SOUTH AFRICA

Copper output in Zambia, Africa's leading producer of the metal, increased by 60 percent in January as mining companies boosted production due to favourable prices, the central bank said on Wednesday.

A powerful member of South Africa's ruling party on Wednesday accused the new government spokesman of making racially insensitive comments that echoed the injustices of the apartheid era.

Jimmy Manyi, the spokesperson for the government of South Africa, has come under fire for perceived racialist comments he has made about the country’s mixed race people and about Indian immigrants.

China, the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter, wants rich nations to vow bigger cuts to emissions as part of a new international deal on fighting global warming, Beijing's top climate negotiator said on Tuesday.

South Africa's new energy resource plan, which will determine the country's electricity mix over the next 20 years, will be passed into law by the start of April, a government official said on Tuesday.

Boosted by the soccer World Cup, South Africa saw a record 15.1 percent increase in tourist arrivals in 2010 although the total of more than 8 million was not an all time-high, the tourism minister said on Tuesday.

Mauritius' trade deficit widened 17.2 percent in 2010 as rising imports outstripped growth in exports, the statistics office said on Tuesday.

Brewer SABMiller is to spend over $100 million to build a new brewery in Africa's second largest beer market Nigeria to take on the country's brewing heavyweights Heineken and Diageo.

Vidic has stepped up recently against Torres

South Africa's government bond curve steepened again on Monday with the yield spread between shorter and longer-dated debt hitting a record high as dealers positioned ahead of a debt auction on Tuesday.

South African gaming and hotels group Sun International Ltd reported a flat first-half profit, hit by unfavourable swings in currencies and warned of little growth for the remainder of the year.

Following are details of countries evacuating nationals and employees from Libya or closing operations because of the political turmoil.

A derailment on the Richards Bay coal line near Ermelo on Thursday is unlikely to result in large tonnage lost, rail and exporter sources said.

South African petrol pump prices in the main inland commercial region will increase by 43 cents a litre, or 4.8 percent, from March 2, the government said on Friday.

Grammy Award winning musician, songwriter and philanthropist Shakira has been honored by the Harvard Foundation as the 2011 Artist of the Year for her contributions to music and distinguished history of creativity as well as her humanitarian efforts through her Barefoot Foundation.

The South African water ministry has issued a warning that acidic water seeping from abandoned gold mines under Johannesburg could rise and leak into the city early next year and contaminate groundwater.

South African government bonds fell to three-month lows on Wednesday but the rand firmed over 1.0 percent after the finance ministry projected a higher- than-expected budget deficit for the 2011/2012 financial year.

South African building firm Murray & Roberts fell to a half-year loss on Wednesday and said it will sell some assets in the Middle East and Australia, as it fights to ride out an industry-wide slump.

In the muggy forest of central Liberia, a gang of workers is inching its way along a railway track, cut long and straight through an otherwise impenetrable mesh of trees and vines. The drone of insects is interrupted by a high-pitched drill and the clang of hammers as workers put the finishing touches to the perfectly aligned steel tracks.

South Africa's Afripalm Resources signed a memorandum of understanding with Steel Authority of India to build a steel mill in South Africa, the Business Day reported on Wednesday.

West Africa's regional body ECOWAS said on Tuesday it was unable to join an African Union mission to mediate in Ivory Coast's power struggle due to threats of violence against it.