Prison authorities asked the Law Society of the Northern Province on Friday to help some awaiting-trail prisoners and those eligible for parole to be released in an attempt to ease overcrowding in prisons. Speaking at a conference of the society, Johan Wilkens, acting regional head of corrections in Gauteng, said prisons in the province were 171% full.
Soweto pupils planned a march to the Gauteng premier’s office in Johannesburg on Friday afternoon in protest against a lack of school buses, the Congress of South African students (Cosas) said. ”Since this term began, many students have been left stranded due to the lack of transport and the Department of Education is to blame,” Cosas provincial chairperson Percy Ntsolo said.
Google’s second-quarter profit seems likely to erase any lingering doubts about which internet company rules the web. While rivals eBay and Yahoo! merely matched analysts’ earnings expectations, Google on Thursday soared well beyond Wall Street’s financial hurdle — just like the online search engine leader has done in all but one quarter since it went public nearly two years ago.
Naspers division Media24 has merged its digital arm with MWeb Studios, the division responsible for the development of web-based services, to create the continent’s biggest online business, <i>24.com</i>, which aims to dominate the digital arena in Africa by offering visitors the best online content and services.
A barrage of Hezbollah rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Friday, wounding at least 19 people, medics said. Rockets also hit several other northern towns. One missile hit an apartment building in Haifa. Sirens sounded shortly before the rockets struck.
Hundreds of people were dead or missing in North Korea after floods and landslides caused by heavy rains destroyed tens of thousands of houses and buildings, official media said on Friday. The rains, brought by a powerful typhoon which lashed the Korean peninsula on July 10, also damaged infrastructure and wrecked vast swathes of farmland.
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor was expected to make his first appearance in a Hague courtroom on Friday for a hearing aimed at paving the way for his war-crimes trial. The former warlord faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Brazil’s tarnished crown jewel of aviation Varig fell to a United States-Brazilian investor group for a knockdown $24-million — saving the once-proud national carrier from liquidation. The new owner announced an immediate "temporary" halt to all 25 international and national flights except those between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Iraqi authorities extended a daytime curfew on Baghdad on Friday in an apparent effort to prevent violence after one of the bloodiest weeks this year. State television announced a four-hour traffic ban in force every Friday of late to curb car bomb attacks on mosques during weekly prayers would be extended through most of the day.
A stern warning from the All Blacks has put the struggling Springboks under pressure to produce a massive improvement in their Tri-Nations Test in Wellington on Saturday to save the Southern hemisphere rugby championship from turning into a lopsided debacle.