No image available
/ 21 October 2006
Lesinewu opens his mouth and bites into an invisible tower of bread he is pretending to hold in his hands. He is in grade six and an athlete for Riverlea Primary, a small school in the south-west of Johannesburg. He says he needs six sandwiches because he is always running. Almost a third of his school’s 890 pupils receive a daily government lunch.
No image available
/ 20 October 2006
Morse code, the dots-and-dashes signalling system first used at sea on the Titanic and long since consigned to the scrapheap, made a triumphant comeback this week in the rescue of a stranded fisherman. The man had run aground near Hayling Island on the south coast when his boat began taking on water.
No image available
/ 20 October 2006
A fire that destroyed a cottage near Bonn and injured a 77-year-old man was probably caused by a meteor, and witnesses saw an arc of blazing light in the sky, German police said on Friday. Burkhard Rick, a spokesperson for the police in Siegburg east of Bonn, said the fire gutted the cottage.
No image available
/ 20 October 2006
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party will table a motion in Parliament demanding the sacking of Zimbabwe’s top union leaders, in what insiders say is the first step by the ruling party to annexing the powerful but pro-opposition labour movement.
No image available
/ 20 October 2006
South Africa needs to take more assertive action on the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday. This is especially necessary in the light of its election to a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, he said in his weekly newsletter.
No image available
/ 20 October 2006
Facing a huge surge in the number of Somali refugees fleeing unrest, Kenya on Friday renewed appeals for dialogue between Somalia’s powerful Islamist movement and weak government to prevent conflict. More than 30 000 Somalis have arrived in Kenya since the beginning of the year.
No image available
/ 20 October 2006
A judge on Friday postponed a hearing on a lawsuit by human rights groups challenging the government’s decision to allow American pop star Madonna to start adoption procedures for a motherless, 13-month-old Malawian boy. Judge Andrew Nyirenda postponed a hearing on the case until next Friday.
No image available
/ 20 October 2006
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has acquired another executive mayorship in the Western Cape, the party said on Friday. DA councillor Rudi Laws has been elected as the new mayor for the Eden district municipality in George following the resignation of Independent Democrats councillor Leon Dorfling.
No image available
/ 20 October 2006
South Africa’s responsibility as a member of the United Nations Security Council to live up to the expectations of the African people and the rest of the world community does not rest solely with government, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.
No image available
/ 20 October 2006
A report by the Department of Labour on its findings of a probe into safety at petrochemicals group Sasol has been handed to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana revealed on Friday. The probe was prompted by blasts at Sasol plants in the past two years.