Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s suicide bombings that killed 30 people and injured more than 160 in Algeria’s capital. Bombers in three explosives-laden cars were responsible, police said at the scene of the blasts. The attacks raised fears of a return to Algeria’s intense political violence of the 1990s.
A year after its launch, 2,5-million Europeans and companies have registered a .eu domain name, making it the seventh-most-widespread website address suffix in the world and the third in the European Union. Air France KLM and Italian design house Versace are among the firms that have registered and have functioning websites.
France’s right-wing presidential front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy was forced on Wednesday to deny a report that he had agreed to shield President Jacques Chirac from a corruption probe in exchange for his backing. ”It’s grotesque, it’s hurtful and it’s untrue,” Sarkozy said of the report in Le Canard Enchaine satirical weekly.
Johannesburg residents must consider alternative burial options to help the city deal with the demand for more burial space, mayor Amos Masondo said on Wednesday at the launch of the Diepsloot Memorial Park in Johannesburg. Stack burials, for example, mean the city can use existing burial spaces more efficiently.
The BSc graduate accused of murdering his ex-lover, estate agent Andre Weitz, slashed his wrists and overdosed on pills before attacking Weitz with an axe, the Cape High Court heard on Wednesday. Michael van Zyl spoke so softly before Judge Daniel Dlodlo that the judge repeatedly demanded he speak louder or repeat himself.
Former LeisureNet joint chief executives Peter Gardener and Rod Mitchell have registered no objection to a Cape High Court order that a forfeiture inquiry be instituted in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, and that the inquiry take place in September. It relates to R6-million they each received in an underhanded gym deal.
After substantial revisions to South Africa’s quarterly employment data, the country’s economy is "at least" R110-billion larger than originally thought, a leading economist says. "It is 90% or more likely that the economy will increase by at least R110-billion, which amounts to around a 6,5% change," says T-Sec economist Mike Schussler.
The British high commission has doubled visa fees for young South Africans wishing to work and travel in the United Kingdom, media reports said on Wednesday. The fee jumped from R1 483 to R3 030 on April 1, and with other, related expenses, a visa application could now cost about R4 000.
The Botswana Defence Force’s only helicopter, assisted by one from South Africa, was on Wednesday scouring the arid Kalahari Desert in search of missing Johannesburg pilot Charles Wooler, whose aircraft went missing between Keetmanshoop in Namibia and Upington, where he had been scheduled to arrive on Sunday.
![]()
West Indies captain Brian Lara will retire from the one-day game in the wake of his side’s miserable World Cup campaign. The 37-year-old record-breaking batsman confirmed that his last two games will be the Super Eights clashes against Bangladesh and England in Barbados on April 19 and 21.