Creating more business opportunities to counter rising unemployment is expected to take centre stage at an upcoming jobs summit in Swaziland. The summit, scheduled to take place in July, follows a pledge by King Mswati III to initiate a R1-billion public-private fund to bankroll the development of small- and medium-scale enterprises.
South African Airways’ CEO has evoked the ire of two opposition parties — with the Democratic Alliance calling for an SAA board enquiry. The DA and Inkatha Freedom Party were reacting on Monday to a <i>Sunday Times</i> report that the CEO, Khaya Ngqula, has been running up bills flying to meetings by private helicopter.
Russian mining group Norilsk Nickel and Gold Fields have both made some form of approach regarding Harmony Gold’s 11,5% stake in Gold Fields, Harmony spokesperson Brenton Saunders said on Monday. Harmony has received a "couple" of approaches regarding the 11,5% Gold Fields stake, he added.
Big Ben, the world-famous clock tower at the Houses of Parliament in London, stopped late on Friday night, and nobody is quite sure why, officials said on Saturday. The 147-year-old timepiece — one of the most reliable in the world — stopped at 10.07pm, then started again, then stalled a second time at 10.20pm.
Three British men sparked a full-scale air and sea search after going for late-night swim and forgetting where they left their clothes on the beach, eventually going back to their hotel without them, police said on Sunday. Lifeboats and a rescue helicopter were scrambled at Skegness, a seaside resort in eastern England.
Staring through the bottom of an empty glass in a bar might not seem like the obvious moment to consider becoming a priest, but it could become the norm under a novel recruitment scheme hatched by the British Catholic Church. The country’s Catholic hierarchy is to print advertisements seeking new priests on beer mats.
British police expressed scepticism on Sunday over a report that the mute piano virtuoso found wandering on an English beach last month could have belonged to a rock band in the Czech Republic. More than 1 000 people have responded to an appeal for information that could help in identifying the mysterious pianist.
The national executive committee of the African National has resolved to "act with firmness and resolve" against corruption in the party’s ranks. In a statement on Monday following a meeting of the committee at the weekend, the organisation said it act "against any members of the ANC found guilty of any misdemeanour".
South African financial services group Alexander Forbes on Monday reported a 16% decline in headline earnings per share to 113 cents for the year ended March 31, from 135 cents a year ago. Excluding non-recurring restructuring costs, headline earnings per share were 132 cents, down 2% from 135 cents a year earlier.
London’s smallest apartment, a converted storage closet measuring just five square metres, has found a tenant for £585 pounds (about R7 000) per month. Gordon Blausten of the Bruten and Company real-estate agency said the "tiny but trendy" apartment packs in kitchenette, shower and wardrobe under a loft bed.
It is a sight to make the average toddler weep with horror: a billboard not only stating categorically that Santa Claus does not exist, but also condemning him as a tool of consumerism. But following an initial ban, the poster — the work of a Scottish art student — was unveiled in Glasgow on Friday.
South Africa’s retail petrol price for all grades will drop by only 16 cents a litre (c/l) from June 1, as an extra 6c/l levy for the reduction of the slate with oil companies was added, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. This reduces the price of a litre of petrol to R5,06 from a record R5,22 in Gauteng.
The Durban Institute of Technology pioneered the radical transformation of higher education by venturing out as the first merger in higher education under the democratic dispensation. It is a highly contested terrain. It is against this background that I take issue with Sam Sole’s loose assertion that, "Merged KZN technikons ‘remain deeply divided’".
Late on a recent Monday evening pay-TV viewers enjoyed a spectacular display of M-Net-style puritanism. It took place during an hour-long show in the HBO comedy series. This was a monologue by the American satirist, Bill Maher. As always, Maher was superb, showing that true, abrasive satire can still flourish in a world steadily being eroded of humour.
Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Buyelwa Sonjica has a tricky job. She needs to manage the implementation of the 1998 water Act, and try to ensure that black farmers gain access to water resources without cutting into the productivity of commercial farms. All of this work overlaps the responsibilities of other Cabinet portfolios, but Sonjica manages almost no implementation budget.
Close to 6 000 workers at arms manufacturer Denel will pocket R4-million in lost wages, according to the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa. The trade union added that the company will pay out R2-million on June 30 this year and another R2-million in December.
Women factory workers were shocked when a man in a full Darth Vader costume paraded menacingly in front of them and then flashed his genitals, Malaysian media reported on Thursday. The women were waiting for their bus after work when the man got out of his car and strutted in front of them in his Darth Vader costume.
South Africa’s April 2005 producer price index (PPI) rose by 1,8% year-on-year from a 1,9% increase in March, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. Johan Rossouw, chief economist at Vector Securities, said: "The market consensus was a bit bearish and this is marginally above what we expected."
International investment and financial services group Brait on Thursday reported diluted headline earnings per share of 34,7 United States cents for the year ended March 31, from 4,9 US cents a year ago. The group reported a 190% increase in profit from operations to $48,5-million for the period.
The African National Congress tried to swat away the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s Oilgate revelations last week like some pesky insect. But like the persistent gadflies that we are, we won’t disappear that easily. Hiding behind a paper-thin set of excuses, the party has argued that there is nothing wrong with a private company making donations to a political party.
Britain is suffering a sense-of-humour failure, with laughter levels three times lower now than 50 years ago and nearly half of all adults unable to enjoy at least one big guffaw a day, research showed on Tuesday. Money worries, relationship woes and political concerns were among the reasons given for the collection of grim faces.
A liberal slathering of suntan lotion gave one woman more protection than she bargained for, allowing her to slip out of the grasp of a would-be rapist, police near Los Angeles said on Tuesday. The attack took place while the woman stopped off in a bathroom while jogging in a deserted public park early on Sunday.
<i>Crazy Frog</i>, a super-annoying cellphone ringtone that everybody loves to hate, looks set to hit number one in the British singles chart this weekend. German dance duo Bass Bumber’s take on <i>Crazy Frog</i> has been outselling Coldplay’s new single by four to one in music retailer HMV’s outlets.
Unlisted black-owned Calulo Investments has — for an undisclosed amount — snatched a 15% shareholding in Chlor-Alkali Holdings-held NCP Chlorchem, the company announced on Wednesday. Calulo chairperson Mkhuseli Faku and MD Mpho Diale have, as a result, joined the NCP board.
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, rose by 3,8% year-on-year in April after increasing by 3,6% in March, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday.
This week, I thought, I’d show you the origins of real horror. No, I’m not talking about those naked pictures of Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, I mean horror films. As a serious film and horror geek, I want to do this properly, so rather than give a simplistic overview of this subject, I’m going to spread this over two columns. This first part covers the basics of horror films.
The price of petrol will drop to below R5 a litre from Wednesday next week, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Tuesday. The department said the price of petrol of all grades will decrease by 24c a litre. That means motorists in Gauteng using 93 octane petrol will pay R4,98 per litre, effective from June 1.
A United States man was on Monday sentenced to 600 hours of community service and ordered to pay more than $13 000 (R84 600) for trying to sell an antique Hawaiian skull in an online auction. In the sale notice, Hasson said he had snuck on to the beach with friends and uncovered an entire skeleton, but only kept the skull.
The old East German Trabant, widely reviled as the worst car made to date, had its day in the sun on Monday when 50 of them spluttered along in a <i>concours d’elegance</i>, trailing their telltale wake of oily blue smoke. The procession in the Bulgarian town of Beloslav, coincided with a literature and book fair.
Beleaguered clothing manufacturer Rex Trueform said on Tuesday that a black economic empowerment (BEE) consortium has expressed a willingness to offer attractive terms to lease its Salt River factory, which faces closure. The company announced in March that the Salt River factory was no longer viable.
An Indonesian city mayor incensed by poor discipline among his staff has sent more than 100 officials to a police boot camp in a novel move that may help tackle the country’s rampant corruption, an official said on Monday. Fauzi Bahri, the mayor of the Sumatra city of Padang, dispatched 115 regional leaders to the 10-day course.
More and more people are committing family killings because they are "catching", Family and Life Centre director Liz Dooley said on Monday. Her comments follow a bloody fortnight for some South African families. Just over the weekend, 15 people died when men opened fire on their families.