Durban, May 8 : South African gold-mining company AngloGold Ashanti has appointed Indian-origin Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan as it new chief executive officer with immediate effect.

"We're extremely pleased to have an executive of Mr Venkatakrishnan's calibre to lead AngloGold Ashanti through the next phase of its development," Tito Mboweni, chairman of the Johannesburg-headquartered firm said in a statement Wednesday.

Durban, May 3 : A wedding in an influential Indian origin family in South Africa got further mired in controversy after allegations of racism at the event.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has levelled allegations of racism against guests in the Gupta family wedding at Palace of the Lost City five-star hotel in Sun City.

Durban, March 28 : Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday flew out of Durban after attending the two-day BRICS summit, where he also interacted with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The leaders of BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- gathered here for the summit whose theme was "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialisation".

Manmohan Singh had two significant meetings with Xi -- one on the margins of the BRICS Summit Wednesday and the other a more structured two-way engagement hours later.

Durban, March 27 : In a clear signal of their ascendance in the geopolitical space, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa Wednesday gave their go-ahead to a BRICS bank, rivalling the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to address the development challenges of poor and emerging economies.

The leaders, who met for the 5th BRICS Summit here -- where the Indian delegation was led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- also endorsed a $100-billion contingency reserve arrangement that will be deployed when any of the five member-nations faces a crisis.

Durban, March 27 : Chinese President Xi Jinping attended Wednesday a breakfast meeting between political and business leaders of BRICS.

The gathering came on the sidelines of the fifth summit of BRICS, an emerging-economy group consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, reports Xinhua.

South Africa, host of the summit, has said that the creation of a BRICS Business Council will be announced at the breakfast meeting.

Xi, on his first trip abroad as Chinese president, is expected to outline China's viewpoints on BRICS-Africa cooperation.(IANS)

Durban, March 26 : Finance ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have agreed on a BRICS bank on the lines of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will address the development needs of emerging and poor economies.

"It's done," South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told reporters here after a meeting with his counterparts from the other four BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram represented India at the meeting.

"We made very good progress," Gordhan said.

Durban, March 26 : South African companies can play a major role in India's plans to pump $1 trillion over the next five years in infrastructure development, almost half of which is envisaged by the private sector, including firms from overseas, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma has said.

South African companies have respectable experience, expertise and technical skills in handling infrastructure development in emerging economies, said Sharma, who is here as part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's delegation at the 5th BRICS Summit.

Durban (S. Africa), Oct. 29 : Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke has said he had nothing to do with the axing of opener Simon Katich from the national contracted players list, and added that Katich''s latest outburst were not good for the team''s morale, and therefore, he wouldn''t be rushing to bring him back into the national squad.

Durban (S. Africa), Dec. 30 : England middle-order batsman Ian Bell believes his knock of 141 in the second Test against South Africa here, has saved his career in international cricket.

The Warwickshire batsman admitted his hundred may have saved his England career after a troubled year where he was dropped in the West Indies and only reinstated due to Kevin Pietersen''s Achilles surgery.

Durban, South Africa - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton flew to the South African city of Durban on Saturday for a meeting with President Jacob Zuma that she described as "helpful".

"He gave us his view of things on regional issues such as Zimbabwe, Somalia and Sudan, where - his counsel in these matters, was extremely helpful," Clinton said.

Zuma meanwhile said he and Clinton had also discussed the need to reform international institutions so that these reflect the interests of all countries.

Durban, May 14: Bangalore Royal Challengers beat Chennai Super Kings by two wickets in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Thursday.

Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. Chennai got to a good start after openers Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay added 32 runs for the first wicket.

Hayden once again played a fine knock and scored 60 runs off 38 balls with four fours and three sixes.

Durban - The tourism industry's preparations for the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa are set to dominate discussions at Africa's largest tourism fair starting Saturday in the port city of Durban.

More than 13,000 tourism industry professionals and media representatives from across the world are expected to attend the four-day Indaba, which focuses mainly on tourism in southern Africa.

Durban, Apr 21: Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Kings XI Punjab by 11 runs in a rain truncated Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday.

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Brendon McCullum won the toss and elected to field first.

Kings XI, which had earlier lost its opening match to Delhi Daredevils, got a poor start when both opener Karan Goel lost his wickets early.

Irfan Pathan, who was promoted up in the order, hit some beautiful shots. He scored 32 runs off 17 balls.

Durban (South Africa), Apr. 3 : Australia captain Ricky Ponting has warned his players not to be distracted by the build-up for the Indian Premier League (IPL) that is to be played in South Africa.

The IPL caravan for the five-week event is about to hit town, led by Shane Warne''s defending champions Rajasthan Royals.

Durban, Apr 3 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting is sure that pacer Mitchell Johnson's bone-breaking powers will be playing on Graeme Smith's mind when the South African skipper returns to open in the first one-day international being played here today.

Left-armer Johnson fractured Smith's left hand's little finger in the Sydney Test match in January, and two Tests later in Durban he completed the double, cracking the opening batsman's right hand little finger.

Durban, Apr. 2 : South Africa have decided to rest injured star all-rounder Jacques Kallis from the opening one-day international against Australia.

The 33-year-old pace bowler and No. 4 batsman is likely to make his return from a groin-muscle injury in Sunday''s second ODI match at Centurion.

"Jacques hasn''t come through quite for Friday so he''s going to be missing out," Fox Sports quoted captain Graeme Smith, as saying.

"Roelof (van der Merwe) is going to be missing out and Vaughan Van Jaarsveld and Wayne Parnell."

Durban (South Africa), Apr. 2 : Proteas coach Mickey Arthur has described South Africa's first one-day-international (ODI) against Australia on Friday as "huge", and believes that it serve as a key indicator as to which way the series will go.

Durban (South Africa), Apr. 2 : Australia''s pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson has said that he is ready to take on South African skipper Graeme Smith in Friday''s opening one-day international to be played here.

Johnson was the player of the series in Australia''s 2-1 triumph in last month''s Test matches in South Africa and returned refreshed to training on Wednesday after being rested from last Sunday''s second Twenty20 international against the Proteas at Centurion.

Durban, Apr 1 : The Indian Premier League going to be held in South Africa will mainly be a television product for the Indian market and the crowd attendances will be no more than a bonus, according to a former cricket administrator.

Arthur Turner says that hosting of IPL in South Africa is not a coup for the country as the tournament was shifted out of India due to security reasons.

Durban (South Africa), Apr. 1 : Australia's cricketers undertook a fishing trip in the South African coastal city of Durban ahead of their first one-day international against the Proteas here.

Victorian skipper Cameron White was among those on the fishing trip, while some members of the 14-man squad, including national captain Ricky Ponting and West Australian skipper Marcus North, decided to play golf instead.