SOUTH AFRICA

New Zambian President Michael Sata fired his respected central bank governor on Thursday and his new mines minister floated plans to boost tax receipts from mining companies, rattling investors in Africa's biggest copper producer.

China has embarked on a plan to launch a new space lab on Thursday beginning with the lift off of its 8.5-ton Tiangong-1 space module. Developing nations across the world are launching space and science research that could put them on the path to charting their own future.

Australia-based Sylvania Platinum Ltd. said Thursday it applied for a permit to mine in the northernmost part of South African.

Up to 1,500 striking workers at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s giant gold and copper mine in Indonesia's remote Papua province protested outside a government office on Thursday, urging authorities to help end a dispute over pay.

South Africa needs to work harder to boost the current sluggish rate of creating jobs, with the employment still well below 2008 levels, President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday.

Scientists might be able to predict climate change with more accuracy after discovering that plants consume carbon dioxide 25 percent faster than previously thought.

He has 14 days to file an appeal to the High Court against the decision.

South African gold miner Anglogold Ashanti will invest $250 million each year through 2016 to raise its Brazilian output of the precious metal by two thirds, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

The Dalai Lama was scheduled to attend the 80th birthday of his friend and fellow Nobel Peace Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu in early October.

South Africa's rand firmed over three percent on the dollar on Tuesday and was the biggest gainer in a basket of emerging market currencies watched by Reuters, as investors returned to riskier assets on hopes Europe's debt crisis will be solved.

South African stocks surged nearly 4 percent on Tuesday, booking their biggest one-day percentage rise in 16 months, as beaten down shares were lifted by renewed optimism that Europe would deal with its debt crisis.

Wouter Basson, dubbed Dr. Death faces a medical ethics board this week that could cancel his medical licence for producing chemicals used in numerous crimes.

Africa is starting to appear on the radar screens of western retailers as they look for the next growth opportunity in emerging markets while having to cope with subdued consumer spending at home.

G20 labor ministers meeting on Monday and Tuesday in Paris face the tricky task of trying to boost job creation in the face of a fast-deteriorating economic outlook without undermining already strained public finances.

A group of five leading emerging economies that has banded together to increase their global clout is again struggling to find common ground.

Finance chiefs from the Group of 20 nations and the 187-country International Monetary Fund met from Thursday to Sunday.

Fueling fire to the rumor that the new iPhone 5 will hit stores next month, Verizon is selling the iPhone 4 for $120 until Sept. 30.

A report by Microsoft founder Bill Gates to Group of 20 ministers on Friday proposes raising new funding for poorer countries by taxing financial transactions, tobacco, and shipping and aviation fuels, according to details of a G20 report obtained by Reuters.

A report by Microsoft founder Bill Gates to Group of 20 ministers on Friday proposes raising new funding for poorer countries by taxing financial transactions, tobacco, and shipping and aviation fuels, according to details of a G20 report obtained by Reuters.

Let's face the mounting facts and just say it in plain language: The world is slipping into Global Recession 2011 and governments don't have the gunpowder to ward it off. The U.S. economy is barely growing at all. Companies aren't hiring. The federal budget deficit is above $14.5 trillion. Companies are stockpiling cash because, as Ford CEO Alan Mulally said in a press conference this week, because the consumer has pulled back.

Here are the 10 most frequent queries that will help you gear up for one of this fall’s most ground-breaking shooter games.