On Monday Parliament will pass into law the 2010 Fifa World Cup Special Measures Bill. The proposed new Act will have a bearing on numerous issues, particularly the spaces traditionally used by informal traders immediately outside the stadiums. There has been concern that the economic guarantees will, in essence, preclude hawkers from directly benefiting from the spin-offs.
More than 3 000 villagers have fled the area around a volcano in eastern Indonesia after it started blasting out hot gas and lava, officials said on Friday. Saut Simatupang, a senior vulcanologist, said the alert status for Mount Karangetan on Siau island was now at maximum.
Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene flogged the South African attack on the second morning to put Sri Lanka in command of the first cricket Test in Colombo on Friday. The left-handed Sangakkara scored his 10th Test century and captain Jayawardene was one run away from his 15th as Sri Lanka piled up 227-2 by lunch on the second day in reply to South Africa’s 169.
Two more Indian Muslims have been arrested in connection with this month’s Mumbai train bombings, taking the number of people in custody to eight, police said on Friday. The blasts that killed more than 180 people have been blamed on Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistani military spy agency Inter Services Intelligence.
A few days before the Proteas left for their tour of Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur said two very odd things. Those who follow the grand soap opera of international cricket will recall ingénu Arthur from last season, endlessly optimistic as one Australian after another deflowered his charges, ultimately claiming a relatively successful year as the South Africans ambushed a jaded, understaffed New Zealand squad on midwinter green-tops.
Malizole Diko, a Member of Parliament who defected from General Bantu Holomisa’s United Democratic Movement last year to form the United Independent Front, (UIF) died in the early hours of Friday morning. Colleagues said that he had died after a short illness in Cape Town and had been extremely ill in recent weeks.
Zimbabwe business leaders want Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono to devalue the local dollar by almost 100% when he announces his monetary policy review statement next week. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, regarded as the voice of business in the country, also wants Gono to reintroduce a two-tier exchange rate system for exporters.
White South Africans marched in protest on Thursday against an attempt to rename their town to make it sound more black and African, part of a controversial nation-wide campaign to change place names. Dozens of white residents in Lydenburg — and one black person — rallied to keep the name given to the town by Dutch settlers in the 19th century.
A man wielding a Swiss army knife had to be restrained and moved to the back of a South African Airways (SAA) aircraft on an overnight flight from Zurich to Johannesburg, media reports said on Friday. The passenger apparently spent the first portion of the trip threatening a passenger with the knife and repeatedly grabbing the earphones off the head of a woman sitting next to him.
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KwaZulu-Natal’s top leadership of the tripartite alliance will be out in force to support the African National Congress’ deputy president as he goes on trial for corruption next week. From 6pm on Sunday the city centre is expected to be packed with thousands of supporters of Jacob Zuma who will turn out for an all night vigil.