atomic Energy Agency orders to halt uranium enrichment and other nuclear work.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

Gold price not likely to drift upwards

While conditions remain for a possible investor-led — and probably short-lived — return to levels of more than $700 before year-end, there are more substantial grounds for gold prices to drift sideways to down over the year, Natexis Commodity Markets said in its precious-metals outlook on Monday.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

SA trade-deficit figures ‘worrisome’

South Africa recorded a deficit of R4,219-billion for its trade with non-Southern African Customs’ Union trading partners in June after a deficit of R7,005-billion in May, according to customs and excise figures released on Monday. The trade balance was expected to have narrowed to a R2,5-billion deficit in June, a survey has found.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

DA wants full list of Travelgate MPs

South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will try to establish exactly which Members of Parliament are — or were — indebted to Parliament for the improper use of air travel vouchers. Chief whip Douglas Gibson said it appeared that some thought the scandal should be swept under the carpet.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

Presidency official free to join the Native Club

Presidency official Titus Mafolo was free to join "any organisation" of his choice as a citizen, says South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Responding to a question from Democratic Alliance MP OM Thetjeng on Monday who asked whether the "Native Club" was a presidential initiative or was government funded, she said the club was not an initiative of the president.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

The curious incident of the bag on the plane

A passenger was escorted off a Tokyo-bound plane in Hong Kong after she refused to put her Gucci handbag under the seat, disrupting the flight for more than an hour, a report said on Monday. The Cathay Pacific plane was ready to take off but was forced to stop on the runway because the young passenger would not listen to a flight attendant’s request, the <i>Apple Daily</i> reported.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

Examining the past, for the future

Five years ago, in an article titled "Scent of the plague", published in the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> (June 29 2001), I summarised my experiences as a doctor working in a health service faced with the plague of HIV infection among children in South Africa. I wrote about how difficult it was to break the news of a deadly infection to the parents, whose likely HIV status was revealed by the illness of their baby.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

Things that go clunk in the night

I woke at dawn and leapt out of bed in my usual energetic way. As I started to move around I wondered why my legs felt so stiff. I had promised to start going to gym, but had put off the evil moment repeatedly, with all sorts of valid and tear jerking excuses. But the fact is that I could not blame a new gym regime for the stiffness in my muscles.

No image available
/ 31 July 2006

Jo’burg’s eye on the ball

Sibongile Mazibuko is used to stress. She had better be, because she is in charge of making sure Johannesburg is ready and able to host the World Cup in four years’ time. But if she is taking strain, her voice certainly doesn’t show it when she makes time for a hurried interview with the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>.

No image available
/ 30 July 2006

Israeli blitz kills dozens of civilians

At least 51 people were killed, many of them children, in an Israeli air blitz on the Lebanese village of Qana on Sunday, triggering outrage across the region and warnings of retribution for Israel’s "war crime". In Beirut, a mob of angry demonstrators smashed into the United Nations building as thousands took to the streets in protest.

No image available
/ 29 July 2006

The monkeys have gone too far

A little over a year ago, Absa unclipped its sock-suspenders and stepped gingerly into the synthetic amniotic goo of the rebirthing pool. A branding guru stood nearby, revelling in his essences by smelling his armpits, while a swathe of Johannesburg copywriters hovered anxiously behind him, holding bundles of swaddling clothes and invoices.

No image available
/ 29 July 2006

Eel-bashing game slapped down in UK

Battering one another with a dead eel has been a favoured old tradition in one British town for decades, but a new ban has curtailed the fishy fun and sparked local anger, British newspapers reported on Saturday. "Conger cuddling" has been staged annually in Lyme Regis on the southern English coast for 32 years to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution charity.

No image available
/ 28 July 2006

Zimbabwe’s Budget runs out

Zimbabwe Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa on Thursday asked Parliament to approve a Z$327,2-trillion supplementary budget — more than twice the amount of money the government had initially said it would spend in 2006. Murerwa had at the beginning of the year set the Budget for 2006 at Z$123,9-trillion.