No image available
/ 30 January 2008
The African National Congress’s (ANC) drive to close the Scorpions is ”myopic and dangerous”, political analyst Professor Adam Habib said on Wednesday. Speaking at the University of Pretoria’s African Dialogue Lecture series, both Habib and fellow academic and analyst Professor Stephen Friedman said the move sent out the wrong signals.
No image available
/ 30 January 2008
Fresh write-offs at big European and Japanese banks on Wednesday drove investors’ attention firmly back onto the credit crunch after days gazing at Société Générale’s stunning losses, which it blames on a junior trader. With the Federal Reserve expected to cut interest rates for the second week running, Swiss bank UBS illuminated the depth of the crisis.
No image available
/ 30 January 2008
The Bulls have included three of their previously injured World Cup Springboks in the side to play the Lions in a warm-up match in Windhoek on Saturday. Danie Rossouw, Gurthro Steenkamp and Akon Ndungane have all been given the green light, and the starting line-up is arguably the best Frans Ludeke could have selected.
No image available
/ 30 January 2008
Blankets of snow brought the Holy City of Jerusalem and other cities across the Middle East grinding to a halt on Wednesday as icy weather gripped the mainly desert region. Snow blocked roads to the Jordanian capital, Amman, and schools, universities and banks were shut in the desert kingdom.
No image available
/ 30 January 2008
A kulula.com passenger aircraft was forced to turn back after a bird flew into an engine during a Durban-to-Cape Town flight on Wednesday. Airline spokesperson Glenda Zvenyika confirmed that a ”bird strike” occurred on flight MN702, 15 minutes after taking off from Durban. The captain had to shut down the engine.
No image available
/ 30 January 2008
A funeral business union based in the central Taiwan county of Nantou held a lottery draw at a recent dinner party offering as top prize a nice place to store the winner’s ashes after death, Taiwanese media reported on Wednesday. The second prize was a coffin, an organiser of the macabre contest said.
No image available
/ 30 January 2008
The city that popularised the fast-food drive-through has a new innovation: 24-hour vending machines stocked with medical marijuana. Patients suffering from chronic pain, loss of appetite and other ailments that marijuana is said to alleviate can get their pot with a dose of convenience from a large machine.
No image available
/ 30 January 2008
A South African National Defence Force helicopter from Pretoria was expected to deliver food parcels to flood victims in Limpopo on Wednesday, the province’s housing and local government department said. ”Those residents are cut off from the outside world. We can only access them by air,” said a departmental spokesperson.
No image available
/ 30 January 2008
After all 13 people implicated in the Jeppestown massacre had pleaded not guilty to every charge put to them on Wednesday, the trial settled into the task of admitting vast amounts of evidence into the court records. Earlier, the woman and 12 men elected to remain silent on the 23 charges they face collectively.
No image available
/ 30 January 2008
There is clear evidence of ”ethnic cleansing” in Kenya’s Rift Valley since a disputed election, but it does not amount to genocide, said the top United States diplomat for Africa. ”The cycle of retaliation has gone too far and has become more dangerous,” said US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer.