Pretoria (South Africa), Apr. 30 : US President Barack Obama will not be among the heads of state attending ANC leader Jacob Zuma''s inauguration as the country''s fourth democratically-elected president, the foreign affairs department said on Wednesday.

Director general Ayanda Ntsaluba told the media in Pretoria that confirmations were continuing to flow in for the May 9 festivities, and so far, 21 heads of state have confirmed that they will be attending.

Pretoria, Mar. 29 : Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting has identified big-hitting South Africa all-rounder Albie Morkel as the player to stop in the Pro20 international on Sunday.

Morkel smashed four boundaries and two sixes to score 37 off 19 balls as South Africa beat Australia by four wickets on Friday to win the first Pro20 match at the Wanderers.

He also starred with similar late-innings hitting as the Proteas won a one-day international series 4-1 in Australia in January.

Pretoria  - South Africa on Tuesday confirmed it had provided its ailing neighbour Zimbabwe with humanitarian aid to the tune of 300 million rands (30 million dollars).

The move amounted to an about-turn on the part of Pretoria that had initially made the formation of a unity government in Zimbabwe the condition for such assistance.

Pretoria - Animal rights activists and a renowned conservationist on Thursday slammed the sale by South Africa of 51 tonnes of ivory, calling four recent auctions of tusks to Asian buyers "irresponsible" and a "disservice to conservation."

Pretoria - An auction of 51 tonnes of ivory in South Africa was brought to a halt before bidding even started Thursday by Asian buyers, who demanded the media be excluded from the sale.

Around two dozen Chinese and Japanese buyers threatened to boycott the one-off sale unless journalists were barred from the conference centre of the Reserve Bank in Pretoria, where the auction opened shortly after 10 a. m. (0800 GMT).

Lot number one had just appeared on a big screen when the buyers, informed the organizers that they wished to keep their identities confidential and that no bid would be submitted unless the journalists were removed. The media was also excluded from the Namibia sale.

Pretoria  - South African security forces will have six extra helicopters at their disposal for the 2010 World Cup in the country, Nathi Mthethwa, the Minister of Safety and Security confirmed Thursday.

Two helicopters have already been purchased while a further four will be delivered by the end of the year.

"The security preparations and equipping of the police for the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup are progressing well," said Mthethwa.