Johannesburg  - South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said Tuesday he was confident the country would ride out the international financial storm and announced a increase in government spending, while predicting slower growth.

Presenting his annual medium-term budget policy statement, Manuel said: "The storm has arrived, it is fiercer than anyone could have imagined, and its course cannot be predicted. But we saw the signs early and we took appropriate action. We can say to our people... the thunder will pass."

Johannesburg - At least six people were believed to have died in a plane crash near Johannesburg Tuesday.

London/Johannesburg - Former Botswana president Festus Gontebanye Mogae, who received the 5-million dollar Mo Ibrahim African leadership award Monday, is a British-educated economist credited with using his country's mineral wealth to advance the lot of the poor.

He is also a champion of struggle against HIV/AIDS and was the first African leader, in a bid to combat the stigma around the pandemic on the continent, to publicly test for the virus.

Kabul - Taliban fighters killed a Western female aid worker for "spreading Christianity" on Monday as she was going to her office in the western part of Kabul, officials said.

Gayle Williams, 34, who had dual British-South African citizenship and was working with Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprises (SERVE) was killed while she walked to work in the Carte Say area of Kabul, police and the aid agency said.

Johannesburg - Britain's Princes William, 26, and Harry, 24, started a 1,700-kilometre rally in aid of charity through South Africa Saturday.

The two set off from Port Edward on the east coast of the country with some 80 others in the early morning sunshine on the eight-day Enduro Africa 2008 trek.

Each participant paid 1,500 pounds (2,600 dollars) to take part in the event, raising 300,000 pounds for charities such as Harry's Sentebale (don't forget me), founded in 2006, which helps AIDS orphans in the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho.