Focus on the big picture

President Jacob Zuma on Monday signed the Defence Amendment Bill into law.

The government doesn’t have the money to fetch the remains of all the MK members who died in African countries during the apartheid struggle,says kwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize.

Five people have been killed when a car crashed into the donkey cart they were riding on

The woes of the Navy's SAS Manthatisi, which has been out of commission for nearly three years, include fuses blown because somebody inserted a plug in the wrong socket.

A Bothasig family says Zola Tongo, sentenced to 18 years for his part in the Dewani murder, gave police their address as his.

Government departments and municipalities not spending their allocated funding will risk losing the allocations, and the relevant officials will be held liable.

Political parties and others have broadly welcomed Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's proposed 2012/13 Budget.

A passenger in a car crashed by musician Molemo "Jub Jub" Maarohanye has told the Protea Magistrate's Court that he "drove carefully" prior to a fatal accident.

Bulls captain Pierre Spies says their clash against the Sharks will be like any other clash between the two teams: A physical war.

Taxi driver Jacob Humphreys should be jailed for life for killing 10 children, the Western Cape High Court has heard.

The president of a foreign oil company in South Sudan has been asked to leave the country over allegations he conspired with Sudan to steal oil.

Egypt's ousted president Hosni Mubarak turned down a chance to address the court in the last session before the verdict in the seven-month trial.

Microsoft has lodged a formal complaint with the EU's competition regulator against Google's Motorola Mobility.

The police said the situation at Impala Platinum's Rustenburg mine was quiet, despite a boardroom being burnt down in the morning.

Most political and private players say they were satisfied with the budget for 2012, adding the emphasis on infrastructure was promising.

Dell says it has a deal to buy the data storage company Compellent Technologies for $884-million. ||| Dell Inc said on Monday it has a deal to buy the data storage company Compellent Tec...

“We call on our members to intensify their militant action until an acceptable offer is presented by the spoilt golden boys and girls of BHP Billiton,” says Numsa. ||| Nation...

More South African farmers expect to receive land offers in Mozambique as they seek to expand across Africa amid uncertainty over land reform at home. ||| Olivia Kumwenda Johannesburg - ...

Gold edged back up above $1,390 an ounce in Europe as last week's price dip of more than 2 percent brought physical buyers back to the market. ||| Jan Harvey London - Gold edged back up ...

Those publicising these leaks should understand the potentially dire consequences of their actions, writes Stuart Sterzel. ||| In the ongoing WikiLeaks debate, much has been said about v...

Samwu has lambasted the cooperative governance department for approving a once-off gratuity to municipal councillors who lost their seats in last year's election.

A 36-year-old Cape Town mother is expected to appear in the Mitchell's Plein Court on the Cape Flats this morning after confessing to murdering her two-year-old son.

KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo says government is committed to bringing services to the people, especially in rural areas.

Three people have been killed following a speedboat accident at Bronkhorstspruit dam in Mpumalanga.

The death toll from a New Years Eve storm in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands has risen to five.

WE ARE TOLD TO PAY UP: Gauteng freeway tolling will be introduced in April which will see ordinary motorists charged 30 cents a kilometre

Financial problems prompt closer scrutiny of how provinces are run

Budget sets out new procurement checks

Big cost to cover

Government departments and municipalities not spending their allocated funding will risk losing the allocations -- and the relevant officials will be held liable, Finance Minister Pravin...

A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook that he had decided not to watch any rugby this year to spend more time with his children.

When Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Deputy Minister Pieter Mulder last week made the claim in parliament that blacks had no legitimate claim to large tracts of land in South Africa b...

The Times Editorial: The main thrusts of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's Budget - the shift from consumption expenditure to investment - is exactly what the country needs if we hope to ...

Incompetent officials in key positions in the Gauteng departments of health, roads, transport and public works are to make way for "skilled people who know what they are doing", Gauteng P...

Hundreds of passengers were left stranded at Cape Town International Airport yesterday as low-cost airline Velvet Sky delayed three flights after an apparent contractual dispute.

A rare individual century in domestic 20-over cricket was not enough as the Impi slumped to a third successive loss in the T20 Challenge on Wednesday,

The Congress of SA Trade Unions has vowed to press ahead with a strike against toll fees in Gauteng, despite Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announcin

The Highveld Lions made it two-out-of-two victories as they thrashed the Warriors by eight wickets in their T20 Challenge fixture at St George's Park

Manchester City booked their place in the last 16 of the Europa League with a crushing 4-0 second leg victory over defending champions Porto on Wednes

Greece's finance minister says a new $172 billion bailout deal "binds Greece to euro" and will shield the country from default.

South Africa will start running out of water 13 years from now without better management, according to Treasury’s 2012 Budget Review, tabled today.

Free State Premier Ace Magashule has fired his MEC for economic development, tourism and economic affairs, Mxolisi Dukwana.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan had some good news for Gauteng drivers today – and some bad news, depending on how you look at it.

National Consumer Commission (NCC) head Mamodupi Mohlala says the City of Johannesburg ignored arbitration and dispute resolution offers to help settle the municipality’s billing crisis.

South Africa are one step away from booking their place at the London Olympic Games after securing a 5-2 thumping of India in the women’s hockey qualifying tournament in New Delhi, India.

The deputy agriculture minister suggested that black people had no historical claim to 40 percent of SA.

Thabo Mbeki says that South Africans deserved to know hidden facts about the country's history.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe is unhappy with the performances of some national sports sides.

The Xperia Active makes up for mediocre specifications by being rugged and durable.

Injuries sustatined by several key players in various teams strike blows for each campaign

Copyright AFP All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without prior permission in writing from AFP.

By Sbu H Mjikeliso Sundowns coach Johannes Neeskens has defended Surprise Moriri who conceded a late penalty when he brought down Tlou Segolela in the box that allowed Orlando Pirates to ...

I'd like to take a moment to thank our readers, the most important part of our NewsTime ecosystem. We were obsessed with you. In the early days of NewsTime I used to literally watch the t...

Norwegian police said Friday they were looking for a video camera that rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik reportedly used on July 22 to film his attacks that killed 77 people. The...

As confirmed to readers on the 3rd of August 2011 NewsTime will be closing down today. In order to assist you, in the unlikely event that there should be a declaration of World War III we...

[IPS] Cairo - The ongoing crackdown by Egypt's military rulers on a handful of civil society groups accused of receiving illegal foreign funds has far-reaching implications for the estima...

[Monitor] Sheikh Fu'ad Mohamed Khalaf Shongole, the chief of awareness raising of al-Shabaab, the radical Islamist group opposing the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, has insis...

[Nation] The Kenya military is set to benefit from the United States financial assistance once it is fully integrated into the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), an envoy has said.

[SciDev.Net] Antananarivo - Madagascar is aiming to plug its energy gap and reduce its carbon emissions by encouraging a major investment in large-scale wind-turbines, the country's inter...

[New Dawn] Officials at the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) announced Tuesday that they welcomed pronouncement by African Petroleum that its Narina-1 exploratory well drilled in B...

Resignations of successful CEOs don’t come more unexpectedly than Nick Badminton’s announcement last week that he is leaving Pick n Pay at the end of the month after six years at the helm.

Fagri Semaar’s career in the call centre industry started at the bottom of the pile, doing a hard-sell job on consumers in Australia.

Sir Sam Jonah’s profile in SA has lowered since his resignation from the boards of ArcelorMittal SA, Transnet, Anglo American, Anglo Platinum and Sentula two years ago.

Associate editor Linda Stafford, who has died aged 57 following surgery and resultant complications, was the outstanding food, wine and travel writer of her generation.

Things are looking up for the economy. That’s what 63% of some 5800 respondents to the fourth-quarter 2011 PPS graduate professionals confidence index believe.

China warned of a "humanitarian disaster" in Libya and expressed "deep concern" at reported civilian casualties as it renewed calls on Tuesday for an end to fighting in the North African ...

Libya released four New York Times journalists on Monday, nearly a week after they had been captured by Libyan forces while covering the conflict there, although three journalists for oth...

State lawmakers called on California utilities Monday to delay efforts to relicense nuclear power plants until the companies complete detailed seismic maps to get a true picture of the ri...

A Venezuelan government official says one person has died of swine flu and six others have been diagnosed with the virus.

The tiny hyena sucking on Dr. Kariuki Edward's gloved finger will be able to bite through steel and crack open bones when it grows up.

FINANCE Minister Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday delivered good news in the form of tax breaks of R9,5bn to individuals and R6,4bn to companies when he tabled his 2012-13 budget in Parliament.

POLITICAL parties and others have broadly welcomed Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s proposed 2012-13 Budget tabled in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Thursday proposed personal income-tax relief of R9,5bn in his 2012-13 budget, an increase of R3bn from 2011.

THE tolling of Gauteng’s highways will start on April 30 but motorists will pay a reduced rate, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in his 2012-13 budget speech in Parliament on Wednesday.

Proposed changes to the law governing the use of lethal force under section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act should apply only to police officers making an arrest and not to private indiv...

Gauteng motorists have been dealt a budget blow following Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's 2012 Budget Speech. On Wednesday, he confirmed that 'ordinary drivers' will pay 30 cents per ki...

Thousands of emergency workers and government staff began a two-day exercise on Wednesday, to practise dealing with a major terrorism incident during the 2012 London Olympics.Volunteers p...

The wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair has begun legal action over the alleged interception of her private phone messages, her lawyer said on Wednesday.Barrister Cherie Blair (57) i...

A Cape Town mother said officials have done little to help her 16-year-old son, who is allegedly being bullied at school. The teenager attends a special needs school in Milnerton.The conc...

The FedExCup playoffs, the PGA Tour's lucrative four-event season finale, have been extended for a further five years, commissioner Tim Finchem said on Wednesday.Launched in 2007, the gol...

Premier expresses concern about erosion of professionalism among teachers

Ian Davidson says minister appeared to violate ethics code by not disclosing payment

Federation says strike illegal and GS called on workers to return to work

COSATU & others say willing buyer, will seller has failed (Feb 21)

IFP leader says current growth rate govt driven, may not be sustainable

The FMF published an article more than a year ago saying that it was crisis time in South Africa. The country's greatest crisis lies in the large-scale unemployment that is causing havoc ...

Following South Africa's decision to freeze all Gaddafi's assets in accordance with UN Security Council resolution Zambia has sought clarification on whether the resolution would have any...

Drug peddlers in South Africa have introduced a new deadly drug whose ingredients contain life-prolonging antiretrovirals for people infected with HIV, a move that health experts claim co...

World over, particularly in Africa, diamond deposits have often been a source of bloody conflicts. However, Bostwana, a largely desert southern African nation endowed with huge diamond de...

Teenage school girls in South Africa say it's more fashionable to fall pregnant while still a student because “you are like a fool if you don't have sex” a study has shown.

You can call me Henry FEW sovereigns have shown more diplomatic ambition this year than the emir of Qatar. Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has brokered a peace deal between the Palestinian fa...

THE centre of Damascus, the Syrian capital, may be quiet but in dense suburbs where most of its 3m inhabitants live, chanting, hand-clapping marches burst out of dozens of local mosques....

A FLUSH of green is spreading across the Arab world, but not because its vast deserts are shrinking. Green is the colour of Islam and Islamist movements have reaped the biggest harvest o...

Commuters Correction to this article MELITA SAMOILYS is a leading marine biologist. Since 2010 she has visited 72 coral reefs in east Africa. On only one did she see a shark. That is bec...

SIERRA LEONE is regarded as a model of post-conflict reconstruction. An 11-year civil war that left some 50,000 dead by 2002 was overcome with the help of blue-hatted UN peacekeepers. In...

Nadir Lalani, arrived in the United Kingdom in the recession-hit 1970s from Tanzania and started a small corner shop. Since then, he has expanded his successful budget retail business '99...

For a woman whose country is on the brink of financial collapse, Greek teacher Julie Koukliati is surprisingly cheerful.

Surrounded by the white-clad students of her all-girls academy, Oprah Winfrey is glowing with pride.

Armed with big grins and risque humor, South African standup comedians Nik Rabinowitz and Tats Nkonzo take to the stage at Cape Town's Baxter Theater.

Known by many as Africa's "father of technology," software pioneer Herman Chinery-Hesse has been spawning innovations for two decades, helping to break down tech barriers between the cont...

African and Western leaders are to discuss the future of Somalia, including the threat from terrorism and piracy, at a major conference in London.

South Sudan expels the head of a Chinese and Malaysian-owned oil firm following its investigation into Khartoum's "theft" of oil worth $815m (£518m).

A gas-fuelled fire, with flames as high as 5m, may burn for months in waters off the Niger Delta in south-east Nigeria, a Chevron spokesperson tells the BBC.

Ethiopian and Somali troops capture Baidoa, a strategic stronghold of al-Shabab Islamist militants, as the UN approves extra African Union troops for Somalia.

A trial verdict for Egyptian ex-President Hosni Mubarak, accused of ordering the killing of protesters in the revolution that ousted him, is set for 2 June.

Julius Malema has upped the ante in his battle with the party's leadership by refusing to accept his suspension for indiscipline and declaring his organisation's independence.

South Africa's animal welfare body is investigating claims that a company planned to sell live rabbits together with loaves of bread to township consumers.

Colombian pop superstar Shakira was attacked by a sea lion as she tried to photograph and pet a group of the animals during a vacation in Cape Town, she said on Wednesday on her Facebook ...

A man who worked at Johannesburg Zoo for nearly 40 years has been killed by one of the lions he looked after.

Nelson Mandela has paid tribute to Whitney Houston, the American singer and actress who died in her Los Angeles hotel room at the weekend.

South African born dramatic soprano hugely popular with audiences worldwide The internationally acclaimed dramatic soprano Elizabeth Connell, who has died at the age of 65 of cancer, was...

Boost for black artists as 25-year-old daughter of farmers from Zulu heartland opens her own Johannesburg gallery Thandi Sibisi, a daughter of farmers in the Zulu heartland, remembers ar...

Investigators blame human error for zoo's first fatal animal attack in 50 years A lioness sprung at the throat of a zoo worker and killed him after security gates were apparently left op...

The South African president, Jacob Zuma, has unveiled a new set of rand banknotes featuring a picture of the country's first black president, Nelson Mandela Former South African Presiden...

Julius Malema has just been booted out of the ANC, but his incendiary politics has permanently changed the face of the country – and not for the better For as long as anyone can remember...

* Follows court ruling Bharti ownership of Nigeria unit was void

* Yang beats McDowell 2&1 in birdie-fest (Updates at end of round)

(updates) Feb 22 (Reuters) - Results from the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain's Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana, Arizona on Wednesday (U.S. unle...

* Bae upsets Poulter 4&3; Yang edges McDowell 2&1 (Updates with later matches)

(updates) Feb 22 (Reuters) - Results from the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain's Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana, Arizona on Wednesday (U.S. unle...