Johannesburg - South Africa's sole nuclear power plant, already producing only partial output, was in a state of complete shutdown Saturday after a further fault was detected.

Both units of the Koeberg nuclear power station in the Cape Peninsula were out of commission, SABC news reported.

Unit one was shut down following a detection of a suspected fault in the cooling system, after unit two had been shut down Monday as a result of a technical fault.

The two units normally produce a total of 1,800 megawatts for South Africa's already extremely strained electricity supply which sees regular blackouts.

Johannesburg  - South Africa on Friday welcomed the nomination by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon of South African judge Navanethem Pillay for the position of UN high commissioner for human rights.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said South Africa congratulated Pillay on being nominated to replace outgoing high commissioner, Canada's Louise Arbour, whose term ended at the end of June.

While Pillay has yet to be discussed by the UN General Assembly at a session on Monday, her accession to the top rights post is seen as a formality following extensive discussions at the UN level.

The role of the high commissioner is to defend human rights worldwide.

Johannesburg - An Austrian company is supplying Zimbabwe's central bank with materials used in the design and printing of the country's virtually worthless money, a South African newspaper reported Thursday.

Despite pressure on European companies to halt dealing with the government of controversial President Robert Mugabe, Vienna-based Jura JSP is supplying the Reserve Bank with licenses and software used in printing banknotes, The Star newspaper reported.

Company officials confirmed Jura's dealings with the Reserve Bank to The Star and said they would consider revising the relationship if required to do so by the European Union.

Johannesburg  - South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki was due to travel to France later Thursday for the first South Africa- European Union summit, which was expected to be dominated by the situation in Zimbabwe and the status of international trade talks.

Mbeki is to be accompanied to the summit in Bordeaux by his foreign, trade, science and environment ministers. The EU delegation will be led European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, foreign policy chief Javier Solana and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency.

Johannesburg  - The number of South Africans who give emigration as the reason for selling their home has shot up in recent months as high crime levels and political and economic uncertainty spur the flight of whites from the Rainbow Nation.

A survey by South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) showed the proportion of homeowners who said they were putting their homes on the market because they were emigrating had doubled between the last quarter of 2007 and the second quarter of 2008, from 9 per cent to 18 per cent.

Johannesburg - The red carpet was rolled out at a hotel in Zimbabwe's capital Harare Monday ahead of the signing, scheduled for later, by President Robert Mugabe and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai of a key agreement on talks.

The city's Rainbow Towers Hotel was the neutral venue chosen for the signing ceremony, at which Mugabe will represent his Zanu-PF and Tsvangirai will sign on behalf of his MDC faction.

The third party to the agreement is Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller MDC faction.