South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) is urging its members to live a healthy lifestyle, which should include ”at least 30 minutes” of exercise a day. In a document released ahead of the December national conference, entitled Policy Discussion Documents, the ruling party devotes a section to ”healthy lifestyles”.
A little-known Islamist group claimed responsibility in an audio recording on Wednesday for abducting the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, issuing demands immediately rebuffed by the Palestinian government. As evidence that it is holding BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, the group posted on the internet a photo of his BBC identification card.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party on Wednesday accused President Robert Mugabe’s government of continuing a crackdown on opponents and called for an African Union crisis summit to resolve the country’s problems. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says Mugabe’s government has intensified a crackdown on its members.
Prices for holiday homes are falling in Spain as a glut of new developments, corruption scandals and land-grab laws make foreign buyers think twice about one of Europe’s most popular vacation destinations. A construction bonanza, driven by cheap credit, saw house prices more than double in seven years and helped Spain build as many new homes each year as France, Germany and Italy combined.
Low-cut dresses and high-cut skirts, pink glitter drag queens, swarthy Latin singers and lots of big hair: after last year’s unexpected victory by monster-rock group Lordi, controversy and fantasy return to the Eurovision song contest this weekend — but have no doubt about it, glamour is back on centre stage.
Buoyant Bangladesh are determined to translate their World Cup success against India into a bigger celebration when their three-match one-day series opens on Thursday. Habibur Bashar’s men hope to take advantage of sweltering home conditions to further rattle the injury-hit Indians.
The government is seeking to change behaviour with the relaunch of its Khomanani HIV/Aids communication campaign, a senior health official said on Wednesday. This is how the success of the campaign will be measured, director general of the Health Department Thami Mseleku told reporters in Pretoria.
A plot by alleged radical Islamists against a military base in the United States was foiled when they took a DVD of them firing assault weapons to a shop in New Jersey for copying, the US authorities said on Tuesday. The five men, originally from the Balkans, Turkey and Jordan, were arrested on Monday night at Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Senior cricket administrators are to meet on Thursday to review the Proteas’ performance over the past year. Among other things, the administrators will be discussing the team’s somewhat erratic performance at the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, where they lost four of the 10 matches they played.
Cricket SA confirmed on Wednesday the Proteas did not receive death threats on their return from the Cricket World Cup. Proteas captain Graeme Smith clarified comments he made earlier in an interview with Cape-based radio station KFM about the Proteas’ reception when they landed at OR Tambo Airport on April 28.