Biotech crops giant Monsanto has been ordered to withdraw an advertising claim that no negative reactions have ever been reported to genetically modified foods. The Advertising Standards Authority made the ruling this week in response to a consumer complaint lodged against a Monsanto South Africa print ad.
Thursday will be the shortest day of the year — the winter solstice — the South African Weather Service said. The solstice marks the astronomical beginning of the southern hemisphere’s winter, said spokesperson Garth Sampson on Wednesday. At exactly 8.08pm on Thursday the sun would be at its furthest point from the equator.
Bulls captain Victor Matfield, playing in his 58th Test, has been named to lead the Springboks in their Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday. Significantly, the man widely tipped to take over from the injured John Smit, Bobby Skinstad, has not been included in Jake White’s 22-man squad.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been teed up to resume their rivalry in the Wimbledon final after being named as top seeds for this year’s men’s singles. Federer, who will begin his bid for a fifth straight title on centre court at the All England club on Monday, beat Nadal quite comfortably in last year’s final.
Contamination of the Aids drug Viracept created panic among HIV-positive Zambians on antiretroviral therapy.
Israel on Wednesday launched its first major attacks in the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over the territory, killing at least four Palestinian fighters. Israel carried out air strikes against rocket launch sites in northern Gaza after militants fired at least one makeshift rocket into southern Israel. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for firing the rocket.
Desertification is the ”terrible twin evil” of climate change, Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Rejoice Mabudafhasi said in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday. ”Desertification is a significant problem for South Africa, threatening not only our ecological integrity, but the well-being of our people,” she said.
More than a dozen gunmen attacked two police bases in Mogadishu early on Wednesday with rocket-propelled grenades, sparking fire fights that killed at least two people, witnesses and police said. The attacks came just hours after a land mine exploded on Tuesday night.
Investment opportunities for South African business abound in the under-developed mountain kingdom of Lesotho, the South African-Lesotho business forum heard on Wednesday. Lesotho Prime Minister Phakalitha Mosisili told the forum the challenge was to see the opportunities available and ”make good use of them while they last”.
The new Green Point Stadium will be built in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. ”No other host city has had to go through as many processes as Cape Town, and no other stadium site in the country is as complex legally, politically, geologically, and financially,” she said at the launch of the 2010 host-city logo.