An oil-driven economic boom has made Angola the toast of the town in boardrooms from Houston to Beijing. But on the outskirts of the African nation’s bustling capital of Luanda, the talk is not of a more prosperous future but rather of a stolen one.
A growing number of Americans are setting up mini-refineries in their homes to produce biodiesel, a fuel made from waste cooking oil which is cleaner and cheaper than the petrol sold in gas stations. The sky-high price of crude oil is scaring everyone.
Injury-hit South Africa were on Monday boosted by the news that veteran all-rounder Shaun Pollock will arrive in Sri Lanka later this week following the birth of his second child. The 33-year-old will reach Colombo on Thursday, missing the first of the two Test matches which starts at the Sinhalese sports club.
Pakistan is building a reactor that could produce enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons in what would be a major expansion of its nuclear programme and an intensified arms race in South Asia. Satellite photos show what appears to be the construction site for a larger nuclear reactor adjacent to Pakistan’s only plutonium production reactor, according to an analysis by nuclear experts.
Tens of thousands of New Yorkers remained without electricity for a sixth day on Sunday, with no end in sight to a power cut that the city’s authorities were at a loss to explain. Electrical engineers were drafted in from other states to try to return power to an estimated 80 000 people in Queens, New York’s geographically largest borough.
Floyd Landis’s thrilling Tour de France victory did much to dispel the air of gloom hanging over cycling’s showpiece event after it began engulfed by another doping controversy. ”Our only favourite is named suspense,” said outgoing Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc, dreaming of a wide-open race after the retirement of Lance Armstrong.
The ambulanceman gave Ali the job of keeping his mother alive. The 12-year-old did what he could. "Mama, mama, don’t go to sleep," he sobbed, gently patting her face beneath her chin. Behind her black veil, her eyelids were slowly sinking. "I’m going to die," she sighed. "Don’t say that, mama," Ali begged, and then slid to the ground in tears.
<b>CD OF THE WEEK</b>: Riaan Wolmarans reviews Taliep Petersen’s latest offering, <i>Deur Dik en Dun</i>, as well as other new releases on the shelf.
It costs six to seven times to build a new fossil-fuel power station compared to the average cost of existing power station per megawatt of capacity, says Eskom’s annual report released last week. "Present electricity prices are un-sustainably low. Prices are based on Eskom’s low depreciated asset base, valued at historical net book values," the report says.
Roman Abramovich’s life appears tailor-made for a Robert Ludlum novel. One of the new breed of Russian oligarchs and the owner of England’s Chelsea Football Club, Abramovich is a billionaire many times over. South Africa will soon be adding to his asset base, as one of his companies, Evraz, will be taking over Anglo American’s 79% stake in Highveld Steel & Vanadium.