Thousands of Palestinian civil servants began receiving their first full salaries in 17 months on Wednesday after Israel released tens of millions of dollars of withheld tax receipts. Relieved Palestinians queued en masse outside banks, checking their names on a list or drawing cash from ATM machines.
The tense relations between South Africa and Tri-Nations partners Australia and New Zealand will be raised at a meeting among the three unions next week. The Sanzar body that runs the Tri-Nations and Super 14 will meet in Christchurch for a strategic review addressing the future of both competitions, reported the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday.
After a three-month break the trial of a British aristocrat charged with murder in the shooting of a trespasser on his ancestral ranch resumed in Nairobi on Wednesday. Thomas Cholmondeley, son of the fifth Baron Delamere and great-grandson of Kenya’s most prominent early settler, is charged with killing poacher Robert Njoya in May 2006.
The great-great grandson of Otto von Bismarck, the statesman behind Germany’s 19th century unification, was found dead at his London flat, police said on Wednesday, after a life tainted by scandal. The body of Count Gottfried von Bismarck (44) was found at his home in the upmarket Chelsea district, reportedly surrounded by drugs paraphernalia.
The prevalence of HIV/Aids appears to be dropping, prompting the Department of Health to express optimism on Wednesday about its prevention programmes. Preliminary results from a 2006 survey show a statistically significant decrease in the prevalence of HIV among pregnant women using public hospitals, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said.
Though alleged killer Najwa Petersen was reportedly suicidal, there was no evidence that being in prison would increase the risk, a forensic psychiatrist told the Wynberg Regional Court on Wednesday. Dr Larissa Panieri-Peter was testifying in a bail application by Najwa, accused of masterminding the murder of her husband, entertainer Taliep Petersen, last year.
A new pizza restaurant in western Canada that delivers pornography with every pie has once again proven the adage: sex sells. Porno Pizza in Winnipeg has been doing brisk business since opening last week, titillating the hungry with racy pictures at the bottom of every pizza box.
Australia’s iconic Victoria Bitter beer is about to become less boozy after Foster’s brewery announced it will cut the drink’s alcohol content to lower its tax bill. Foster’s said while the alcohol content was on the hop — to be cut from 4,9% to 4,8% — the taste would remain the same.
South Africa will take only two players from the side that defeated Australia last month into Saturday’s Tri-Nations clash in Sydney against a Wallabies outfit missing suspended winger Lote Tuqiri. Backs Ruan Pienaar and JP Pietersen were the only survivors from the Springboks’ starting line-up that won 22-19 in Cape Town.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula will not resign over statistics that show increases in crime, he told a business briefing in Johannesburg on Wednesday. ”Well, I am not going to resign,” he told business people gathered for a breakfast at the Johannesburg Country Club.