”Inge Bongo, the heiress to a very rich country in Central Africa, is in town to purchase a home. [Estate agent] Kurt Rappaport shows her a -million property in Malibu’s exclusive Broad Beach area, but she feels the home ‘lacks grandeur’. [Agency] co-owner Stephen Shapiro shows her a stately -million Beverly Hills mansion that turns out to be just what she’s looking for.”
The African Union announced on Monday it would send an extra 8 000 peacekeepers to Somalia but said dialogue remained the only solution to the bloody conflict in that country. ”The crisis in that country has so far proved intractable. The AU has decided to send 8 000 troops immediately to assist peacekeeping efforts,” AU chairperson John Kufuor said.
Stylist and fashion guru Isabella Blow, a vibrant and often outrageous presence on the British fashion scene, has died, her husband said. She was 48. Detmar Blow said she died in the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in western England. News reports said she had recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II had the last laugh over United States President George Bush on Tuesday a day after the gaffe-prone Bush nearly put her age at well over 200 years. The queen hosted a return banquet for Bush and his wife Laura at the British embassy and, as she rose to give her toast, a mischievous grin came over her face.
The United States Vice-President, Dick Cheney, on Wednesday arrived in Baghdad, where aides said he would urge Iraqi politicians to step up their efforts to end the violence gripping the country. His unannounced visit came as at least 19 people died in a suicide truck bombing outside the interior ministry in Irbil.
An air strike by Western forces killed 21 civilians, including women and children, in Afghanistan, a provincial governor said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of civilian casualties that has riled Afghans. The incident brings to nearly 90 the number of civilian deaths blamed by Afghan officials on Western troops in the past two weeks.
German authorities launched raids in six German states on Wednesday over concerns that left-wing radicals were planning attacks to disrupt a Group of Eight (G8) summit in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm next month, prosecutors said. The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that about 900 security officials were searching 40 sites in six northern German states.
The main attention will be on home favourite Fernando Alonso and his astonishing teammate Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix, but Nick Heidfeld and his BMW team are ready for action as well. Two-time world champion Alonso knows about Heidfeld’s strength first-hand.
More than 1Â 780 posts have been filled as part of the City of Cape Town’s drive to replace some of the 10Â 000 staff lost during the ”rigorous and undirected” staff restructuring of the past seven years. A further 1Â 000 posts are ”being filled”, the media reported on Wednesday.
Israel should seize the opportunity presented by the united Arab peace initiative to begin ”serious negotiations” to normalise its relations with the Palestinians, Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad said on Wednesday. He was opening the United Nations African meeting on the question of Palestine, which will take place in Pretoria over the coming three days.