Police in France said on Tuesday they had thwarted an attempt by a group of marijuana smokers to roll the world’s longest joint by seizing a work-in-progress measuring 80cm in length. "At some point, these young people had wanted to craft a joint of 1,12m to beat the world record in the discipline and get it officially registered," said a police officer in eastern France.
Injury-hit South Africa received unexpected support for the first Test against Sri Lanka starting in Colombo on Thursday from the man likely to cause them the biggest headache. Sri Lanka’s prolific spinner Muttiah Muralitharan said the Proteas will be tough to beat in the two-match series despite being crippled by the absence of three key players, including captain Graeme Smith.
South African Ben Sassman admits his bid to help a lonely friend living with HIV/Aids started out as a ”feel-good project for myself” but is now an online dating service reaching people around the globe. The Positive Connection, in its third year, can even claim success in the matchmaking game, having brought together a few solid partnerships.
”When I won the Rhodes scholarship from Nigeria to study at Oxford University in 1990, an alarmed uncle exclaimed: ”That thing is dripping with blood. Cecil Rhodes was a bloody imperialist!” My thoughts at the time were more practical: to get a good education at a world-class institution,” writes Adekeye Adebajo.
More than 600 suspected Taliban fighters have been killed over the past month, the bloodiest period in southern Afghanistan since their regime was overthrown five years ago, United States officials said on Tuesday. British and Nato officials recently put the number of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan at between 1 000 and 2 000.
Attempts to piece together the shattered global trade talks got off to the worst possible start on Tuesday as the European Union and the United States blamed each other for the abrupt end to almost five years of hard negotiations. Peter Mandelson, Europe’s trade commissioner, said Washington was asking ”too much from others in exchange for doing too little themselves. This is not my definition of leadership”.
Israel’s killing of four United Nations observers piled pressure on an international conference in Rome on Wednesday to end a 15-day-old Middle East conflict, as Hezbollah vowed not to accept any ”humiliating” truce terms. Israel, with apparent United States approval, has said it would press on with its offensive.
How are South Africa’s senior white male poets dealing with the world? Shaun de Waal looks at three new collections.
Irene Stephanou, along with the rest of the Greek community, prepares to celebrate Easter this weekend.
In an extract from <i>Real Simple</i> magazine, we look at innovative ways to make use of ordinary household items.