United States-based company LifeGem has developed a way to turn the remains of your loved one into a diamond in about 24 weeks. It does this by extracting carbon from the ashes of the body, subjecting it to intense heat to create graphite and then placing it in a special diamond press which replicates the awesome forces deep within the Earth.
The South African economy has shown resilience by withstanding a 144c petrol price increase over the past two years, but production costs threaten a benign outlook, figures released recentl show. Statistics South Africa reported that inflation excluding mortgage rates rose 3,7% in April. This was slightly below forecast.
The battle for control of Cape Town goes to the streets of Tafelsig — a poor coloured suburb of Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats — in less than a fortnight in what is becoming a contest between mayor Helen Zille and the Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille. Although the two are not candidates in the June 7 municipal by-election, both parties are investing heavily in the election.
It’s a pity that Dubya doesn’t have people in his employ who are nearly as efficient at invasions as the Dodge division of DaimlerChrysler. After 15 hours of flying, the South African contingent would have been forgiven for wondering just where on the planet we were for the international launch of the Dodge Caliber, writes Sukasha Singh.
Massmart’s recent R1-billion black economic empowerment deal, following in the footsteps of Edcon’s BEE deal, shows clearly that companies will do deals despite being exempt from the government’s licensing and buying power. Retail, unlike mining and broadcasting, is not subject to licensing or contracting that gives the government the power to compel industries to negotiate a charter.
The past 10 years of his life had savaged the dilapidated novelist. His cheeks, once chubby and flushed, were flaking onion-skin drawn tight over a mangrove swamp of burst blood vessels; and his eyes — little round beads that had blinked quizzically from the back covers of 500-million paperbacks — were useless egg-whites swimming in two oily pans.
President Thabo Mbeki’s second term as national president is not even half completed. Yet we find ourselves embroiled in an enervating and divisive succession debate riddled with conspiracy theories. Why this premature turbulence?
A British national accused of starting a blaze on Table Mountain in January in which a woman died, appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Anthony Cooper, out on bail of R3Â 000, faces charges of arson and culpable homicide. He is alleged to have flicked a burning cigarette into the brush.
The United States Senate on Friday confirmed air force General Michael Hayden as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency, which has been in turmoil over intelligence failures leading up to the September 11 attacks and the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Hundreds of Somalis packed mattresses and food into minivans and trucks, preparing to flee their capital a day after it suffered some of the fiercest battles in 14 days. Doctors reached by telephone in the city’s hospitals and clinics raised the death toll from Thursday’s fighting to 60, with more than 150 wounded.