One of the Philippines’ most active volcanoes continued spewing ash overnight, raising fears of a possible eruption and leaving one man dead, officials said on Saturday. The Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology said an explosion from the 1 565m summit of Bulusan sent ash and steam 1km into the air and showered ash on surrounding villages.
Sugar production and textile manufacturing in Swaziland are on their way out, taking tens of thousands of jobs with them. Just how far Swaziland’s employment figures have deteriorated is evidenced in research being carried out by the International Labour Organisation.
A strong earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6,1 struck on Friday near the Pacific island of Fiji, Australian officials said. Geoscience Australia said the quake hit about 300km north-east of the Fijian capital Suva. The United States Geological Survey earlier described the epicentre of the quake, which occurred at 5.58am GMT, as 563km north-west of the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa.
Changes to the mandate of the Donen Commission of Inquiry into possible illicit business deals between South African companies and individuals in former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s government were on hold for now, President Thabo Mbeki indicated in reply to a parliamentary question on Friday.
Berlin has, after more than 60 years, reversed a policy of concealing the location of the bunker where Adolf Hitler shot himself in the final days of World War II. A large information panel was erected on Thursday near Wilhelmstrasse, above the underground labyrinth where Hitler married Eva Braun hours before committing suicide with her on April 30 1945.
If the current inflationary pressures and other negative factors persist into the second half of the year, it is quite possible that interest rates may increase further before the end of the year, Absa said on Friday. The bank said its projection with regard to nominal growth in property prices was dropped from 12,1% earlier this year to 11,5% before Thursday’s rate hike.
China said on Friday it was "erroneous and one-sided" to believe that it is only interested in Africa because of its energy resources, arguing it had comprehensive ties with the continent. Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei made the remark at a briefing ahead of a visit by Premier Wen Jiabao to seven African nations.
Talks between the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union and the employer associations in the security industry ended at about 6am on Friday morning, with employers bringing an improved offer to the unions, Satawu said in a statement.
Floods caused by summer monsoon rains displaced about 66 000 people in India’s north-east, while heavy rains disrupted traffic in eastern India, officials said on Friday. In north-eastern Assam state, floodwaters from the Brahmaputra river had inundated about 13 000ha of land, the state government said.
The tale of Mzi Khumalo’s quick profit from investing in construction firm Basil Read raises many interesting questions about black economic empowerment (BEE) deals — not the least being what makes a BEE investor a BEE investor.That corporate raider Khumalo has successfully struck again will not surprise anyone who has followed the career of this one-time associate of the late Brett Kebble.
When you’re a small-time lawman run over by the streetcar of life, lying face down on the rain-soaked pavement of opportunity, you recognise some hard truths as they go floating by in the gutter of hope. I’d learned plenty. They were etched on my beaten heart in fine little letters of pain. Guns don’t work underwater.
Most of the material constituting this column is plagiarised. The difference between my plagiarism and that of the industry trendsetters, Bristow-Bovey/Pamela Jooste/St Antjie Krog et al, is that I am revealing where I stole the material from and not publishing it in the wild hope that no one notices.
Somalia’s deadly 16-year game of no-hands government has taken an ominous turn, with warning signs that it might become the new Afghanistan. American interest in the chaotic Horn of Africa waned after the 1993 withdrawal of the United States-United Nations peacekeeping force following the death of 18 troops, but appears to have revived, with portentous results.
Five South Koreans taken hostage by Nigerian militants were freed on Thursday, said the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), which had been holding them. "In fulfilment of our earlier pledge, all five Korean prisoners captured by our unit in the attack on the Daewoo camp were released at 4pm [local time] today, Thursday June 8 2006," Mend said.
Trade union Solidarity on Thursday said it has declared a dispute with the National Petroleum Employers’ Association (NPEA). The Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union and the South African Chemical Workers’ Union have also declared a dispute with the NPEA, Solidarity said.
Diamond giant De Beers on Thursday unveiled plans to mine diamonds off South Africa’s West Coast, saying output could touch 240 000 carats annually once the programme was up and running next year. De Beers said that it was equipping a ship with an underwater crawling mining device.
Zimbabwe will not back down on proposed changes to its mining laws which will give the state a majority stake in foreign-owned firms. "There is no going back on the 51% mining ownership structure policy structure for the government and 49% for outsiders," said Junior Mines Minister Tinos Rusere.
Police on Thursday arrested a suspected Taliban militant entering a provincial capital in restive southern Afghanistan with explosives loaded on a donkey, officials said. "Police had reports that some explosives were being brought into the city on a donkey," the government spokesperson in troubled Zabul, Gulab Shah Alikhail, told Agence France-Presse.
The Arab League expressed anxiety on Thursday over the ongoing violence in Somalia and urged the warring sides to immediately end hostilities, saying it was prepared to help restore calm in the country. "The Arab League expresses deep anxiety and regret over the deaths and injuries of a number of Somali citizens," the pan-Arab body said.
China said on Thursday it is battling a proliferation of new power plants that are being built without permission and threaten to upset plans for a more environmentally friendly energy mix. Local authorities have been moving ahead with new power plant construction to meet a serious electricity shortage in recent years.
The role of the South African government in the covert "rendition" of Khalid Mehmood Rashid is an affront to the foundational values of our democracy. The Constitution was written with the ghosts of those who had suffered arbitrary detention, torture or disappearance watching over its drafters with the expectation that never again would such abuses be allowed.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday he would announce the date of a controversial statehood referendum by the the end of the week. "After the end of the 10 days of dialogue, we are now working on the decree [allowing the referendum] and this will take a little time to complete," Abbas said.
Financial services group Sanlam said in a trading update on Wednesday that strong growth in new business volumes and a sound operational performance, coupled with South African equity markets reaching new record heights in April 2006, have contributed to overall satisfactory group results for the first four months of 2006.
Major funding has been earmarked to find faster-acting tuberculosis (TB) drugs that do not clash with anti-retroviral medications.
Participants from South Africa’s major gold-mining companies, trade unions and the government recently agreed to cooperate to chart a new course for the gold mining sector, which is in long-term decline, the Chamber of Mines said on Wednesday.
South Africa’s second largest platinum miner Impala Platinum on Wednesday announced that the company had agreed to sell off a 15% stake in the Marula Platinum mine for R316-million to Tubatse Platinum and the Marula Community Trust.
Hilton Brown, CEO of Adcorp Talent Recruitment, has been in the recruitment industry for more than 15 years, both here and abroad. He talks about his best and worst investments, the best advice he ever received and the financial advice he would give his children.
Wireless local area networks enable mobile computer users to connect to a corporate network through Wi-Fi technology, something that is slowly starting to catch on in South Africa. However, issues such as security and connectivity speed have seen many organisations keeping this technology at arm’s length.
Nigerian separatist group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the kidnapping of five South Korean oil workers and offered to exchange them for the group’s jailed leader. Mend said the raid was a response to a court decision Tuesday to deny bail to the Niger Delta’s best-known guerrilla leader, Mujahid Dokubo Asari.
The Church of England said on Wednesday it had proved a hit with football fans seeking divine intervention to help England win the World Cup after putting a prayer for the team on its website. The church said it had scored more than 4 000 hits on the prayers section of its wbsite after posting the prayer last month for the likes of England captain David Beckham and his teammates.
A United Nations Security Council team met on Wednesday with African Union officials to discuss the possible handover to the UN of an AU peacekeeping force in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region. A day after failing to win express Sudanese government approval for the transfer, the UN mission arrived at AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The <i>Google.com</i> search engine has been blocked in most parts of China, as Beijing steps up its efforts to restrict the public’s access to information, a Paris-based media watchdog said. Internet users in many major Chinese cities have had difficulty connecting to the uncensored international version of Google for the past week, Reporters sans Frontières said in a statement received on Wednesday.