Cellphone giant Vodacom has withdrawn a claim that it offers the lowest call rate in South Africa, following a challenge by competitor Cell C. The Advertising Standards Authority said it had been asked to rule on an advertisement for Vodacom’s new monthly packages, which claimed: ”Lowest call rates in South Africa. Calls from 90c per minute or 1,5c per second.”
Hezbollah handed out bundles of cash on Friday to people whose homes were wrecked by Israeli bombing, consolidating the Iranian-backed group’s support among Lebanon’s Shi’ites and embarrassing the Beirut government. ”This is a very, very reasonable amount. It is not small,” said Ayman Jaber (27).
Two police reservists and five other suspects were arrested on Friday on the R101 near Hammanskraal where they were apparently planning to rob a truck, police said. Spokesperson Inspector Katlego Mogale said Hammanskraal police spotted the men next to the road early on Friday and on closer inspection found police equipment and unlicensed firearms in their possession.
The National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) has welcomed a landmark United States court finding that the tobacco industry has lied for decades about the harmful effects of smoking in order to protect its profits. NCAS director Dr Yussuf Saloojee said the judgement had exposed the ”rotten core” at the heart of the tobacco industry.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has condemned the ”deplorable behaviour” and what it described as ”abusive utterances” of members of the HIV/Aids lobbyist group, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) at the Aids conference in Toronto, Canada.
The Gautrain Rapid Rail link will be ready for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said on Friday. Notwithstanding utterances from some involved that it will not be ready and delays on the project, Radebe said he believed Gautrain will be moving come the Soccer World Cup.
German investigators said on Friday they suspected that homemade bombs found on two trains last month were a failed terror attack. It was first thought that the devices packed into cases in trains in the western cities of Dortmund and Koblenz on July 31 were a blackmail attempt, but analysis of the contents has revealed a possible link to Lebanon.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday ordered two camps within the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) party to hold an inaugural federal congress to choose the party’s office bearers. Legal representatives of the Assan Mbatha and Ziba Jiyane camps said they hoped the congress will resolve disputes between the camps.
The remaining two of 11 suspects initially implicated in the murders of actor Brett Goldin and fashion developer Richard Bloom were on Friday remanded to November 3 in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court in Cape Town. Clinton Davids (22) and Shavaan Marlie (25) appeared briefly in court and were remanded in custody.
The death toll in China from Typhoon Saomai rose by 106 to 436 on Friday with the confirmation of dozens more deaths in the eastern province of Zhejiang, state media said. All 106 new fatalities were in the coastal province of Zhejiang, which had previously reported 87 dead and 52 missing, Xinhua news agency said.