South Africa

Pretoria - National Treasury has released a policy framework aimed at improving access to insurance and consumer protection for lower income households.

Pretoria - South Africa deploys the largest number of female soldiers in peace-keeping missions compared with other troop contributing countries, says Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

Pretoria - The Refugee Centre in Crown Mines, Johannesburg, will close its doors from 1 June, says the Department of Home Affairs.

Mbombela - Mpumalanga police and the army have been urged to clamp down on all illegal border crossings, especially around the Mananga border with Swaziland.

Pretoria - All grades of petrol are set to come down by 2 cents next week.

Pretoria - The Department of Home Affairs is cracking down on fraud and corruption within its ranks, arresting 12 of its employees in the past two weeks.

Pretoria - Police have arrested and charged a suspect for the murder of two Western Cape police officers.

Pretoria - Days after hundreds of commuters were injured in a train accident in Soweto, authorities are introducing new laws which they say will improve rail safety.

Durban - Bafana Bafana used their practice match against provincial Vodacom League side, Baroka FC, to assess the team's progress since assembling for camp last week.

Pretoria - Teacher unions have voiced mixed feelings following the announcement that all school principals and deputy principals will in the near future enter into performance contracts with clear performance targets.

Durban - Government employees in KwaZulu-Natal are the latest group of people to benefit from the recently launched KZN Financial Literacy Association.

Pretoria - With the month of June just around the corner, the City of Ekurhuleni is getting ready to celebrate Youth Month with many activities lined up, including a youth summit and career expo.

Pretoria - A high level meeting on climate change, that includes ministers from Brazil, India, China and South Africa, kicked off in Durban this weekend, with officials on Sunday saying the meeting aimed at devising strategies ahead of COP 17 scheduled for later this year.

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma will use the inauguration of Nigerian President-elect Goodluck Jonathan this weekend to further strengthen relations between South Africa and Nigeria, his office said.

Durban - South Africa have overcome an extremely tough Samoan side 13-5 to reach the knock-out stages