South Africa

East London - East London taxi owners are warning commuters that they will soon have to pay higher taxi fares following the fourth petrol price increase in four months.

Parliament - The National Gender Machinery will on Thursday launch its 50/50 national campaign with the aim of increasing equal representation of women in decision-making positions.

Cape Town - Cabinet has mandated the Minister of Safety and Security Nathi Mthethwa to take urgent steps to ensure that security around South Africa's airports, is beefed up.

Johannesburg - Tickets for the 2010 FIFA World Cup go on sale from Friday, 20 February.

Pretoria - Denmark has committed to help South Africa meet its future goals of a low carbon economy and reducing the growth of greenhouse gases through the deployment of low carbon technologies in the country.

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has appointed his former lawyer, Michael Hulley, as his legal advisor, the Presidency announced on Wednesday evening.

Mbombela - Mpumalanga is on a drive to build its own fresh produce market and boost its exports of fruits and vegetables to as far as Asia and the Middle East.

Pretoria - The eThekwini Municipality is to engage with communities on how better to deal with the fight against crime during the National Consultative Conference on Community Safety on Wednesday.

Pretoria - Government is to use the upcoming Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 3rd World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy as a learning tool to improve its performance.

Cape Town - Law-makers have complained that the National Skills Fund (NSF) was rolling over billions of rands each year while many poor youth in the country remained without skills.

Pretoria - Young South Africans from different backgrounds have signed a declaration to become Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Youth Ambassadors with the aim of deepening democracy through peer mobilisation.

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has appointed new members to serve on the board of the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA).

Durban - Since its inception in January 2006, the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) has clearly demonstrated that it most certainly means business by fulfilling its mandate.

Pretoria - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Xstrata South Africa have reached an agreement regarding Xstrata's Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP).

Cape Town - Government, business, labour and communities are to "pull every lever" to lessen the impact of the global economic crisis on the people of South Africa, says Eskom Chairperson Bobby Godsell.