At least two people were killed on Friday when a cyclone slammed into Australia’s north-west coast, paralysing mining operations and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Authorities feared category-four Cyclone George had also claimed a third life and caused numerous serious injuries, but said they were struggling to reach remote communities lashed by winds of 275km/h.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is still the richest man in the world, but his lead over other entrepreneurs is narrowing, according to <i>Forbes</i> magazine’s list of billionaires published on Thursday. United States investment guru Warren Buffett’s personal fortune climbed to $52-billion, halving the software mogul’s lead.
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The expensive silverware to be awarded to the winner of the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean has been damaged while on display in India, organisers said on Friday. A gold ring below the coins depicting previous winners of the sport’s biggest prize got detached from the wooden base of the 11kg trophy.
President George Bush on Thursday night started a five-nation tour of Latin America in an effort to salvage Washington’s reputation in the region and counter the influence of Venezuela’s President, Hugo Chávez. Violent clashes were taking place between police and masked protesters in the financial centre of São Paulo, the president’s first stop.
Zimbabwe’s Information Minister on Thursday dismissed as a ”grandiose flight of imagination” claims by a Brussels-based think tank that President Robert Mugabe’s iron grip on the country was being challenged and could result in political change by next year.
Gautengers rejoice, your cost of living is in the bottom quartile of 135 cities surveyed by <i>The Economist</i>. Johannesburg and Pretoria are ranked 100th in a survey of the world’s most expensive cities, having dropped 23 places since last year. This is according to the Worldwide Cost of Living survey, released by <i>The Economist</i> intelligence unit.
Imagine that once every three years your home is washed away, all your possessions are destroyed and your children miss months of school. You have no insurance and you have to start your life from scratch. Until it happens again. Welcome to life in the Zambezi River valley. The rural areas of Zambezia province are Mozambique’s poorest and most densely populated.
BBC Worldwide’s annual sales show for buyers from around the world reflects the broadcaster’s need to make a profit from exporting its shows to close the gap in funding after the recent licence-fee settlement in Britain. For five days, 560 self-confessed telly addicts from Argentina to India fill 500 TV booths in Brighton’s conference centre for marathon viewing sessions of shows such as <i>Life on Mars</i>, <i>Planet Earth</i> and <i>Robin Hood</i>.
If you’re buying on credit at your friendly filling station you have to take two credit cards with you, one for fuel and one for the other stuff. So sensitive were the authorities in the past to the spectre of discounted petrol, that a whole separate credit card had to be issued just to ensure there was no discounting.
Gautengers rejoice, your cost of living is in the bottom quartile of 135 cities surveyed by <i>The Economist</i>. Johannesburg and Pretoria are ranked 100th in a survey of the world’s most expensive cities, having dropped 23 places since last year. This is according to the Worldwide Cost of Living survey, released by <i>The Economist</i> intelligence unit.