we are Zimbabweans and must deal with Zimbabwean issues.” Mr Swaynepoel said he hoped all donor countries, including Britain, would take a look at what was on the table and then take part to try to make the plan work. Mr Hunzvi expressed the hope resettlement could take place before the elections, the run-up to which has caused much violence. It is not certain how a settlement of the land issue would affect the wider political violence perpetrated by Mr Mugabe’s one-party state against the new opposition party, the Movement For Democratic Change (MDC).Yesterday Obed Zilwane, the arrested South African Associated Press photographer, was told he may be charged with throwing or planting a bomb at the office of the opposition Daily News with the intention of destroying the building If convicted, he could face life imprisonment Mr Zilwane had been expected to be released without charge. His arrest is seen as an attempt to intimidate foreign journalists critical of the Mugabe regime. His lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, said the charge was “totally unwarranted” and that his client was being held illegally.AP is demanding his immediate release.

Yesterday 100 journalists protested outside the Zimbabwean embassy in Cape Town over an arrest that the South African Foreign Correspondents’ Association has called outrageous.. Bupa, the UK’s largest private medical insurer, yesterday unveiled an agreed £230m cash offer for Community Hospitals Group, raising concerns among industry watchers that the deal could fall foul of the competition authorities. Bupa, the UK’s largest private medical insurer, yesterday unveiled an agreed £230m cash offer for Community Hospitals Group, raising concerns among industry watchers that the deal could fall foul of the competition authorities.
The tie-up, subject to examination by the Office of Fair Trading, which will recommend a course of action to Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, brings Bupa together with the fourth biggest hospitals group. The enlarged company would claim 25 per cent of the country’s private hospitals and beds and 40 per cent of the private medical insurance market.Industry sources said yesterday the move could create too much vertical integration, with one company controlling both a large share of the distribution of business from insurance claims and the hospitals that compete for that business.One insider said: “The OFT issued a report last November which basically said it did not want Bupa or PPP [Britain's second-largest medical insurer] to buy any more hospitals.”Peter Jones, director of communications at Bupa – which already owns 37 hospitals – said: “We have Chinese walls which separate the hospitals and insurance parts of our business.

The situation already exists that our hospitals and insurance arms contract with each other.”Bupa is offering 650p a share for CHG, over £10m more than its value yesterday when shares closed at 612.5p. Shares in CHG rocketed 82 per cent to 560p when Bupa first announced its interest.. Next, the high street retailer, last year rewarded its directors with bonuses worth half their salaries, despite the poor performance of the group’s shares. Next, the high street retailer, last year rewarded its directors with bonuses worth half their salaries, despite the poor performance of the group’s shares.
The executive directors each received the maximum payout allowed under its bonus scheme for the year to 31 January 2000, figures in the company’s annual report showed. In the previous year, they got no bonus payments.The four executive directors were awarded total bonuses of £613,000, the maximum payout permitted – of half salary – in each case. That took total executive director remuneration to £1.9m, up 73 per cent from £1.1m the previous year.David Jones, the chief executive, was awarded a bonus of £275,000 for last year, on top of his salary of £550,000.

That took his total pay package to £855,000, up from £501,000 the previous year.David Keens, the finance director, took home a total of £386,000, compared with £244,000 the year before. Andrew Varley, meanwhile, saw his take-home pay rise to £315,000 from £188,000, while the other executive director, Simon Wolfson, saw his package increase to £350,000 from £191,000 the year before.Next’s shares have fallen from highs of 838p a year ago to as low as 430p They closed yesterday at 502.5p, up 11.5p on the day. Next’s bonus scheme, however, is based on earnings per share, which increased by 13 per cent to 38.4p over the period. A spokesman for Next said: “Profits are the thing the directors can control. If the stock market does not recognise earnings growth, there’s not much they can do about it.”Matthew Taylor, the company’s house broker at Warburg Dillon Read, said: “If you compare the levels of pay at Next to companies of a similar size, the level of remuneration is very modest.