Enron founder Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most sprawling business frauds in United States history, died on Wednesday in Aspen, Colorado. He was 64. Lay died of a heart attack, his pastor in Houston said. ”Apparently, his heart simply gave out,” said Pastor Steve Wende of Houston’s First United Methodist Church.
The Airports Company South Africa on Thursday introduced a new convenient ”pick-up-and-go” parking area at the Johannesburg International airport. ”This facility will be free for the first five minutes to people picking up passengers from the international arrivals terminal as of tomorrow [Friday],” said the airport’s landside manager, Kesavan Naicker.
Solfa Hamed’s 11 children are hungry and she is ready to fight anyone standing between her and the aid packages for the growing number of needy Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. ”I will not leave without my bag. My 11 children are waiting at home for something to eat and my pantry is empty,” shouts the 47-year-old.
An elderly South African woman has laid claim to be the world’s oldest person — 132 years — and an organisation representing the old is adamant the accomplishment be officially recognised, a report said Thursday. Moloko Temo of Bochum in the country’s northern Limpopo province was reportedly born on July 4 1874.
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Germany striker Miroslav Klose says he is desperate to win the Golden Boot title after missing out on Sunday’s World Cup final in Berlin. Klose leads the scoring charts with five goals and has the chance to put more distance between him and his rivals when hosts Germany take on Portugal in Saturday’s third-place play-off in Stuttgart.
Many former friends of Enron founder Kenneth Lay refused to comment on his death on Wednesday as they sought to distance themselves from a man convicted of one of the largest corporate frauds in United States history. A Republican party fund raiser, Lay golfed with presidents and was hailed as a business visionary and generous philanthropist prior to Enron’s spectacular meltdown.
First National Bank (FNB), which is heavily invested in South African soccer, announced on Thursday that it will sponsor the 2010 Fifa World Cup to the tune of $30-million (about R216-million). FNB is the first South African corporate to sign up officially as a national supporter of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
The Democratic Alliance has challenged Education Minister Naledi Pandor to back its private member’s Bill defining ”basic education”. The Bill in the name of DA MP George Boinamo was submitted to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete on Thursday.
Several thousand people demonstrated peacefully in Niger’s capital on Thursday in a new protest called by a coalition of civic rights groups against the cost of key services in the country. After a rally outside the Parliament, the protestors marched to Nelson Mandela Square, near the presidency, where they handed a petition to two aides of President Mamadou Tandja.
The defence team for five Bulgarian nurses accused of infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV-tainted blood, claims psychological-torture measures were used against the nurses, Bulgarian newspapers reported on Thursday. According to reports, the defence gave the court in Tripoli a list of 211 instances in which the nurses were subjected to psychological pressure.