A foreign hostage has died of illness in the oil-producing Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, a source in the Bayelsa state government said on Sunday. The source had no details on the illness, the circumstances of the hostage’s death or his nationality, but said the body was at a hospital morgue in Yenagoa.
An Australian farmer who was kidnapped and beaten in Mali after walking into an internet bride scam has pleaded with people to be careful looking for online love. South Australian farmer Des Gregor (56) returned to Australia on Sunday night after being held hostage by machete-armed bandits in Africa for 12 days.
Vosloorus police said on Monday they knew nothing about a man who claimed his group of disgruntled unemployed people were behind a spate of ATM bombings. The Sowetan newspaper reported on Monday that Plaatjie Mashego, said to be a former Umkhonto weSizwe operative, had claimed responsibility for recent ATM blasts across the country.
A motorist was slightly injured when her car was stoned, then overturned by a rioting mob just off the R511, in Diepsloot, on Sunday night, said Netcare 911. She was taken to hospital with a laceration to her head, said Netcare 911 spokesperson Mark Stokoe.
Two speeding motorists caught with laser jammers in their cars have been charged with exceeding the speed limit and defeating the ends of justice, Johannesburg metro police said on Sunday. The two were among 37 motorists arrested for speeding in the city over the weekend.
Ernie Els was in upbeat mood after finishing third at the United States PGA Championship on Sunday, sensing he is close to giving world number one Tiger Woods a run for his money. The 37-year-old South African, six strokes behind leader Woods at the start of the final round, signed off with a four-under-par 66 in steamy conditions at Southern Hills Country Club.
South Africa has blamed Britain for the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe by accusing the United Kingdom of leading a campaign to ”strangle” the beleaguered African state’s economy and saying it has a ”death wish” against a negotiated settlement that might leave Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in power.
Last month Bidvest Bank was launched officially in South Africa, the latest project of diversified industrial giant Bidvest. Brian Joffe’s company appears to have taken the view that there’s nowhere to go but up, although Bidvest is taking a conservative approach. Joffe founded his empire 18 years ago with one acquisition, Chipkins, a catering services company.
Could one of the inventors of the webcam transform the economics of computing for the poor? In 1991, when he was a doctoral student at Cambridge, Quentin StaffordFraser hooked up a camera to monitor the department’s coffeepot so his fellow workers would know when it was fresh.
Amid the top-level dialogue, public debate and opulent functions dedicated to solving the scourge of violence against women and children, is it possible that we are losing sight of the obvious? Could we be suffering from the "bullshit baffles brains" syndrome instead of allowing common sense and reason to prevail?