Letting celebrities get away with drug crimes is sending out the wrong message to impressionable young people, a United Nations report warned on Wednesday. The UN drug control agency has for the first time highlighted the damaging influence drug-using celebrities — such as Amy Winehouse, Pete Doherty and Kate Moss in Britain — have on fans.
Madiba’s 90th birthday celebrations have already begun and will continue throughout the year, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said on Wednesday. Mandela was joined by his wife and daughters in Johannesburg to hear what events have been planned around his 90th birthday, which falls on July 18.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called for police to investigate circumstances surrounding an unmarked grave near a mine clinic in the Northern Cape. Spokesperson Tshepo Motsumi said in a statement that construction workers found the remains of a mineworker on Wednesday near the PrimCure Clinic in Kuruman.
More than 100 people died in clashes between demonstrators and police in Cameroon last week, a local human rights group said on Wednesday in the absence of an official toll. "We can already say there are more than 100 dead. News comes in to us every day and we are still checking it out," Madeleine Afite of the Maison des Droits de L’Homme said.
The United Nations said on Wednesday it had launched a flash appeal for ,4-million to assist cyclone-stricken areas in the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar. ”This appeal is a tool aimed at outlining a coordinated response in the coming three months,” local UN humanitarian coordinator Jean-Marie Stratigos said.
South Africa cricket coach Mickey Arthur said on Wednesday his team hope to topple Australia from the top of the one-day charts by winning all their one-day internationals against Bangladesh. Australia are currently the best one-day side with 127 points, ahead of South Africa on decimal points.
The South African Football Players’ Union (Safpu) is devastated at the death of two former AmaZulu FC players, it said on Wednesday. Safpu spokesperson Elvis Sekgobela said the union was shocked at the death of Joe Mlaba and Japie Arries. ”Arries, who was a midfielder, died at the weekend … while Mlaba, who had a short illness, died this week,” said Sekgobela.
The prized wicket of New Zealand’s big-hitting Brendon McCullum just before stumps gave England a slight edge on the opening day of the first cricket Test on Wednesday. New Zealand ended the day at 282-6 after an 86-run partnership between McCullum and Ross Taylor had lifted them out of a middle-order hole.
Santos continued their fine form of late when they secured a 2-1 win over Wits at the Athlone Stadium on Tuesday night. Wits started the game brightly and had early chances through Noah Chivuta, but his long-range shots did not have the beating of Wayne Roberts.
Students, security personnel and police engaged in running battles at Durban’s Mangosuthu University of Technology on Wednesday. Rubber bullets were used by university security personnel and the public-order policing unit to disperse about 500 protesting students at the Umlazi campus, south of Durban.