Tonderai Katswara and Brigitte Weidlich, AllAfrica.com
NAMIBIA'S farmers expect to be severely affected as fuel prices continue to spiral up, with last week's increase alone - 50 cents a litre - pushing up their operating costs by 20 per cent .

The increase, which came into force on Friday, is the fifth of the year, with petrol and diesel both shooting up by 50 cents a litre - the largest single increase in recent years.

John Helmer, Mineweb
Russian energy and mining companies are preparing for the visit to Africa early next month of President Vladimir Putin. But the black backdrop of the visit, the first in half a century by a Russian head of state, is the increasingly aggressive reaction of the Bush administration in Washington to the combination of arms and business which the Russians are offering those whom the US considers to belong to its camp.