New technologies for HIV prevention could have a huge impact on the epidemic, possibly averting millions of new infections in the coming years, the International Aids Conference in Toronto heard on Tuesday. Gita Ramjee, of the HIV prevention research unit in South Africa, said there is a range of new and promising prevention technologies in advanced clinical trials.
Israeli forces began leaving parts of south Lebanon on Tuesday as a United Nations truce largely held for a second day and the Lebanese army prepared to move south. Thousands of refugees who had fled the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah headed home to battered villages in the south.
Former LeisureNet boss Peter Gardener on Tuesday denied that the purchase of a R7-million home at Hermanus by an offshore trust he set up was an attempt to launder money. In the witness box in the Cape High Court for the second day in succession, Gardener also denied that he was dishonest with his tax return in concealing a R6-million payment into the trust.
The South African Observer Mission (SAOM) to the July 30 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) presidential and parliamentary elections says it is happy with progress made in capturing the results, despite difficulties at the start of the process. The 108-member SAOM to the DRC elections was the largest ever to be dispatched by the South African government.
A contentious South African draft Bill to prevent nationals from working as hired guns abroad on Tuesday came a step closer to being promulgated into law after its approval by a parliamentary committee. The draft law was approved by Parliament’s defence portfolio committee with a majority vote by members of the ruling African National Congress. But opposition lawmakers called it flawed, sloppy and unconstitutional.
One Israeli woman has received an unexpected boost from her breast implants during the Lebanon war — the silicone embeds saved her life during a Hezbollah rocket attack, a doctor said on Tuesday. "It’s a fact that the silicone implants prevented her from a more serious and deeper wound," Jacky Govrin, of the hospital in Nahariya that treated the woman, told army radio.
Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, appeared on Tuesday in a front-page newspaper photograph apparently kissing a woman on the cheek and grabbing her breast at a recent summer party in London. The Sun said Harry’s girlfriend, South African Chelsy Davy (20), was overseas while he enjoyed his evening at a nightclub in London.
Sex-crimes accused Cezanne Visser has told the Pretoria High court she has appointed a new legal team to handle her future defence, South African Broadcasting Commission radio news reported on Tuesday. Visser, an advocate herself, said she fired her former legal representative because she was not satisfied with the way he was handling her defence.
The Western Cape is losing its tag as the murder capital of the country, provincial minister of community safety Leonard Ramatlakane said on Tuesday when announcing the intensification of a provincial crime-combating strategy. ”We are making a dent, an impact … We are winning the battle,” an upbeat Ramatlakane told reporters. He said Capetonians could look forward to the release of crime statistics in September.
Security for the South African cricket team has been upgraded and the team will stay in Sri Lanka for now. Cricket South Africa (CSA) general manager, cricket affairs, Brian Basson, said on Tuesday that CSA had appointed a top independent security consultant to evaluate the security situation in Sri Lanka after a bomb blast close to the team’s hotel in the capital, Colombo.