The Potsdam hotel room of South African Airways’ (SAA) chief executive Khaya Ngqula was cleaned out by robbers during the World Cup final between Italy and France, it was confirmed on Monday. It is understood Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa was also targeted, as were Zuzi Buthelezi, the son of Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and businessman Dr Dudu Kunene, but this could not be confirmed.
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Under a haze of French flags and firecracker smoke, the crowd of several thousand people filling Place de la Concorde on Monday afternoon chanted ”Zizou! Zizou!” in a hero’s welcome for Zinédine Zidane, the French football captain sent off for headbutting an Italian player as France lost the World Cup final.
Britons, famous the world over for queuing, waste four days, or 96 hours, each year waiting in line, according to results of a study released on Monday. But far from being polite in the process, more than 40% admit to having lost their cool, with the airport check-in queue cited as the most hated by 65% of the respondents, the ICM poll for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines suggested.
Zimbabweans will have to contend with rising prices of goods and services in the foreseeable future amid warnings by analysts that the June slowdown in the rate of inflation is only on paper and not supported by major improvements in economic conditions. The country’s annualised rate of inflation slowed to 1 184,6% in June.
Fighting surged in Mogadishu on Monday between Islamist militias and fighters loyal to the city’s last warlords, pushing the death toll over two days to at least 60 and pounding a key hospital with artillery and gunfire. Residents feared the death toll would climb even further in the most ferocious fighting in the capital since the Islamists seized it a month ago from an alliance of United States-backed warlords.
Nine Palestinians were killed on Monday as Israel pounded Gaza with deadly air strikes and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defended the massive military offensive in the face of international criticism. Despite the mounting toll, Hamas’s exiled political chief insisted the captured soldier would not be freed without a swap for Palestinian prisoners.
The government was expected Tuesday to herald a new era for nuclear power in Britain alongside a greater reliance on renewable sources when it releases a review of the country’s energy needs. But the long-awaited report will likely trigger an angry response from environmentalists because any support for cleaner power, such as solar or tidal energy, will be overshadowed by the nuclear references.
The double illusion of theatre and family secrets are revealed in Grahamstown stage hit <i>The Travellers</i>. Kate Stegeman attended its opening night in Johannesburg.
Nadine Botha reviews three of the most topical plays from the Grahamstown National Arts Festival that are now showing at Newtown’s 969 Festival.
When corporate companies start shifting a fraction of their advertising budgets toward acclaimed creative artists, we might see a shift to lasting products that attract foreign interest in Africa, writes Ross Douglas.