South Africa’s real gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised (saa) basis rose by 4,5% in the second quarter of 2007 from 4,7% in the first quarter of 2007, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. This comes after GDP rose as high as 5,6% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Skippi, a wily kangaroo on the run since early August, was returned to his home at a petting zoo Monday in southern Germany, but not after a chase through the German Alps that left the animal with a strained leg. The injured marsupial was captured in a cornfield near Leutkirch im Allgaeu.
Forest fires that have killed at least 63 people in Greece raged for a fifth day on Tuesday, although they were not threatening any villages, a firefighters’ spokesperson said. ”At the moment there is no threat to the villages, but the direction of the wind is impossible to predict,” the spokesperson said.
Natural disasters are far more destructive than wars, and the damage will only worsen unless drastic change is taken to address global climate change, a former United Nations humanitarian chief said on Tuesday. "Already seven times more livelihoods are devastated by natural disasters than by war worldwide, and this is going to get worse," Jan Egeland said.
Police and health workers in Papua New Guinea launched an investigation on Tuesday into reports that people living with Aids in the rugged South Pacific nation were being buried alive by their relatives. Romanus Pakure, deputy director of the government’s National Aids Council, said the allegations were ”a wake-up call”.
At least 31 people died and nine more were missing after heavy rainstorms hit south-west China, state media reported on Tuesday. Xinhua news agency said 17 people were killed and three others were missing after the torrential rains in Sichuan province in the past several days.
A hearing in the trial of a Mauritanian editor of independent daily El Bedil Athalith, charged with slandering the first lady, was on Monday postponed indefinitely. The Arabic newspaper alleged in articles that the first lady had abused her position as wife of the head of state to raise funds for a charity organisation she headed.
South Africa’s woes continued on Tuesday at the 11th World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, when sprinters Morne Nagel and Christiaan Krone failed to get past the first round. A poor first 30m put paid to Krone’s debut at world-championship level, but the Tukkies athlete went out with his pride intact.
Many urban cellular network masts in South Africa are situated in areas lush with vegetation, which is why a number of them are dressed up as trees. It is not known exactly how many antenna masts are disguised in this way. Now a master’s student in digital arts has started a project to calculate the relationship between technology and society.
Ian Bell’s third 50 in as many matches was the cornerstone of England’s 42-run win against India at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Monday as they took a 2-1 lead in the seven-match series. Bell, on his Warwickshire home ground, made 79 in England’s total of 281 for eight.