Staff Reporter

Pretoria | Thursday TWO of five people arrested in the United Kingdom last week in connection with a robbery in Switzerland are South Africans and the others Austrians with permanent South African residence permits and travelling on temporary South African passports. The five, four men and a woman, were arrested on September 28 at the […]

Phalaborwa | Thursday THE relocation of a herd of elephants from South Africa to Mozambique will symbolise the regional peace that now reigns, Mozambican Tourism Minister Fernando Sumbana said Wednesday. On Thursday morning, South African environmental officials will release the first herd of a group of 1 000 elephants to be relocated to the Mozambican […]

SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki warned on Tuesday that the world should not focus so much on its anti-terrorism campaign as to forget about other crucial issues such as poverty. Mbeki, who arrived in Tokyo on a three-day visit, said in a speech at the United Nations University in Tokyo that the world “has spoken […]

Johannesburg | Thursday SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki said his government would try to limit damage from the withdrawal of Swissair’s 20% investment in South African Airways (SAA), state radio SABC reported on Wednesday. The Pretoria government, which holds the remaining 80% of SAA, would look closely at what happens to the troubled Swiss company […]

PHILIPPE BERNES-LASSERRE, Nelspruit | Thursday SOUTH Africa’s white farmers on Wednesday denounced the government’s failure to protect them against murderous attacks, but said they were ready to help redistribute land to the impoverished black majority. Their organisation, Agri SA, holding an annual congress in the eastern town of Nelspruit, accused the government of having “failed […]

EGYPT’S state security court on Tuesday ordered 14 Egyptians to be held in preventive detention for two weeks, on suspicion of proselytism and violating the principles of Islam, court sources said. The suspects were rounded up at a meeting in a Cairo suburb. Tapes used to spread the group’s ideology were seized and handed to […]

PRESIDENT George W Bush has picked career diplomat Cameron Hume to be US ambassador to South Africa, the White House announced on Tuesday. Hume, who served as ambassador to Algeria from 1997 to 2000, is presently a senior advisor at the US mission to the United Nations in New York, where he served as political […]

ANGOLA’S army has discovered a large cache of heavy weapons and munitions near the airport in Mavinga, a town in the southeastern province of Cuando-Cubango, a private radio report said on Tuesday. A large number of portable rocket launchers, a ZU-23 anti-aircraft battery, B12 cannon munitions, and explosives were found in the cache, according to […]

MORE than 35 leading officials and supporters of the opposition Popular National Congress (PNC) were arrested on Tuesday as the Islamic party tried to organise a press conference, a PNC official said. Beshir Adam Rahma said that the arrests were made in front of the PNC headquarters in Khartoum’s Al-Riyadh district. Those arrested included PNC […]

Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH African Airways (SAA), in which troubled Swissair holds a 20% stake, said on Tuesday it would be losing “a worthy business partner” after the troubled Swiss company said on Monday that it would dispose of its foreign stakes. Swissair has filed for bankruptcy protection and grounded its aircraft earlier in the […]

Brighton | Wednesday BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair called on Tuesday for a deal — democracy and human rights in return for investment and aid — between Africa and the international community. Aid, debt relief and investment should be matched by a commitment to human rights, democracy and rooting out corruption by African governments, he […]

GORDON BELL, Cape Town | Tuesday CAPITAL gains tax (CGT) will pose a challenge to both taxpayers and tax collectors, the SA Chamber of Business (Sacob) said on Monday.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said after a meeting with former South African president Nelson Mandela on Tuesday that his party was “very committed” to the decommissioning of arms in Northern Ireland. “We are very committed to taking guns out of Irish politics,” Adams said after his half-hour meeting in Johannesburg with Mandela and businessman […]

Cape Town | Wednesday AFRICAN National Congress Chief Whip Tony Yengeni has been granted R10 000 bail after appearing in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning in connection with charges of corruption. He had earlier handed himself over to the crack Scorpions unit after a warrant of arrest was issued. This follows an […]

THE World Bank has released $45-million to the Zambian government aimed at restructuring the economy of this impoverished Southern African country. The money has been given to Zambia through the International Development Association (IDA) fiscal sustainability credit, said James Mtonga, a secretary to the treasury in the Zambian government. “The release of the fiscal sustainability […]

Rome | Wednesday ITALY on Tuesday gave the Eritrean ambassador to Rome 72 hours to leave the country following the expulsion of his Italian counterpart from Asmara, as the EU threatened to re-examine trade and aid links with the Horn of Africa nation. The move to expel Tseggai Mogos was announced by the Italian foreign […]

THE Tanzanian high court has released a 70-year-old man serving a life sentence for growing and peddling marijuana on grounds that the sentence imposed by a lower court was excessive. Mareremba Machafu was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on August 3 by a Bhiharamulo district magistrate after he pleaded guilty to the charge of […]

Washington | Monday AFGHANISTAN’S defiant Taliban regime has admitted for the first time it was shielding terror suspect Osama bin Laden from US wrath, as Washington warned bluntly it wants the militia out of power. As Washington ratcheted up preparations for military action, the Taliban also vowed a punishing guerrilla war if his Islamic militia […]

SOUTH Africa’s Stanbic Bank is one of two banks bidding to acquire a 51% stake in state-owned Uganda Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL), Uganda’s finance minister said on Monday. The other bank whose bid has been received is the Development Finance Company of Uganda. Controversy has erupted over UCBL’s privatisation with the Ugandan parliament demanding that […]

EXTRA troops were deployed on Monday in Cameroon’s English-speaking provinces as local authorities banned all secessionist rallies on the 40th anniversary of national unification, witnesses said. Residents said that soldiers had been sent to the two provinces to prevent any rallies and demonstrations by activists demanding the secession of English-speaking areas from mainly French-speaking Cameroon. […]

ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe will discuss trade and investment issues with Thai leaders during a hastily arranged three-day state visit to begin later on Monday, the foreign ministry said. Mugabe was originally due to attend this week’s Commonwealth summit in Australia but it was abruptly cancelled in the aftermath of last month’s terrorist attacks on […]

Johannesburg | Tuesday GERRY Adams, president of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, arrived in Johannesburg on Monday to seek assistance for the Northern Ireland peace process, state radio SABC reported. “I’m hopeful that as we come to take advice, we listen and we learn the lessons of your experience and […]

SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki called on Japan on Monday to play a greater role in development of the African continent through links with his country. In a meeting hours after his arrival on a three-day visit, Mbeki also agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to join hands in fighting terrorism. “Japan is fulfilling […]

Nelspruit, Washington | Tuesday The Washington Post has waded into the debate surrounding the Aids pandemic, highlighting the ANC’s resistance to wide-scale distribution of anti-retrovirals. In a scathing report, the newspaper quoted an open letter written by Rhoda Kadalie, a former anti-apartheid activist and now executive director of the Impumelelo trust in South Africa. “People […]

PUBLIC school teachers in Angola went on an open-ended strike on Monday to demand an increase in salaries in line with inflation, the teachers’ union said. The strike affects primary and secondary schools, as well as university. Inflation was at 49,5% in the first half of 2001, according to the finance ministry. The teachers’ union […]

CHRISPIN INAMBAO, Windhoek | Monday THREE villagers had their limbs blown off in landmine explosions in the Kavango Region on Wednesday, human rights monitors said at the weekend. Two of the incidents took place at Ndonga Linena, 100km east of Rundu, and followed a night-time raid on the village by suspected bandits. The National Society […]

SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Japan on Monday on a three-day state visit that includes talks with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Mbeki arrived at Tokyo’s Narita international airport on a government plane, accompanied by several ministers including those of foreign affairs and trade, a Japanese foreign ministry official said. The president is scheduled […]

Bloemfontein | Monday HIV-Aids was the biggest killer in the Free State, the provincial health department said in a statement released on Monday. Representative Elke Grobler was, however, unable to say if the incidence of the syndrome had increased in the province. According to statistics 32,2% of the 21 311 blood samples taken in five […]

A TRAIN carrying sulphuric acid derailed in the suburbs of the Senegalese capital Dakar in the early hours of Sunday, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of people and sending 45 to hospital, firefighters said. Three cars derailed, spilling their corrosive cargo over Dakar’s Thiaroye suburb, the firefighters said, who had established a security perimeter around […]

NIGER police have arrested two Muslim priests for sending a letter to the US embassy demanding that Washington change its foreign policy, a source said on Thursday. Sheikh Souleymane Imam Younouss (75) and 40-year-old Elhadj Boubacar Issa were arrested on Wednesday, the source said. Younouss is president of the Association for Islamic Culture and Education […]

SOUTH African former archbishop Desmond Tutu is due to take up a posting at Harvard University in the United States where he will teach theology. The Johannesburg-based newspaper The Star quoted Michael Duga, a former official in the Clinton administration, as saying Tutu, archbishop of Cape Town until 1995, will leave for Harvard “very soon”. […]