Over the past three months, workers at the Kennedy Space Centre have tripped, dropped things, banged into sensitive equipment and started fires in a baffling string of accidents that have left one person dead. ”There’s enough going on that we’re very, very concerned,” said Bill Parsons, deputy director of the Kennedy Space Centre.
Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s decision to subject his leadership to scrutiny, at a hastily convened special conference on Saturday, amounts to little more than a tactical move to entrench his position until the 2009 election. Any challenge to his presidency has been widely dismissed.
Mick Jagger heaped sarcastic praise on China’s censors on Friday as it emerged that another of the Rolling Stones’ songs has been banned ahead of their first concert in the world’s most populous country. Start Me Up has been added to the four tracks previously deemed unacceptable by the authorities.
When former deputy president Jacob Zuma took the stand to defend himself against rape charges this week, he gave an explanation that one doctor and activist said took "20 steps back" in the campaign to increase awareness of the risks of HIV/Aids. Zuma told the court on Tuesday that he was HIV-negative.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Johnny de Lange has clashed publicly with George Bizos over a draft constitutional amendment Bill that seeks to alter the administration of courts and which the veteran lawyer believes could presage a "mini constitutional crisis" if not amended.
Life cover is one of those annoying payments you make each month and hope you will never need — at least not for a very long time. But the reality is that if you have debt and responsibilities, it is something you have to consider. The rule of thumb is that the more capital you have the less cover you need, while the more responsibilities you have the more cover you need.
It’s easier to revel in the luxury when seeing the smoke from the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls, writes Lisa Johnston. The story goes that tourism in the little town of Livingstone has benefited from the politics of its cantankerous neighbour. The situation, it is said, has sent tourists from the more developed Zimbabwe across the stream.
Three suicide bombers, two of them disguised as women, killed at least 79 people and wounded 164 as worshippers left a popular northern Baghdad Shi’ite mosque after weekly Friday prayers. The blasts marked the second major attack on Iraq’s majority community in as many days.
Dirt-cheap, straight-to-video voodoo horror flicks have made Nigeria the world’s third-largest film industry, writes Jeevan Vasagar.
Now that the municipal councils have been constituted and new local governments are in place, the African National Congress’s principal order of the day is ”Let the work begin”, South African President Thabo Mbeki says in his weekly newsletter. ”Happily, the overwhelming majority of the municipalities have acted to respect this directive.”