At least 20 people were injured when a truck collided with a train in Pretoria West on Wednesday, paramedics said. ER24 spokesperson Riana Beech said the 20-tonne truck had been travelling along Roger Dyson Road in Pretoria West when its brakes are believed to have failed, causing the driver to lose control.
The new Harry Potter movie drew lukewarm reviews on Tuesday, but millions of ”muggles” are expected to ignore the critics and turn out in droves for the widest release for Warner Brothers studio. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opened across South Africa, including at the Imax theatre in Pretoria, on Wednesday.
Defending champions Brazil reached the Copa America final on Tuesday, beating a feisty Uruguay on penalties after twice surrendering the lead in a 2-2 draw. Maicon put Brazil ahead early on before a floodflight failure stopped the first half of the semifinal for 14 minutes.
It has been one of the central claims of those who challenge the idea that human activities are to blame for global warming. The planet’s climate has long fluctuated, say the climate sceptics, and current warming is just part of that natural cycle — the result of variation in the sun’s output and not carbon dioxide emissions.
Zimbabwean police have set up roadblocks to stop the movement of basic commodities between cities and rural areas. Police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka said that police had information that shop owners were moving loads of basic commodities to rural areas for ”safe keeping”.
South Africa have made four changes, as well as appointing a new captain, for Saturday’s Tri-Nations match against New Zealand at Christchurch. Lock Johann Muller will skipper the Springboks after Bob Skinstad was sent home when he broke a rib in last weekend’s 25-17 loss to Australia in Sydney.
Pakistani security forces were securing the last parts of a mosque and school complex on Wednesday, a day after an assault that killed a rebel cleric, more than 50 Islamist fighters and eight soldiers. Many questions were unanswered including the final death toll and whether any women or children had been killed.
Thirteen years into our fledgling democracy, our film industry has much to celebrate. In terms of awards, available finance, positive government and industry goodwill and incoming service productions, the film industry has been bathing in a particularly positive light. However, things needs to be turned up a notch. We need to examine a tough question — that of our commerciality — and start to look at the business side of show business.
Film tourism might be an ambiguous term, but it refers to the idea that every time a specific location or destination is used in a film, the film indirectly promotes the destination to its viewers. "This has been evident within the Bollywood film market," says Mark Visser of the Cape Film Commission.
Despite a dearth of locally made feature films in the past year, the South African film industry is being buoyed by comparatively low production costs that attract foreign films and commercials. And the glitter-dust from Tsotsi’s Oscar win last year and <i>U-Carmen eKhayelitsha</i>’s Golden Bear for best film at the 2005 Berlinale casts a hip glow on the film industry.