The seventh and final book in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series has become online retailer Amazon’s most pre-ordered product. Amazon said that demand for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows passed the record of 1,5-million copies ordered online before the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
The South African Football Association (Safa) has denied that members of its executive committee are seeking R500Â 000 each for supporting South Africa’s successful bid to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Safa has now agreed to pay an honorarium of R30Â 000 to members who supported the bid.
An Egyptian engineer who was convicted in 2002 of spying for Israel has died in jail in unclear circumstances. Sherif al-Filali had initially been found innocent of espionage in 2001, and a judge called him a true patriot because he turned himself in as soon as he realised he may have been involved in a crime.
A long-awaited international convention against nuclear terrorism will come into force next week, nine years after it was originally proposed by Russia and 10 months after it was adopted by the 192-member United Nations General Assembly. But most of the major powers, including those with nuclear weapons, are giving it a miss — at least so far.
The President of China, Hu Jintao, said political reform in Hong Kong must progress in a "gradual and orderly" way as thousands of people took to the streets to demand more democratic accountability. During ceremonies to mark the 10th anniversary of the handover of the former British colony to China, Hu emphasised the need for more patriotism and loyalty to the mainland.
British anti-terror detectives were hunting on Monday for more members of a suspected militant cell who rammed a burning jeep into a Scottish airport and tried to detonate two car bombs in central London. Cars and other vehicles were banned from directly approaching airports and security measures were stepped up across the country.
South Africa stand-in skipper Jacques Kallis said the way in which younger players had made their mark eased some of the pain involved in a 2-1 one-day international series defeat against India. Three close matches at Stormont ended on Sunday with India’s second successive six-wicket win, this time with four balls to spare.
Though Sudan has accepted the notion of a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, the operation could still be derailed by a lack of funding and political will, AU chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare said on Sunday at the opening session of the summit of the 53-member AU.
Construction company Group Five has won a R1,8-billion contract from Transnet to widen Durban’s harbour by 100m and to increase the depth by six metres. Working with Belgian company, Dredging International, Group Five Civil Engineering is responsible for the civil portion of the contract, valued at R1,1-billion.
His thirst for the limelight has driven him to launch a multilingual blog and issue a string of headline-grabbing statements. But Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was surprisingly camera-shy when his extrovert persona drew the attention of Hollywood.