Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper The Times announced on Friday it will launch a United States edition next month as part of a push to make the paper an international brand. The US edition will go on sale on 6 June via subscription and at more than 2 000 retail outlets across New York and New Jersey.
The possibility of a nationwide taxi strike cannot be ruled out should the Department of Transport fail to comply with taxi owners’ demands over operating permits, a spokesperson said on Friday. South African National Taxi Council members marched to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum to the minister of transport.
Gunmen in Baghdad killed the coach of the Iraqi national tennis team and two players, reportedly for wearing Western-style tennis shorts, an Iraqi Olympic official said on Friday. The coach, Hussein Ahmed Rashid, was murdered along with two of his players, Nasser Ali Hatem and Wissam Adel Auda, outside his home in the capital’s southern al-Saidiyah neighbourhood.
Hamza El Din, a musician and composer who helped popularise ancient traditional songs from North Africa, has died. He was 76. El Din died on Monday at Alta Bates hospital in Berkeley, said hospital spokesperson Carolyn Kemp. His wife, Nadra, told The New York Times the cause of death was complications after surgery.
A well-known Australian climber given up for dead near the summit of Mount Everest may still be alive and rescuers are trying to reach him, a colleague said on Friday. Lincoln Hall (50) and one of Australia’s leading climbers, was reported by his Russian expedition leader earlier on Friday to have died on Thursday while descending from the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
Scientists searching for the origin of HIV, the global pandemic infecting more than 40-million people, believe they have finally tracked its original source to two colonies of chimpanzees in a corner of Cameroon. The finding represents the culmination of a 10-year hunt for the source of the pandemic.
Israel has authorised the transfer of weapons to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel Army Radio reported on Friday. Defence Minister Amir Peretz made the decision after a ”rise” in intelligence alerts that radical or rival Palestinians could assassinate the moderate president, the radio said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair will on Friday in a foreign-policy address at Georgetown University call for a return to a multilateral approach to global affairs built around a radically reformed United Nations led by a powerful secretary general, in a bid to salvage his legacy as a progressive leader on the world stage.
The Cape High Court ruled on Thursday that a man who raped his niece about 50 years ago should pay R450 000 for damages caused, the Women’s Legal Centre (WLC) said. Acting director Mary Caesar said the WLC is ”very pleased” that Esme van Zijl’s claim against her uncle, Imker Marais Hoogenhout, was successful.
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi is not being investigated by the Scorpions, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) reacted on Friday to a claim in the Mail & Guardian. The M&G reported on Friday that Selebi was linked to a ”shadowy” network of figures associated with slain businessman Brett Kebble.