Chinese opera, a massive fireworks display and a mystery ending will mark the highly anticipated opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, media reported on Wednesday. The ceremony’s artistic director, Zhang Yimou, China’s most famous filmmaker, has dropped the first hints on the show’s content.
Scotland Yard strengthened its team aiding the probe into the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday as concerns for the country’s nuclear security grew. Three more detectives arrived from London, including an expert in the type of explosives used in the gun and suicide-bomb attack that killed Bhutto.
Investors may face a bumpy ride in the short term, but market prospects for later in 2008 look relatively positive, said unit trust company Stanlib on Wednesday. Stanlib forecasts a rise of 18% in the JSE all-share index over the next 12 months, assuming corporate earnings growth stays solid at 17%.
The election of fraud convict Tony Yengeni to the African National Congress’s (ANC) powerful national working committee (NWC) is proof that the ruling party has been taken over by criminals, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille said on Wednesday.
At least 50% of medical drugs are out of stock in Zimbabwe’s pharmacies because of critical shortages of foreign currency, making life harder for struggling Zimbabweans, it emerged on this week. The few available drugs have shot up in price, putting them well out of the reach of most white-collar workers.
Ernie Els is to cut back on his hectic international schedule in a bid to win more Majors. The 38-year-old South African is known to be among the most widely travelled of golfers on the circuits, regularly globe-trotting to events in the United States, Europe and Asia.
A Nationwide aircraft — flying from Livingstone in Zambia to Johannesburg — was forced to turn back a few minutes into the flight due to a mechanical fault, the airline said on Wednesday. Nationwide corporate quality director Rodger Whittle said flight 203 had to turn back because hydraulic fluid was leaking from a faulty pipe.
The arrest of Gauteng Scorpions boss Gerrie Nel is a witch-hunt to protect police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, said the Democratic Alliance on Wednesday. ”The axing of Vusi Pikoli and now Gerrie Nel has all the appearance of a witch-hunt to protect Selebi,” said DA spokesperson on Safety and Security Dianne Kohler Barnard.
The world’s coral reefs are in alarming decline, but what — or who — is most to blame? A groundbreaking study published on Wednesday singles out human settlement, especially coastal development and agriculture, as the main culprit, even more so than warming sea waters and acidification linked to global warming.
French police have arrested a former officer in the Rwandan army, Marcel Bivugabagabo, accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide, an association of legal plaintiffs said on Wednesday. Bivugabagabo (53) is on the list of war criminals wanted for trial by the Rwandan government.