Updated: 8am GMT -- 2006/12/29

SouthAfrica

Matric results ‘disappointing’ – Pandor
WHILE the number of full-time pupils who wrote this year’s matric exam is the highest ever, the government is worried about a drop in the total of those scoring high enough to enter university and other tertiary education institutions. This conc...

We’re Africans, too – white civil rights group
CIVIL rights initiative AfriForum has challenged the Professional Provident Society (PPS) of South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) transaction, saying racial classification lacked legislative backing. AfriForum’s chief executive Kalli...

New ‘zone’ speed traps
A NEW generation of speed cameras, capable of calculating how fast a car has been travelling over any distance, could be on the roads within months. This means beating speed cameras by slowing down for a short distance will no longer be an option...

V&A Waterfront is ‘pipe bomb target’
POLICE are looking for eight pipe bombs in the Western Cape after a man was denied bail in Malmesbury Magistrate's Court yesterday. The man, alleged to have links to 90s vigilante group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs, was arrested last...

Driver of death bus ‘cleared of drinking’
NO CHARGES have yet been brought against anyone in connection with Sunday’s bus accident in KwaZulu-Natal in which 12 people died. Senior prosecutor Morris Alexander of the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court said neither the driver nor anyon...

SPCA claims safari is cruel to elephants
AN ELEPHANT-back safari operator in Zimbabwe has been accused by the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) of capturing and mistreating wild elephants. Marcelle Meredith, a spokesperson for the NSPCA, alleged yesterday that Shearwater Adventures ...

In Brief.......
Petrol price set to rise again next week – but diesel down THE petrol price will increase between five and seven cents a litre from next Wednesday, the Department of Minerals and Energy said yesterday. Wholesale diesel will drop 17c a litre ...