Durban-born lock Greg Rawlinson returns to his former hometown charged with trying to give the All Blacks a winning start against South Africa in defence of their Tri-Nations rugby crown. Rawlinson received his second Test start — his first since New Zealand was last in South Africa 10 months ago — for this Saturday’s Test at King’s Park Stadium.
Somalia’s presidential spokesperson was shot twice at close range in the latest assassination attempt on government officials in the Horn of Africa nation, officials said on Tuesday. ”He was shot in the neck and near the jaw,” a security source told Reuters. ”I think the gunman was aiming for the head.”
A senator is proposing a modest step to improve the efficiency of food aid donations from the United States, but the plan falls short of the Bush administration’s vision for reform. The US would spend -million over four years on pilot projects to vet aid donations that use crops purchased in developing countries.
A company in eastern China was ordered to stop production after food safety officials found it was repackaging the filling from two-year-old rice dumplings. Officials in east China’s Anhui province ordered a recall of all ”zongzi”, a traditional snack made of glutinous rice and other fillings usually wrapped in bamboo leaves.
Top detective Piet Byleveld says a bouncer has pledged a bounty of R500 000 to have him killed, media reports said on Tuesday. Superintendent Byleveld said the plot to have him assassinated before he could testify against the bouncer was hatched in the Johannesburg prison.
Portugal’s Foreign Minister Luis Amado said on Monday Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would not be welcome at a European Union-African Union summit being held in November in Lisbon. ”Personally I have no interest in Mugabe coming to Lisbon,” Amado said.
South Africa flanker Joe Van Niekerk signed a three-year contract with English rugby club Northampton on Monday. Van Niekerk, capped 46 times by the Springboks since 2001, will start with Northampton depending on next month’s announcement of South Africa’s World Cup squad.
Two people were arrested on Monday in connection with the murder of Cape theatre personality Taliep Petersen, said police spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones. A 45-year-old woman was arrested at about 7.40pm at her house in Athlone and a 41-year-old man was arrested at 8.30pm in the Strandfontein area.
A small group of striking public servants were protesting outside the premises the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council on Tuesday. Government and labour negotiators were scheduled to meet at the council’s office in Centurion, south of Pretoria, later on Tuesday afternoon.
For those of an inquisitive disposition, Sweden has long been a paradise. Thanks to its long tradition of openness, tabloid journalists, employers and ordinary nosey parkers are legally able to access information on the salaries and tax bills of their fellow countrymen.