Top news items in major S. African news outlets

CAPE TOWN, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The following are news items in South African major news outlets on Friday:

-- Seven mining firms on Thursday reached an agreement to settle a historic class action brought on behalf of thousands of mineworkers who contracted the deadly silicosis disease while working underground.

Mining houses African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American South Africa, AngloGoldAshanti, Gold Fileds, Harmony, Sibanye-Stillwater and Pan African Resources have made a 5-billion-rand (about 416-million-U.S.-dollar) provision for the settlement. (Fin24)

-- The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has confirmed that a second miner has died at Sibanye-Stillwater's Driefontein operation near Johannesburg.

A total of 13 workers were trapped underground following a seismic event on Thursday. (Eyewitness News)

-- The nationwide bus strike is continuing after wage talks between unions representing striking bus drivers and employer associations collapsed again in Johannesburg Thursday.

Workers are demanding a 9.5-percent salary increase for the first year and 8.5-percent for the second year. The employers have now reverted to an 8-percent offer. (South African Broadcasting Corporation) Enditem