The Potsdam hotel room of South African Airways’ (SAA) chief executive Khaya Ngqula was cleaned out by robbers during the World Cup final between Italy and France, it was confirmed on Monday. It is understood Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa was also targeted, as were Zuzi Buthelezi, the son of Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and businessman Dr Dudu Kunene, but this could not be confirmed.
South African IT group Datatec announced on Tuesday that its South African operations will merge with African Legend Technologies (ALT) to form an R800-million-a-year IT company. Datatec will have a 55% shareholding and African Legend Technologies will hold the remaining 45% in the newly merged entity.
A resourceful blogger’s quest to trade up on one red paperclip until his bartering produced a house has paid off. On Wednesday Kyle MacDonald will be owner of a home on the prairie after the small town of Kipling, Saskatchewan, decided to turn over the keys to a three-bedroom property as a way to stem its population loss.
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Under a haze of French flags and firecracker smoke, the crowd of several thousand people filling Place de la Concorde on Monday afternoon chanted ”Zizou! Zizou!” in a hero’s welcome for Zinédine Zidane, the French football captain sent off for headbutting an Italian player as France lost the World Cup final.
Britons, famous the world over for queuing, waste four days, or 96 hours, each year waiting in line, according to results of a study released on Monday. But far from being polite in the process, more than 40% admit to having lost their cool, with the airport check-in queue cited as the most hated by 65% of the respondents, the ICM poll for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines suggested.
Zimbabweans will have to contend with rising prices of goods and services in the foreseeable future amid warnings by analysts that the June slowdown in the rate of inflation is only on paper and not supported by major improvements in economic conditions. The country’s annualised rate of inflation slowed to 1 184,6% in June.
Nine Palestinians were killed on Monday as Israel pounded Gaza with deadly air strikes and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defended the massive military offensive in the face of international criticism. Despite the mounting toll, Hamas’s exiled political chief insisted the captured soldier would not be freed without a swap for Palestinian prisoners.
The government was expected Tuesday to herald a new era for nuclear power in Britain alongside a greater reliance on renewable sources when it releases a review of the country’s energy needs. But the long-awaited report will likely trigger an angry response from environmentalists because any support for cleaner power, such as solar or tidal energy, will be overshadowed by the nuclear references.
When corporate companies start shifting a fraction of their advertising budgets toward acclaimed creative artists, we might see a shift to lasting products that attract foreign interest in Africa, writes Ross Douglas.
A novel range of memorabilia celebrating Michael Jackson’s acquittal on child sex charges has popped up on the internet: slices of toast bearing the embattled superstar’s spectral image.