South Africa

Pretoria - Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe is in the US on a four day working visit.

Table Bay - A hostage drama outside the Table Bay harbour on Tuesday morning led to the arrest of 10 crew members who were holding a Taiwanese fishing vessel captain and his officer hostage.

Pretoria – Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), Collins Chabane and Public Service and Administration Minister Lindiwe Sisulu have noted the release of the Auditor General’s report.

Cape Town - The number of people living in poverty has declined between 1999 and 2007, putting the country in good stead to meet its 2014 target of halving poverty.

Atamelang - Special voters in Tswaing who are physically unable to get to a polling station have expressed there gratitude for the opportunity to cast a vote in South Africa's General Elections.

Pretoria - South African's unemployment rate increased to 23.5 percent in the first quarter of 2009 from 21.9 percent recorded in the last quarter of 2008.

New York - The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as MONUC, has freed nearly two dozen children from the ranks of the country's armed forces this week.

The technology the Independent Electoral Commission has employed for the 2009 General Elections will ensure transparency, writes Chris Bathembu.

Pretoria - There's an air of excitement as the country awaits the election of the new President of the Republic by members of the National Assembly in Parliament tomorrow.

Pretoria - The enthusiasm showed by South Africans ahead of Wednesday's fourth democratic election is a sign of a mature democracy.

Pretoria - The ringing of bells at 10:05 tomorrow morning will signal the start of proceedings for the first sitting of the National Assembly when members will meet to, amongst others, elect the country's new President.

Cape Town - The Development Indicators 2009 indicate that the deterioration in global economic conditions is adversely affecting South Africa and eroding the positive gains made in creating employment

Pretoria - Although only 117 out of a total 536 audited government entities received a clean audit, showing slow progress towards a total clean administration, the office of the Auditor General is pleased at measures taken by government to bolster public service governance.

Pretoria - The enthusiasm showed by South Africans ahead of Wednesday's fourth democratic election is a sign of a mature democracy.

Cape Town - There's an air of excitement and anticipation here this morning, as Parliament's National Assembly (NA) gets ready to meet for the first time to swear in its 400 new members, elect its Presiding Officers and elect the President of the Republic of South Africa.