No image available
/ 30 December 2005
A woman rushed to hospital with tummy trouble, fearing she had eaten a dodgy kebab, was shocked to give birth instead, a British newspaper reported on Friday. Helen Smitham (25) of Distington in northwest England, had no idea she was pregnant when she complained of feeling a bit rough — with an iffy kebab thought to blame.
No image available
/ 30 December 2005
Following a year of ups and downs, South Africans should look to the future and learn the lessons of the past year. This was the new year’s message contained in separate statements from the Democratic Alliance and African Christian Democratic Party on Thursday.
No image available
/ 30 December 2005
Chinese police have closed 598 websites in a crackdown on pornography, but online gambling and fraud are growing, state media said on Friday. The communist government encourages internet use for education and business but has launched repeated campaigns to stamp out material deemed obscene or subversive.
No image available
/ 30 December 2005
South African national Education Minister Naledi Pandor is to visit schools which produced senior certificate results of between zero and 20% in the 2005 examinations. The minister said that she would "crack the whip" at these schools. She said she would be visiting the schools "in the next two weeks".
No image available
/ 30 December 2005
When a middle-aged man swore at airline staff after he was refused a drink on a flight from Manchester to Tenerife, he got a sunshine break he had not bargained for. The pilot diverted the charter plane and dumped the troublesome holidaymaker 480km from his destination on a barren volcanic island off the west coast of Africa.
No image available
/ 30 December 2005
Palestinian investigators and British consular officials were on Thursday night urgently trying to make contact with the Palestinian group who abducted a British aid worker and her parents in the Gaza Strip, more than 24 hours after they disappeared. They were snatched by seven armed men in Rafah, a deprived town in a very poor area.
No image available
/ 30 December 2005
The intelligence service at the centre of the row over eavesdropping tracked visitors to its website, despite United States government regulations. Monitoring files, known as cookies, were discovered by a privacy activist at a time when the White House is on the defensive about its use of the National Security Agency to monitor the communications of US citizens.
No image available
/ 30 December 2005
South Africa, needing to win on a spin-friendly Sydney wicket next week to square their three-Test series, must be more ruthless against Australia, captain Graeme Smith said on Friday. The South Africans imploded under the pressure of Ricky Ponting’s team to lose the second Melbourne Test by 184 runs in the over after lunch on the final day, but Smith urged his troops to come back hard in Sydney next week.
No image available
/ 30 December 2005
A Malaysian man is claiming a new record after teaching non-stop for 88 hours, in a feat involving hundreds of students which left him with a sore back and high blood pressure, a report said on Friday. "My doctor actually advised me against doing this, but I was determined to show my love for teaching," A. Elanthevan told the <i>New Straits Times</i>.
No image available
/ 29 December 2005
The prices of most grades of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin would decrease from one minute past midnight on January 4, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Thursday. The retail price of 93 unleaded petrol and lead replacement petrol would decrease by six cents a litre from R5,42 to R5,36.