South Africa

Pretoria - Gauteng Health MEC Hope Papo has urged communities in the province to donate blood and save a life this festive season.

Washington - The euro area should take more steps to check the debt crisis, as the global recovery continued to be threatened by strains in the region and fragility elsewhere, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday.

Cape Town - Government is making billions of rands off the reserves it has locked up in the Compensation Fund and the Unemployment Insurance Fund available for investment in businesses, to create thousands of new jobs, the Minister of Labour, Nelisiwe Oliphant says.

Pretoria - An 11-member delegation from the State Council of Information Office (SCIO) in China met on Wednesday with the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) to discuss communication practices.

Power parastatal Eskom has called on the public to save electricity in the upcoming winter months, which in turn will save them money.

Pretoria - The South African Revenue Service (SARS) says it is tightening the screws on enterprises that are using increasingly sophisticated financial schemes to evade tax obligations.

Pretoria - Government, working with musicians, has set up task teams to look into the challenges facing the various sectors of the music industry.

Pretoria - The Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department has called on the public to handle the matter of missing officer, Constable Dimakatso Mable Peete, with care and sensitivity.

Mbombela - Deaf people in Mpumalanga have asked Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana to establish a free SMS line they can use to report crime.

Pretoria - The Presidency says doctors attending to former President Nelson Mandela have reported that he has made progress during the past 24 hours and they are satisfied with the way he is responding to treatment.

Pretoria - The South African government is investigating the authenticity of the alleged South African passport used by a British national suspected of being involved in the recent Kenyan terrorist attacks.

Pretoria - A delegation from the world football governing body, FIFA, has arrived in South Africa to begin a probe into match fixing in southern Africa.

Mbombela - Mpumalanga Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Madala Masuku has warned residents in the province of heavy rain falls following a horrific accident in which 14 people died when a bridge collapsed due to bad weather this week.

Pretoria - The Department of Communications is on course with the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) process, says Minister Dina Pule.

Pretoria - Banyana Banyana played to a goalless draw against New Zealand in a Group C match at the Cyprus Women's Cup at Tasos Marko stadium in Paralimni, on Thursday.