Another circumcision initiate has died in the town of Port Shepstone, bringing death toll to seven in two weeks since the start of the mid-year initiation season, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday. Another boy, from Ngqeleni near Mthatha, faces possible amputation.
Bombs killed at least 40 people at markets in two Iraqi cities, hours after key lawmakers said seven Sunni Arab insurgent groups offered the government a conditional truce. Meanwhile, a top Iraqi commander said Baghdad’s forces would not be ready to keep the peace for at least a year in Anbar province, the insurgent heartland.
South African media group Naspers on Tuesday reported a 63% increase in its core headline earnings per ordinary N share to 696 cents for the year ended March 2006 from 427 cents for the 12 months to March 2005. Naspers declared an annual dividend per N share of 120 cents, up 71% from 70 cents previously and 24 cents from 14 cents per unlisted A ordinary share.
A four-year-old boy who underwent a marathon 11-hour operation to repair his face, which was ravaged by dogs in his native Kenya, was set to leave Houston on Tuesday and return to Oklahoma City. His guardians, Larry and Frances Jones, said Daniel has been a blessing in their lives. ”I think he can be a role model for other children,” said Frances Jones.
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Luis Figo is no saint, as he proved against The Netherlands, and he plans to make David Beckham’s life hell when Portugal tackle England in Saturday’s quarterfinals. Figo was given the all-clear to play after Fifa ruled out further action for a headbutt on Holland’s Mark van Bommel in the second round match which saw 16 players booked and two from each side sent off.
Author JK Rowling said two characters will die in the last instalment of her boy wizard series, and she hinted Harry Potter might not survive either. ”I have never been tempted to kill him off before the final because I’ve always planned seven books, and I want to finish on seven books,” Rowling said in an interview on Monday.
Opium poppy cultivation has been almost eradicated in Asia’s Golden Triangle, the border zone between Burma, Thailand and Laos that was once the world’s most prolific supplier of opium, according to a report published by the United Nations on Monday.
Israel continued to mass forces on the borders of Gaza on Monday to reinforce its demand for the immediate release of a captured Israeli soldier while Palestinian security services attempted to track down the kidnappers. Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, said he had told the Israeli army ”to prepare for a broad and ongoing military operation to strike the terrorist leaders and all those involved”.
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has expressed concern at Zwelakhe Sisulu’s involvement in a commission of enquiry set up to probe whether the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) sought to gag commentators critical of President Thabo Mbeki.
‘Whenever we see a picture of a refugee it is always someone lying on the ground with flies on their face!" exclaims Dosso Ndessomin. Ndessomin (42) is tired of the portrayal of refugees as passive victims, with endless needs and nothing to offer. The reality is vastly different, he says, and he should know: he came to South Africa from Côte d’Ivoire as an asylum seeker in 1994.