An ill-tempered parrot left English police a vital clue as to the thief who took the bird from a pet shop. Tristand Maidment (23) pleaded guilty on Thursday to stealing a macaw named Mickey from a pet shop in Frome, south-western England, last month.
Chaos erupted in Reiger Park, Boksburg, when residents clashed with metro police over illegal electricity connections on Thursday. Inspector Jimmy Makobo said employees of a private electricity company, JAR, had been sent to the area to disconnect illegal connections when about 500 locals became violent.
Criminal charges have been laid against three Randburg teenage girls and a boy who allegedly tormented a mouse with a lit cigarette before spraying it with aerosol and setting it on fire. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) laid charges of cruelty to animals under various sections of the Animal Cruelty Act on Thursday, SPCA senior inspector Phillip Roberts said.
President Thabo Mbeki’s office stated on Thursday that it had no recollection of a meeting held with French arms company Thomson-CSF (now Thales), but said if such a meeting did take place it must have been ”in a situation with others or of such import that it held no meaningful significance”.
The Zimbabwe Independent‘s news editor, Dumisani Muleya, has been awarded the Free Press Africa Award at the CNN MultiChoice African Journalists Awards 2006 for his series of stories revealing the covert takeover of three privately owned newspapers by Zimbabwe’s intelligence services.
Former champion Ernie Els, yet to win this year, moved into a seven-way tie for the early lead with a four-under-par 68 in the British Open first round on Thursday. Determined to shake off a loss of form following a knee injury last season, the big South African rattled up six birdies and two bogeys in near-perfect scoring conditions at Hoylake.
The Cape Town city council will prepare for Green Point to host a 2010 Soccer World Cup semifinal match in the hope that the national government will deliver on its financial promises. ”We accept in good faith the national government’s commitment to these costs, but we need to know for sure before we sign the final contracts,” mayor Helen Zille said on Thursday.
About 30% of people killed in farm attacks are workers, and between 14Â 000 and 30Â 000 have left farms in the past 20 years because of attacks, trade union Solidarity said on Thursday. However, deputy general secretary Dirk Hermann stressed that the police moratorium on crime statistics had not made research easy.
A three-day strike by Solidarity members came to an end on Thursday after they settled with synthetic fuels group Sasol for a 6,5% wage increase. Solidarity had been demanding a 10% wage increase. The strike was called off following discussions between Sasol chief executive Pat Davies and Solidarity’s general secretary Flip Buys.
A Nigerian national was arrested on an Air Zimbabwe flight to Harare after he threatened other passengers, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Thursday. The man, who was not named, was arrested on Wednesday at Kamuzu International airport in Lilongwe, Malawi, for behaving in a manner that compromised the safety of other passengers, said the newspaper.