No image available
/ 18 January 2007
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi’s decision that the media will only be allowed to direct questions to provincial officials is an attempt to gag the media, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Thursday. ”It does not only infringe on media freedom but also on the constitutional right to freedom of speech,” said Pieter Groenewald, the party’s spokesperson on safety and security.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
A tourist was injured when she fell off a suspension bridge at the Tsitsikamma National Park near Plettenberg Bay, South African National Parks said on Thursday. Spokesperson Wanda Mkutshulwa said Sandra Malan suffered a broken leg, a sprained ankle and cuts and bruises on her jaw and legs.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
Power cuts rippled across South Africa on Thursday, blacking out parts of major cities and spurring warnings from state utility Eskom that unexpected shortages could extend into next week. The cuts, which Eskom attributed to power-station maintenance and the shutdown of one unit at Koeberg, caused power failures stretching from Cape Town to Johannesburg.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
At least four workers were killed and 39 injured when a fire broke out on Thursday in a tower under construction in Dubai, the trading hub of the United Arab Emirates, a hospital official and witnesses said. Dozens of workers were trapped by thick smoke as rescue crews tried to reach them. Witnesses said they saw a man fall from one of the 37-storey building’s upper floors.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
Torrential rains have destroyed more than 1 000 houses, leaving more than 6 000 people homeless in northern Mozambique, officials said on Thursday. A statement by the government’s relief agency said 13 classrooms have also been swept away by the rain, and a further 150 houses are at risk of collapse.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
It’s official: Glenn Agliotti is the "Landlord" accused by the Scorpions of being a boss in one of the country’s "most prominent syndicates" involved in the smuggling of drugs and other contraband. Agliotti appeared in the Alberton Regional Court on Thursday to be joined as an accused in a R200-million drugs trial.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
The National Taxi Alliance (NTA) would take legal action to stop the recapitalisation programme, the organisation decided on Thursday. If this failed, the NTA’s members would go on strike, its president, Sicelo Mabaso, told a meeting of NTA affiliates in Johannesburg.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
Michael Mbanjwa made history on Thursday in the first stage of this year’s edition of the Hansa Powerade Dusi canoe marathon when he placed first. This makes history as he is the first black paddler to ever win the first stage of the three-day event.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
Truckers and others working in the road-freight industry could go on strike soon, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) warned on Thursday. Satawu spokesperson Ronnie Mamba said negotiations with road-freight sector employers had collapsed.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
The Iraqi government on Thursday rejected as ”superficial” and ”unprofessional” a United Nations report this week that said 34 000 civilians were killed in Iraq last year, but it did not directly reject the figure itself. Spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh also criticised a UN call for protection for homosexuals, who say they are targeted by Islamic militants.