In a feat that put human sword swallowers to shame, a British dog managed to gulp down a stick only 5cm shorter than its own body, and escape unscathed, a report said on Thursday. Millie, a two-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier, swallowed the stick by accident while on a walk with her owner in fields behind his home.
As celebrations go, it will be a muted one. But at 9pm on Thursday evening, anyone who tried and failed to make a fortune in the dotcom boom can be forgiven for sitting back, pouring themselves a glass of millennium bubbly, and thinking about what might have been.
A tiger in a Ukrainian zoo killed a woman trying to clean the animal’s cage by mistake, Interfax news agency reported on Thursday. The incident occurred at the Kiev city zoo after the 23-year-old woman confused enclosure doors, entered the cage of a tiger known to be dangerous, and began collecting trash.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has moved to bury the hatchet with President Thabo Mbeki after Tutu’s criticism of the government last year, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Thursday. Tutu said the row was part of pain of South Africa’s new democracy, the station said.
Heated exchanges marked the South African Human Rights Commission’s announcement on Thursday that boom gates are constitutional. The commission found that the Constitution lets local authorities apply legislation that allows the closures, but it is concerned that there is no adequate monitoring of the closures.
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The second witness for the defence in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial, Zandile Mdhladhla, told the Durban High Court on Thursday that the Jacob Zuma Education Trust Fund did not qualify for funding from the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. However, ”we received money from Mr Mandela as a person”, said Mdhladhla.
The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo is investigating an operation in which peacekeeping soldiers killed about 60 militiamen who had ambushed and killed Bangladeshi troops. ”The probe at Loga, which began on March 7 is a routine investigation of the kind we carry out after each operation for a military assessment of the results,” said mission spokesperson Kemal Saiki.
Got a problem with burglars? Try leaving an apple, a carrot or a piece of pizza out for them. Police say thieves often cannot resist tucking into a snack after breaking into a home, and traces of saliva on the food remains can yield a telltale signature of the criminal’s DNA.
SA Rugby has the full backing of the government for its 2011 Rugby World Cup bid, Francois Pienaar, bid committee chief executive, said on Wednesday. A sports ministry spokesperson recently said the government will withdraw its backing should SA Rugby fail to transform. However, Pienaar said the government’s backing is not in doubt.
The English Premier League will have two flag-carriers in the quarterfinals of the Champions League after Liverpool coasted to a 3-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in their knockout round second-leg match on Wednesday. But another English Premier League side, Arsenal, failed to overcome a 3-1 away defeat to former winners Bayern Munich in Germany.