Ethiopia is to issue its first-ever private radio broadcasting licences in the next two months, Bereket Simon, the information minister, said on Monday. The licences, he added, will be issued ahead of the 2005 elections that analysts say will be a litmus test of the government’s commitment to democracy.
South Africa’s largest mobile communications group, Vodacom, which is 50% owned by listed telecommunications giant Telkom, reported a 36,9% growth in net profits to R3-billion for the year ended March. The group’s customer base increased by 29,7% over the year to 11,2-million customers.
The European Union is considering sending peacekeepers to Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where scores have died since the town was overrun by rebellious soldiers, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said on Monday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67487">SA peacekeepers die in DRC</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67464">Rwanda accused of fuelling fighting</a>
South African telecommunications utility Telkom has allocated R7,7-million to programmes designed to control the HIV/Aids pandemic in its 2004/05 financial year, Telkom CEO Sizwe Nxasana announced on Monday. Earlier in the day Telkom reported a sterling set of results in its first year as a listed company.
Shares in JSE- and New York-listed telecommunications group Telkom surged on Monday morning after the group reported better-than-expected results for the year ended March. At 10.14am, Telkom shares were up 3,02% or R2,32 at R80,20 after earlier trading as high as R81,85.
The United States began saying a long farewell to Ronald Reagan on Sunday at the start of a week of commemoration that will culminate in a state funeral the like of which has not been seen in Washington since the death of Lyndon Johnson in 1973.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=67473&t=1">Ronald Reagan dead at 93</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67477">Reagan’s ‘ugly crime'</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67481">Leaders pay homage to Reagan</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67483">South Africa offers condolences</a>
Robert Mugabe’s cupboard is bursting with "been-there-done-that" T-shirts. He’s done pretty much everything by now. He’s done the courts. He’s done the media. He’s done sport. He’s even done Archbishop Desmond Tutu. So it was only a matter of time before the champion of "your-vote-is-my-vote" democracy realised that he didn’t have a "been there. Done [in] the arts!" T-shirt, writes Mike van Graan.
The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, said on Friday that the Air Quality Bill will be resubmitted to Parliament this year and air quality officers will be appointed to crack down on offenders in pollution hot spots. Adressing the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s Greening the Future awards breakfast in Johannesburg on Friday, Van Schalkwyk also paid tribute to the South African public, "the foot soldiers in our greening revolution".
The chairperson of the audit committee of Durban’s eThekwini Metro council is being investigated for allegedly trying to divert R1-million from a council debt settlement into a private trust controlled by him and his family. Mdu Msomi (33) resigned this week after inquiries by the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> about the allegations.
Availability of HIV treatment could shift attitudes about the threat of HIV/Aids in the developing world, potentially resulting in increased risk behaviour and the continued global expansion of the Aids pandemic. This was is according to a report released by the Global HIV-Prevention Working Group.
The fall of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town of Bukavu has strained Kinshasa’s relations with neighbouring Rwanda and on Thursday prompted countrywide protests against United Nations peacekeepers that left two people dead in Kinshasa.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=67345">Rebel commanders back down</a>
The police investigation into the rapes of three women and the murders of two of the women and a baby was incomplete, the Temba Circuit High Court heard on Thursday. Defence Advocate Janus Roothman argued that the police’s investigation had been incomplete and this had led to discrepancies.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67238">Guilty plea in high-profile murder case</a>
South African brewer SABMiller said on Thursday that it will not proceed with its voluntary offer of HK$4,30 for shares in China’s Harbin Brewery and that it will accept the offer of HK$5,58 that Anheuser-Busch announced it will be making for shares in Harbin.
The least attentive political observer could have predicted that the report by Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana on whether National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka abused his power while investigating Deputy President Jacob Zuma would arouse controversy. But no one envisaged the orgy of public mud-slinging that would follow the report’s publication.
Standing defiant amid fierce opposition from within his Cabinet and coalition, Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon said on Wednesday Israel will complete its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip by the end of 2005, even if the pullout is carried out in stages.
"By 2005 there will not be any settlers left in Gaza," the premier said.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67297">Abuse cases stun Israeli authorities</a>
The Competition Tribunal has confirmed a consent order agreed between the Competition Commission and Toyota South Africa Motors, which followed an investigation by the commission of Toyota’s implementation and enforcement of a maximum discount policy.
At least four people were killed and more than 30 others wounded, including five children, in a car bombing and another blast on Wednesday in a northern Baghdad district, hospital and police sources said. Women were seen screaming and wailing at the hospital as ambulances ferried the wounded to the emergency department.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=67245">Bombs welcome new Iraqi president</a>
Tax offenders had collectively been sentenced to 84 years of imprisonment in the last financial year, says South African Revenue Services (Sars) commissioner Pravin Gordhan. Addressing Members of Parliament serving on the ad hoc finance portfolio and select committees, Gordhan on Wednesday said there had been 1 558 convictions and fines amounting to R4,5-million.
School fees are preventing vast numbers of Aids orphans from getting an education and improving their future prospects, a UN official said.
"My route to work is a congested N2 city-bound. The far-right lane is marked ‘bus only’. Nice idea. But even the buses ignore it. It’s on the wrong side of traffic for the on- and off-ramps. Along this particular stretch the N2 has three lanes. In practice, the minibuses, ducking and weaving and making space for each other, have created their own left-margin fourth lane," writes Jeremy Cronin.
"And just when you thought it would be a nice, fun column with nary a whisper of politics, let me pull the rug out from beneath you," says Ian Fraser. Read what the ‘rightful’ president of the US has to say, links between a former Iraqi opposition leader and the MI6, thwarted attempts to attack a US nuclear submarine base and more.
"To those ‘unaccomplished’ black filmmakers — those of you who, to Schattauer’s mind, haven’t ‘reaped in award after award at prestigious film festivals’ — or those who ‘either do not mind compromising or do indeed need training’ — beware! We will patronise you. You, says the adjunct professor, are merely meek black people ‘who do not mind compromising’". Head of programmes for SABC1 Siven Maslamoney exercises his right to reply.
"You wouldn’t blink twice if you saw Mad Max in this position or Clint Eastwood in this position". Uma Thurman answered questions about Quentin Tarantino and Kill Bill in a round-table discussion in Los Angeles.
Firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr criticised Iraq’s supreme Shiite Muslim authority during his sermon on Friday delivered by an aide in Kufa after clashes erupted between militiamen and United States troops. Mainstream Shiite leaders have remained largely silent over fighting in Najaf.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=67015">Iraqi politicians secure deal in Najaf</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=67008">US pulls out of Najaf after truce offer</a>
Absa Bank’s acquisition of LeasePlan South Africa received the green light after the deal was approved by the Competition Tribunal. This approval allows Absa to merge its own fleet management business with LeasePlan. The acquisition through Absa’s vehicle and asset finance division will add more than double the size of its fleet.
The South African government is looking into ways of cushioning the anticipated price rises for petrol and diesel in June, Minister of Science and Technology Mosibudi Mangena said on Friday. Given the sharp increases in the global price of oil, the retail price of petrol will need to rise by 38 cents a litre on June 2.
The South African Police Service, led by national commissioner Jackie Selebi, has been quietly conducting a criminal investigation into National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka and other officials in the National Prosecuting Authority.
Women and children carrying head-loads of personal belongings streamed out of Bakin Ciyawa — a little village of mud huts and a few cement buildings with corrugated iron roofing in central Nigeria’s Plateau State — just ahead of dusk, fearful of another militia attack. Residents doubt the emergency measures will end the round of tit-for-tat violence.
What does the socially responsible investment index (SRI), launched by the JSE Securities Exchange last week, really mean? The first of its kind to be launched in an emerging market, the SRI comprises 51 companies that have been rigorously assessed on "triple bottom-line" reporting — encompassing environment, social and economic performance and corporate governance.
The United States-led coalition agreed on Thursday to suspend offensive operations in Najaf after Shiite leaders struck a deal with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to end the bloody standoff in the city, which has threatened some of Shia Islam’s holiest shrines.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=66967">Shiite radical offers Najaf deal to US</a>
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi may have been "grandstanding" when he told Parliament’s safety and security portfolio committee that several al-Qaeda operatives were arrested in South Africa ahead of the April 14 elections, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66946">SA arrests lead to al-Qaeda: Selebi</a>
South African producer prices for all commodities fell by 0,2% in the 12 months to the end of April from a 1,2% decline for the 12 months to the end of March, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Thursday. On the month, the PPI was up 1%, compared with a 0,2% drop in March.