Disabled South African swimmer Natalie du Toit smashed the amputee world record in the 50m freestyle twice in a day at the Commonwealth Games on Friday. Du Toit broke her own record with a new best of 29,32 seconds in the morning semifinal and then smashed it again with 29,27 in winning the night final.
French cosmetics giant L’Oreal said on Friday it would buy Body Shop International, renowned for its ethical hair and skin products, for $1,143-billion (£652 million). L’Oreal will pay 300 pence a share for Body Shop, which will be maintained as a separate entity and continue to be led by its current management team.
Although South Africa currently has one of the fastest growing new vehicle markets in the world, the local motor industry still has a number of significant challenges to address, according to McCarthy CEO Brand Pretorius. Pretorius was speaking at the opening of the Durban Motor Show on Friday.
Jaywalkers in China beware. Crossing the street against the lights could lead to punishments at work, including being overlooked for a promotion and a loss of salary bonuses. China’s law on road safety states that every work unit or company has the responsibility to educate their staff on traffic regulations.
Intelligence Inspector General Zolile Ngcakani’s report on the alleged "hoax
e-mails" is set to worsen tensions within the African National Congress ahead of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting next week. <i>Mail & Guardian</i> interviews with a range of senior party leaders exposed deep divisions on the e-mails, which are likely to be discussed at the NEC meeting.
Axed parliamentary finance chief Harry Charlton is taking his fight to the Labour Court after an attempt to reach settlement at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration failed. He had been seeking either reinstatement or financial compensation, after the controversial disciplinary process that led to his sacking in January.
The man who based the legacy of his tenure on the 32nd floor of the UN Turtle Creek headquarters on reforming the world organisation has to face up to the reality that it will not happen before his second and final term expires at the end of the year. The momentum built up over years to the special summit has dissipated.
Like many I will look back on last Sunday’s one-day cricket match between Australia and South Africa as the best I’ve ever seen. When first the 50-over, one-day match came into being I was reactionary, along with most of those of my generation who have grown up with the established form of the game: two innings for each side and the only guaranteed result being a draw.
Numbed by crime, South Africa goes about its business as police make inroads into the daily toll of hijackings, robberies and murders at such snail’s pace that citizens feel no safer. We have come to view violent crime as a part of life. Our national conversation runs as follows: "Your house was broken into — so was mine."
<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 possibility of Jacob Zuma having contracted HIV from the woman he allegedly raped was discussed in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday. The former deputy president has said he had unprotected and consensual sex with the woman on November 2 last year. Virology specialist Professor Desmond Martin told the court the risk of acquiring the virus through unprotected sex is three in 10 000.
The JSE’s bull run may have resulted in capital growth of more than 50% a year for nearly three years, but it’s not run out of steam just yet — at least, that’s the view of Stanlib, which is still advising the hundreds of intermediaries marketing its funds to recommend to their clients that they continue to be "overweight" equities.
With the cost of education rising all the time, parents are well advised to start planning for this large expense sooner rather than later. According to Franzo Friedrich, head of marketing at FNB Insurance, education is one of the biggest expenses that most parents will have to face.
Feelings are running high in the Serbian town of Pozarevac, whose most famous son, former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic, is coming home to rest in peace. As preparations step up for a funeral on Saturday under the gaze of the world, 500 people from his Socialist Party gathered in the local cultural centre and roundly accused the UN war crimes court where he died of killing him.
As a result of the high divorce rate in South Africa, financial advisers are increasingly receiving queries from their clients regarding the effect of a divorce on their retirement-fund benefits. The Divorce Amendment Act came into effect on August 1 1989.
Fuelled by strong investor demand, the assets of Absa’s NewGold Gold Bullion Debentures have shown remarkable growth of 216% in the period December 2005 to January 2006. Absa’s NewGold allows investors to invest directly in actual gold rather than gold companies.
Absa’s MyHome gives individuals or couples with joint monthly incomes of between R1 500 and R7 500 access to an affordable 100% mortgage bond that can also include a five-year fixed-rate option. MyHome is a completely unique concept in that the qualifying criterion is based primarily on proof of regular income.
"Is the bubble about to burst?" That’s the question many people are asking in the wake of months of a particularly buoyant stock market. According to Robert Keip, CEO of FNB Investment Products, many people have grown their wealth significantly because of the strength of the equities market.
South African Airways (SAA) is one step closer to officially becoming a member of the global airline network, Star Alliance. One of SAA’s Airbus A340-600s has been branded in Star Alliance promotional livery. The Star Alliance livery, painted across the body of the aircraft, took SAA Technical staff a total of four days to complete.
Nigerian separatist rebels threatened to step up their attacks on foreign-owned oil facilities on Wednesday after dashing hopes that their three Western hostages would soon be released. A spokesperson for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta confirmed in a statement that the hostages had been split up and warned of imminent raids across the region.
The middle of January is probably the worst time of the year for everybody. New Year’s resolutions have already been broken; people are experiencing back-to-work blues while counting the days to the next public holiday, which is unbelievably a whole three months away. Then there are the bills.
Buying a new or second-hand vehicle is probably one of the biggest investments you will ever make. Why then take any chances when it comes to safeguarding and insuring this investment? However, at today’s prices, buying a new vehicle is something very few of us can do without some form of financial assistance.
It is important that people are well informed about just what to do in an accident. When an accident happens, people often make mistakes and forget to do the basics because they’re so traumatised, says Caroline da Silva, head of commercial underwriting at Santam.
Sony will delay the launch of the PlayStation 3 by half a year until November, a report said on Wednesday, boosting Microsoft’s efforts to win a bigger share of the multibillion-dollar video game industry. The next-generation home video game console is one of Sony’s core products and its success against Microsoft’s already-launched Xbox 360 is considered vital to its revival after a profit slump.
South African society has become much more knowledgeable and aware of its constitutional rights, and as a result has become a more litigious society. "From an insurance perspective, liability … means that the person involved must be legally liable, which can only be decided by a court of law," explains Jono Soames of Mutual & Federal.
Welcome to the latest section of the Mail and Guardian
MTN Banking was launched as a true mobile banking solution last year, which allows millions of cellphone users in the country to open a bank account without having to go into a bank. Now it is offering those same cellphone users a very unique card.
It’s been a while since I gathered up a collection of delicious items to demonstrate human stupidity in action, so, yup — that’s the theme this time. Is it trite? Banal? Hell, yeah. I mean, are you reading this to get depressed, or to get a brief cackle or two that takes you out of the usual horrors of your everyday existence?
Since Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s easing of exchange controls in February, First National Bank (FNB) reports a renewed interest by South Africa’s newly emerged elite in investing offshore. "The near-threefold increase in the foreign capital allowance has spurred interest in investing abroad," FNB says.
The debate over the National Credit Bill has brought into focus the confusing issues around home insurance that often leave home buyers overpaying for insurance — or even paying for products they don’t need. Life insurance associated with home loans is another issue that buyers find confusing.
Black economic empowerment (BEE) deals of a disclosed value of R55-billion were announced in 2005, compared with R62-billion disclosed in 2004, according to BusinessMap Foundation. The foundation recorded 350 BEE deals last year compared with some 250 the year before.
Sony said on Tuesday it would appeal a United States court ruling that found the Japanese giant infringed on a small US firm’s patent over its hot-selling PlayStation, whose next-generation version is out this year. A US District Court threw out last week Sony’s appeal of a costly 2005 ruling that said the conglomerate illegally used technology of game machine developer Immersion.
Myanmar on Tuesday called for international help to tackle bird flu after the country confirmed its first case of the deadly H5N1 virus in poultry. "We are still trying to control it. We need help not only with the technical procedures, but also with equipment," said the country’s top veterinary official Than Hla.