They belch hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year, but South Africa’s coal-fired power stations will remain the major suppliers of the country’s energy needs for years to come, Eskom said on Wednesday. ”We need to be very clear: coal will remain a major, major part of our [energy] supply,” Eskom said.
Former France captain Zinedine Zidane will appear before Fifa’s disciplinary committee in Zurich on Thursday to give his account of the incident in which he headbutted an opponent in the World Cup final. The 34 year old was sent off in the closing stages of the final match of his illustrious career after butting his head into the chest of Italian defender Marco Materazzi.
The Department of Education is not responding to children orphaned by HIV/Aids as well as it could, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. ”My own anecdotal evidence is that we are not responding to orphans as well as we could,” she said.
Somalia’s prime minister accused the lawless nation’s powerful Islamist movement on Wednesday of planning to attack the seat of the weak transitional government, raising already heightened tensions.
The United States is likely to send troops to Lebanon to protect American citizens who are being evacuated there, United States President George Bush said in a letter to Congress on Wednesday. While there are already a small number of US troops in the region to aid in evacuation efforts, the deployment of additional troops is anticipated, Bush wrote in the letter to lawmakers.
Springbok selectors on Wednesday shot down claims by a South African newspaper quoting coach Jake White that flanker Solly Tyibilika was in the squad only because he was black. South African rugby issued a strongly worded statement after remarks by White on Monday were quoted in the Cape Town-based daily the Cape Argus.
The end of the marathon Roodefontein corruption trial came into sight on Wednesday as former Western Cape premier Peter Marais decided to exercise his right to silence. As the state and his co-accused, former Western Cape provincial minister of environment David Malatsi, closed their cases, Marais’s advocate Craig Webster asked for half an hour to consult his client.
Cape Town councillor Sheval Arendse distanced himself from his wife Pamela’s behaviour on Wednesday, after she pleaded guilty and paid a fine in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court for fraud. Mother-of-two Pamela paid a R5 000 fine for illegally receiving a child grant — money she was not entitled to.
At least 24 Iraqis were killed and 37 injured in separate insurgent attacks in and around the capital Baghdad on Wednesday. Seven of the victims died and 13 were injured in simultaneous bomb blasts close to the city-centre Technical University, where an explosives-laden car detonated at the same time as two roadside bombs.
Indian censors have blocked access to a number of popular blogging sites on grounds of national security, causing outrage to thousands of bloggers. The directive from the department of telecommunications came days after the Mumbai blasts, and was aimed at shutting 17 blogs which carried material from religious and political extremists.