South Africa's Cape Town Opera has turned down an appeal from Nobel peace prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu to call off a tour of Israel. He said it would be as inappropriate as it had been for international firms to visit South Africa during apartheid.

India and South Africa will launch a joint research project on basic science and vaccines for HIV strains common to both countries. The project was formally approved by the governments of both countries last spring and is expected to be launched by the end of 2010.

The festival of lights will illuminate Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, which will be abuzz with breathtaking costumes, live entertainment and a massive fireworks display for the second FNB Gauteng Diwali Festival.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA), Jacob Nkate, has dismissed claims that the new Brand Botswana logo might have been plagiarised from South Africa's Mpumalanga Province. Both logos feature the rays of the sun

Drawing a link between the release of Nelson Mandela 20 years ago and the reunification of East and West Germany in the same year, the German Consulate in Cape Town is hosting a series of exhibitions, debates, films and music events.

Corporate India Friday underlined the need for much better economic engagement with people of Indian origin in Africa at a well-attended event to mark the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first indentured labourers here from India.

They asked Ben-Gurion University to work with Palestinian universities on research projects, and to start the collaborations within six months if it wants to maintain ties with the University of Johannesburg.

African governments and business communities hope that South Africa's success in hosting the 2010 World Cup will spur a massive increase in investment and private sector development for all of Africa.