Staff Reporter

First the bad news: this week’s interest rate cut marks the end of the party for bond holders. Next, some mild consolation: another razzle is getting under way in the equities market, if you can just hang in. "I think it’s close to going home time. It’s been a long party," Jonathan Myerson, bond analyst at Rand Merchant Bank, said this week.

Pope John Paul II, courageously clinging to the vestiges of a once-robust health, received a rapturous welcome from prelates and pilgrims alike on Thursday as he celebrated a milestone 25th anniversary of his election. Thursday morning’s audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall was attended by more than 7 000 pilgrims.

South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Tito Mboweni said on Thursday that the central bank would cut the repo rate by 150 basis points to 8,5%, effective from October 17. Mboweni made the announcement at the end of a two-day meeting by the SARB’s monetary policy committee.

Phaphama, the controlling shareholder of New Africa Investments Limited (Nail), has welcomed the ruling by the Securities Regulation Panel (SRP) that Phaphama has
the right to vote on any resolution regarding the disposal by Nail of its assets.

Journalist Ranjeni Munusamy indicated on Thursday at the Hefer commission that she intended asking the high court to protect her from testifying before the commission. This followed a decision by Judge Joos Hefer that Munusamy must give evidence, although she could object to answering certain questions.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=22068">Scramble for apartheid-era documents</a>

A Zimbabwe court is set to hear an appeal on Thursday by the <i>Daily News</i>, the country’s only private daily paper which was shut down last month, after being denied an operating licence, a lawyer said on Wednesday. Armed police forcibly shut down the paper on September 12 after the Supreme Court ruled that the papers were illegal because they were not registered with a government-appointed commission.

President Jacques Chirac’s office said on Wednesday France very much hoped Libya would abide by its commitment to compensate victims of the 1989 bombing of a French airliner despite an apparent breakdown in negotiations. Libya on Tuesday abruptly broke off talks here aimed at settling a compensation deal.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is conducting a two-week assessment of Uganda’s trouble-afflicted Teso region in the east, with a view to finding a sustainable, long-term solution to the health crisis there. WHO’s representative Dr Walker Oladapo said that medical aid to Teso had achieved little because the infrastructure for delivering health services could not cope with the crisis.

Now apparently there was some sort of sport this week — rugby of some kind. But as to the details, I’m utterly disinterested. (Sport, like watching rugby, is one of those dumb human occupations which could more accurately be described as a misplaced homoerotic testosterone-fuelled merchandising opportunity disguised as fake-patriotism.)

The dramatic exit of columnist Darrel Bristow-Bovey from three newspapers and the exit of <i>Elle</i> editor Cynthia Vongai over allegations of plagiarism is a sign that media houses are taking the issue seriously. However, it has been suggested that no law against plagiarism per se exists in South Africa, and that it is not a legal term.

Over 17-million people in Ethiopia may need emergency food aid by 2007, according to a food security watchdog. The US government’s Famine Early Warning System Network (Fews) said 17,3-million people could need help because of declining rainfall levels and a spiralling population which are fuelling chronic food shortages.

Liberia was set to acquire a new government on Tuesday to lead the war-ravaged west African state until general elections in 2005, as rebels promised to start disarming. Temporary President Moses Blah is to hand over power to Gyude Bryant, a little-known businessman who arrived in Monrovia on Monday.

Two Egyptian boys who were born joined at the head were lying in separate beds for the first time in their two years of existence on Monday, but doctors who worked 26 hours to separate them warned that they still faced a long road to recovery.

Police in Zimbabwe on Monday on charged the spokesperson of the country’s main opposition party with trying to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s government. Paul Themba Nyathi is accused of being part of a group of opposition officials who "wanted to overthrow the constitutional government and coerce the president to step down".

Sales at South Africa’s 2003 Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild auction were 12% lower than 2002’s record levels, reflecting weaker demand from foreign buyers due to rand strength, generally weaker local and foreign economic conditions and a fall-off in top-end tourism, according to the organisers of the annual event.

In examining some of the provisions of the Copyright Act 98 of 1978 ("the Act") insofar as they relate to written works, were addressing those who’s stock in trade is the written word. Karen Willenberg of legal firm Rosin Wright Rosengarten offers valuable insight on copyright to get the writers negotiating.

Does Dave Bullard have masochistic tendencies? If his last two pieces lent weight to the hypothesis, this piece leaves no doubt.

Frustration is often expressed with what has been described as the lopsided relationship between South African broadcasters and television producers, as well as with the unbalanced nature of the contracts that are put in place to regulate those relationships.

Dave Bullard has never won an award for journalism, which could be why he doesn’t have much respect for all these competitions.

Its amazing what passes for business decisions in the world of publishing. Dave Bullard writes that newspaper and magazine owners march to a totally different drum than the rest of the commercial world.

Dave Bullard quite enjoys the struggling artist image accorded the freelance writer, but there ain’t much future in it. Which is why he’s also an MC.

Bullard is more interested in free lunches than journalistic virtue. Its one of the reasons he didnt become a dentist.

There are three things certain in life: death, taxes, and the freelance <br />writing rate. David Bullard waxes lyrical on the market value of the freelance writer.

Dave Bullard argues that a reduction in vacuous womens titles would push up freelance rates.

Stan Katz, chief executive of African Media Entertainment, argues that the National Association of Broadcasters is too broad-based to form an effective lobby organisation.

President George Bush yesterday launched the latest salvo in a White House public relations offensive to convince Americans that things are going well in Iraq.
In his weekly radio address to the nation, Bush said Iraq was ‘making progress’ despite a steady stream of bad news on front pages.