Eleven people were reported by police to have burnt to death in fires that engulfed parts of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal on Friday. In Mpumalanga, a holidaying Johannesburg couple were burnt beyond recognition after trying to escape an enormous fire that ripped through a tourist lodge on Friday night.
An announcement on the country’s suspended National Lottery is expected within days, according to Department of Trade and Industry insiders, media reports said on Saturday. According to sources, the National Lotteries Board has recommended that the government stick with the initial winning bidder, the Gidani Consortium.
Former members of South Africa’s current intelligence services who were once part of apartheid secret services were behind the ”special browse” report about an alleged plot to overthrow the government, said Director General in the Presidency Frank Chikane on Saturday at a press conference at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The first new vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) in more than 80 years has entered mid-stage trials in South Africa, where the killer disease is rife, scientists said on Saturday. If the tests are successful, a new shot against M tuberculosis bacteria could be available within eight years.
Oil prices closed at more than a barrel, near an all-time high, on Friday on technical buying and news of faster-than-expected economic growth. ”We’ve got a highly charged market here, and it doesn’t take much of a headline to spark a 5% price move,” said an analyst.
Two news helicopters covering a police chase in Phoenix, Arizona, on live television collided and crashed to the ground on Friday, killing all four people on board in a plunge that viewers saw as a jumble of spinning, broken images. Both helicopters went down in a park in central Phoenix and caught fire.
The widest-yet investigation into cannabis and mental health says individuals who use marijuana increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness by more than 40%. Reporting in Saturday’s issue of the Lancet, the doctors call on health supremos to warn young people about the risk to their mind.
Uganda’s lions appear to have become the main casualties in a dispute between landless herdsmen and the authorities managing one of the country’s biggest reserves. And with Britain’s queen due later this year to visit the park that was named after her, the pressure is on to find a solution.
Pakistan boosted security on Saturday fearing further attacks a day after a suicide bombing during protests at Islamabad’s pro-Taliban Red Mosque killed 14 people. Authorities were also investigating how the attacker was able to strike at a crowded market in the heart of the capital.
A penalty by centre Oliver Fowles five minutes into referee’s optional time earned the Border Bulldogs a dramatic 19-19 draw against the Pumas at a wet East London’s Absa Stadium on Friday night. It was a game of two halves with the visitors doing the bulk of their scoring in the first and the Bulldogs in the second.