The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is investigating 400 000 people who might be fraudulently receiving social grants and pensions from the government, SIU head Willie Hofmeyr said on Thursday. He said the first phase of the probe, which started last year, focused on government employees. The unit will now start to look at private individuals.
Torrential rains from Typhoon Kaemi left more than 80 people dead or missing in China on Thursday, with a military barracks swept away, thousands of homes destroyed and rivers bursting their banks. Six people were confirmed killed and another 38 soldiers and their relatives were missing after floods destroyed the military barracks in the eastern province of Jiangxi.
The time for procrastination is over for entities that provide credit to consumers, the National Credit Regulator (NCR) said on Thursday. Speaking at a presentation on Wednesday, Gabriel Davel, CEO of the NCR, explained that credit providers such as banks, retailers and pawn shops have until Friday July 28 2006 to register with the industry watchdog.
M&G Media, which publishes the Mail & Guardian, on Thursday announced that it has expanded the portfolio of its magazine publications by acquiring ownership of two key titles from Traders Publications: Traders and the Health Care Journal. The effective date of the transaction is August 1 this year.
With cocktails aplenty and air kisses punctuating the post-show chatter, Johannesburg fashion week might seem to boast the trappings of an international couture event. But this is fashion week, Africa style. Fashion in post-apartheid South Africa reflects the country’s journey from pariah state and global backwater to a multiracial democracy.
Sweltering temperatures sweeping Europe have brought a plague of jellyfish to Spain’s eastern seashores, forcing holidaymakers to stay out of the sea, the Red Cross said on Thursday. The unwelcome visitors, which can reach the size of a dinner plate, have flourished thanks to a glut of plankton brought on by higher sea temperatures.
The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven of his top lieutenants for crimes against humanity was adjourned on Thursday to October when the verdict carrying the maximum penalty of death is expected to be delivered. ”The court decided to adjourn the session … until October 16,” said Chief Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman.
The Phoenicians were the greatest traders of the ancient world and the Lebanese are their descendants. In Lebanon, every situation — no matter how dire — is an opportunity for someone to do business. Ammar runs a shop selling decorative inlaid boxes, hubble-bubble pipes, necklaces, keffiyehs (cotton headdresses), historical-looking artefacts and just about anything else that a tourist in Beirut might be induced to buy.
A company that sells software to correct irritating internet spelling mistakes has reissued its latest news release to correct a minor snafu. ”It’s very embarrassing,” said Pat Brink, public relations consultant for the Toronto-based company. ”I made the mistake, not TextTrust — they do a much better job, It’s certainly egg on the face of this public relations person.”
A prison inmate pleaded guilty on Tuesday to sending letters to the FBI and Secret Service that included bomb and anthrax threats — as well as his full name and inmate number. Donald Ray Bilby (30) pleaded guilty in United States District Court in Trenton to one count of false information and hoaxes after he sent five letters demanding authorities deposit 000 in his county jail inmate account.