Members of Parliament have been told to lay off the bottle and stick to tap water. ”There is no need to use bottled water in Parliament; you can use tap water … there is nothing wrong with it,” Water Research Commission CEO Dr Rivka Kfir told members of the National Assembly’s science and technology committee.
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille was acting as if she was a ”mayor in opposition”, unable to rise above the interests of her party, the Democratic Alliance, African National Congress Western Cape chairperson James Ngculu said on Tuesday. Ngculu was addressing a media briefing in the city after a two-day meeting of his provincial executive.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni raised the possibility on Tuesday that a blast that killed eight Palestinian civilians last week on a beach was due to a terrorist’s bomb and not Israeli shell fire. The Palestinians were killed as a result of an explosion on a beach in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday as they picnicked on one of the hottest days of the year.
From the hangman whose rope snaps to paramedics who can’t find a vein for a lethal injection, death penalty executions in the United States have sometimes been sorry affairs. To the end of the 19th century executions were largely carried out by hanging. When done properly the condemned falls and snaps his neck, dying instantly
Two police officers patrolling the beach in a sport utility vehicle ran over and killed a sunbather, who was in California to attend her son’s wedding. The officers in the patrol vehicle did not immediately realise they ran over the woman and continued driving, police Commander Tom Chronister said in a statement on Monday.
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Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe will be given a warning about smoking on the touchlines at the World Cup after he lit up during the 3-1 victory over Iran, world soccer governing body Fifa said on Tuesday. Fifa officials spotted Lavolpe smoking when they reviewed the videotape of Sunday’s match in Nuremberg.
A political solution to the violence in East Timor could take weeks to be hammered out, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta warned on Monday as the United Nations readied an aid appeal for the tiny nation. The four-year-old country descended into bloody chaos last month after Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri sacked 600 soldiers from the west who had complained of discrimination in the ranks.
The government of Guinea on Tuesday confirmed that 10 people had been killed during clashes between security forces and student protesters over the cancellation of school exams. Spokesperson Moussa Solano said ”the government regrets the incidents and the loss of human life.
The government hopes to draw about 100 000 small businesses into the tax net through a new amnesty that opens in August, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Tuesday. The minister was to table legislation that makes provision for the amnesty in the National Assembly on Tuesday afternoon.
Global (and in particular emerging) markets are currently in the throes of a necessary but painful breather. The relentless pace that saw most markets recover significantly from the lows of March 2003, with South Africa at one point up roughly 200%, was unsustainable, and the necessary correction therefore came as no surprise.