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/ 20 February 2008
More than two million people have registered as descendants of Confucius, tripling the size of the celebrated Chinese philosopher’s family tree, state media reported on Monday. The new list, which was last updated in 1930, has rocketed by more than 1,3-million, the Confucius genealogy compilation committee said.
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/ 20 February 2008
Hong Kong health officials on Tuesday warned would-be slimmers not to consume parasitic worms in an attempt to lose weight following adverts for products containing worm eggs. The Health Department said there is no scientific evidence that infestation with ascaris, a parasitic worm that lives in the intestine, is a way to lose weight.
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/ 20 February 2008
Australia’s postal service has increased the maximum weight for its delivery staff after struggling to attract applicants weighing less than 90kg, local media reported on Tuesday. The old limit was designed to allow "posties", as they are known here, to carry 40kg of mail on their small motorcycles for a total load of 130kg.
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/ 20 February 2008
A group of Chinese alcohol producers is trying to overturn a ban on government officials enjoying a lunchtime tipple that has seen a fall in restaurant trade, state media reported on Wednesday. Officials in several cities in central Henan province were banned from drinking during their lunch break in an effort to improve government efficiency.
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/ 20 February 2008
The party of assassinated former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto began stitching together a coalition on Wednesday that could spell the end for President Pervez Musharraf, after winning the most seats in a general election. The United States welcomed the vote as ”a step toward the full restoration of democracy”.
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/ 20 February 2008
Kenya’s feuding political parties returned to talks on Wednesday to end a post-election crisis, but remained stuck on how to share power. Kenyans and world powers have called on President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to agree to a deal to halt turmoil that has killed more than 1 000 people,
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/ 20 February 2008
African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), South Africa’s second-largest black-owned mining group, said first-half earnings rose 34% as it enjoyed booming commodity prices and achieved record output. ARM said headline earnings per share climbed to 353 cents in the latter half of 2007.
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/ 20 February 2008
North Korea has been trying to ease American fears of a secret atomic weapons programme and also denies sharing nuclear technology with other countries, said the United States pointman. Christopher Hill said the North has been trying to show that equipment it purchased was not for use in a covert uranium enrichment programme.
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/ 20 February 2008
Eskom is not as concerned about the domestic availability of sufficient coal as it is with the speed at which it could be mined, <i>Business Day</i> reported on Wednesday. The national power utility is also worried about logistical problems in transporting the coal to power stations.
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/ 20 February 2008
Former Absa CEO and chairperson Dr Danie Cronje has been appointed as the independent non-executive chairperson of Sappi, the global pulp and paper group announced on Wednesday. He succeeds Eugene van As, whose impending retirement as chairperson and from the board was announced earlier.