SOUTH AFRICA

One-day 50-overs cricket returns to its spiritual and financial home next week when India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka host the World Cup after a 15-year gap.

Harmony, the world's fifth-largest listed gold miner, said October-December headline earnings per share totaled 69 cents, compared with 33 cents in the previous three months, boosted by record gold prices and said it was on track to meet its long-term production targets.

South Africa's Harmony Gold more than doubled its second-quarter earnings on Monday, boosted by record gold prices and said it was on track to meet its long-term production targets.

China has offered Zimbabwe $3 billion for vast platinum reserves, a local private newspaper reported on Friday but said the deal was likely to be rejected by the government over its terms.

Construction of a railway line connecting Botswana's Mmamabula coal field with the Namibian port of Walvis Bay, pegged at up to $9 billion, is expected to start in 18 months, a government official said on Friday.

Proposed changes to revenue sharing within the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) are unacceptable because they place an unfair burden on its poorer members, a senior Namibian official said on Friday.

South African coal producers on Friday dismissed utility Eskom's criticism of coal quality and the power company's claims that suppliers were favouring exports over deliveries to its electricity generating plants.

South Africa's rand weakened to a near six-month low against the dollar on Friday, falling through key support and dragging local bonds down with it before recouping some losses as demand for longer dated paper picked up.

For Esther Moloto, the 32-year-old owner of a little house on top of the world's biggest platinum reserves, the sound of progress is falling plaster.

Haiti on Thursday heeded foreign pressure and amended the results of its November first-round elections, setting up a presidential run-off excluding a government-backed candidate hit by fraud allegations.

Royal Dutch Shell is facing opposition to its plans to seek shale gas in South Africa's semi-desert Karoo region, as farmers fear methods used to extract it will contaminate water and harm the environment.

An African Union panel charged with finding a solution to Ivory Coast's leadership crisis should make clear to Laurent Gbagbo that he must step down, the United States said on Thursday.

South Africa's rand weakened more than 1.7 percent to near six-month lows against the greenback on Thursday, pushing through its long-term moving average as offshore hedge funds drained dollars off the market.

The Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) is considering a major overhaul of revenue-sharing that will see South Africa keeping a far bigger slice of pooled customs receipts, according to a policy document.

Strong demand from emerging markets and from smartphone users helped cellphone operators Vodafone and TeliaSonera lift sales last year and give cause for confident outlooks for 2011.

Strong demand in India and improving conditions in Europe helped Vodafone , the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, to post higher third-quarter service revenues and nudge up its profit forecast for the year.

Supporters in Haiti of exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide demonstrated for his return on Wednesday as the country nervously waited to hear who would contest the presidency in a March run-off election.

South African Mining Minister Susan Shabangu said on Wednesday the government would act to ensure sufficient coal supplies for power generation, but urged industry to sort out the supply problem first.

Vodacom, South Africa's largest mobile phone operator, overcame stiff competition to post a 6 percent rise in third-quarter sales, boosted by a surge in mobile data and strong prepaid growth.

South Africa's trade union Solidarity said on Wednesday workers at diversified miner Exxaro (EXXJ.J) could strike before mid-2011 over benefits and planned retrenchments.

South Africa's Hernic Ferrochrome, a unit of Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation, said on Tuesday it was unaffected by a wage dispute between a union and one of its contractors.