If you are one of the 400-million users of Microsoft Office, prepare to feel confused, lost and possibly abandoned. The user interface in next year’s version, Office System 2007, has been completely changed, and there is no going back. The file formats have changed as well, though the old ones are still supported.
A Polish priest with a penchant for a bet has slipped out of his parish in the central Polish town of Lowicz, taking with him the collection box, local press reports said on Thursday. The faithful at the Holy Spirit parish in Lowicz were a bit bemused at not seeing Father Franciszek Augustynski since mid-May.
An estimated three million children in South Africa are involved in exploitative labour, a conference on the matter heard on Thursday. ”The government of South Africa estimated that 32,5% of children aged five to 14 years were working in 1999. Between 248Â 000 and three-million children are engaged in exploitative child labour in South Africa,” Dr Helene Aiello of Khulisa Management Services told the Reducing Exploitative Child Labour in South Africa conference in Boksburg.
The Johannesburg Labour Court has granted an order preventing Ekurhuleni metro police from taking part in illegal protests. The court order prevents the South African Municipal Workers’ Union and its members from marching on Thursday as planned, said Ekurhuleni metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago.
England captain Michael Vaughan has been ruled out of the Ashes tour of Australia after a fourth operation on his right knee, the BBC reported on Thursday. The Yorkshire batsman went under the knife on Monday, still clinging to the hope that he could be fit in time to lead England on the tour, which begins in November.
Somali Muslims who fail to perform daily prayers will be killed in accordance with Qur’anic law under a new edict issued by a leading cleric in the Islamic courts union that controls Mogadishu. The requirement for Muslims to observe the five-times daily ritual under penalty of death was announced late on Wednesday.
A probe has been ordered into the leaking of SMS messages over an apparent secret love affair between a married Western Cape provincial minister and a journalist, the Cape Times reported on Thursday. Provincial Premier Ebrahim Rasool said there had been ”several incidents of breaches of provincial government security” in the past few weeks.
United States aerospace giant Boeing is well placed to win a multibillion-dollar deal to provide strategic transport aircraft and helicopters to Canada. The Canadian government last week announced plans to purchase 16 helicopters for Can,7-billion (,2-billion), and 21 military transport planes for Can,3-billion (,4-billion).
The final round of talks in the petroleum sector on Wednesday failed to resolve differences between the parties, and mediation in the chemical bargaining council did not result in an agreement, trade union Solidarity said on Thursday. "Employers offer a 5,5% increase, while our members are demanding 10%," said spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans.
An injury-ravaged Springbok team leave South Africa on Thursday night for the southern hemisphere’s Tri-Nations competition with Australia and New Zealand with speculation rife their coach will head to England at the completion of the matches in September.