SOUTH AFRICA

China, Brazil, South Africa and India want a global climate treaty wrapped up by June 2010, according to a joint draft document prepared for the Copenhagen climate summit which opened on Monday.

Independent News & Media Plc sold its Verivox Holdings Ltd unit for 16 million euros ($23.8 million) on Monday, taking its total from divestments this year to its target of 150 million euros.

A study involving 128 South African families has identified genetic traits that may protect some people from tuberculosis in a finding that could help lead to a new TB vaccine, scientists said on Saturday.

U.N. talks billed as a turning point in a bid to slow global warming open on Monday seeking to agree curbs on greenhouse gas emissions and raise billions of dollars for the poor in aid and clean technology.

Nothing speaks so dramatically about Clint Eastwood's recent and remarkable burst of creativity as a director of awards-worthy films than the appearance of Invictus, a historical drama that few if any filmmakers could have launched within the studio system. Here is a movie about Nelson Mandela, South Africa after apartheid and, of all things, the sport of rugby. None is high on any list of topic...

The draw of the teams who will face each other in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa took place Friday in South Africa.

Director Jason Reitman's Up in the Air was chosen the best film of 2009 and Clint Eastwood was named best director by the National Board of Review on Thursday in the first big awards of Hollywood's Oscar season.

India set a goal on Thursday for slowing the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, the last major economy to offer a climate target four days before the start of U.N. talks on combating global warming.

The grandfather of David Beckham, Joseph West, passed away Wednesday following a battle with lung cancer at the age of 83.

China and other big developing nations rejected core targets for a climate deal such as halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 just five days before talks start in Copenhagen, diplomats said on Wednesday.

South Africa, with the world's highest HIV caseload, will roll out life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs to significantly more people infected with the virus from next year, President Jacob Zuma said on

A clutch of major emerging economies including China and India have forged a united front to put pressure on developed countries at next month's climate change negotiations in Copenhagen.

South Africa's Pioneer Foods Group posted a 22 percent increase in full-year headline earnings per share (EPS) on Monday boosted by a strong performance in its Sasko bread division and higher margins.

De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, expects banks to renew its $1.5 billion debt facility before it comes due in March next year, the firm said on Friday.

The FIFA soccer World Cup trophy is making its way through various African countries down to South Africa, the host nation of the 2010 World Cup.

U.N. nuclear watchdog governors voted on Friday to rebuke Iran for building a uranium enrichment plant in secret but Tehran dismissed the move as intimidation which would poison its negotiations with world powers.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would lobby for support for his plan to make banks pay for any future bailout at a Commonwealth summit this week.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) said on Thursday it had loaned South African state owned utility Eskom 1.86 billion euros ($2.81 billion) to finance the construction of the Medupi power project.

South Africa's fixed-line phone group Telkom's plan to launch a new mobile phone business next year is not expected to boost profit significantly, an analyst said on Tuesday.

South African fixed-line phone group Telkom plans to spend 6 billion rand ($800 million) over five years to launch a mobile phone business as profits from its fixed-line business tumbled.

Petrochemicals group Sasol, the world's leader in making motor fuel from coal, plans to reduce its carbon footprint by capturing its emissions, producing solar power and making its plants more efficient.