Google, already the world’s most popular spot for finding websites, is aiming to become the go-to place for creating websites too. It is taking its first step toward that goal with the debut of a free service designed for high-tech neophytes looking for a simple way to share information with other people working in the same company.
Microsoft has announced steep price cuts in its Vista operating system in a bid to spur sales of its year-old operating system. The move, announced late last week, came as the company is facing a troubling class-action lawsuit that alleges it colluded with Intel to market computers as being ”Vista-capable”.
German airline Lufthansa said on Monday its pilots had averted a crash at a Hamburg airport after a strong gust of wind caused a plane, with 130 passengers on board, to veer dangerously on landing. Amateur video footage, played repeatedly on German television, showed the Airbus A320 buffeted by crosswinds and driving rain as it landed on Saturday.
Lawyers for the University of the Free State (UFS) and two white male students who made a racist video involving black university workers were still discussing details of possible disciplinary action on Monday. UFS spokesperson Lacea Loader said the process of disciplinary action was still ongoing on Monday as ”the legally correct processes were continuing”.
The United Nations in Sudan accused a rebel group on Monday of blocking access to a mountainous area in Darfur where 20 000 people are trapped after fighting between the government and rebels. Ameerah Haq, the UN humanitarian chief for Sudan, said an assessment mission to the Jabel Moun area was denied access by the Justice and Equality Movement.
Senior Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) officials who are supporters of President Thabo Mbeki are not facing the axe, the trade-unionfederation said on Monday. Cosatu dismissed reports that three senior officials were in the firing line as ”totally untrue”.
Four accidents on Monday claimed the lives of 31 people in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), prompting the province’s premier to declare this coming Thursday a day of mourning. KwaZulu-Natal health spokesperson Leon Mbangwa said a collision between a coal truck and a minibus taxi near Dundee claimed the lives of 15 people, while another 12 were killed on the outskirts of Durban.
Runaway oil prices roared higher on Monday to strike a record high $103,95 per barrel as traders reacted to the plunging United States dollar amid expectations that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) will hold output this week.
The man accused of setting fire to the African National Congress Luthuli House headquarters last week will appear in court again on March 10. Magistrate Steff Bezuidenhout on Monday said the case would be postponed so that the man’s particulars could be verified.
In the sub-arctic woods of Canada’s North-west Territories, a quiet crowd searches the moonlit sky, a wave of concern creeping into hushed voices. Time is running out. Then a funnel of greenish light appears in the east, hanging still at first, then rippling like steam in a glass tube.