South African Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana is to visit an artisanship skills training centre on Friday as part of his monitoring of service delivery at establishments falling under his department. The ministry said the advent of the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition, a skills-empowerment arm of the government’s economic growth plan, had highlighted the importance of artisanship.
Australia have been counting down the days for a rematch with New Zealand after their ignominious 24-0 wipeout in last November’s Tri-Nations rugby league final. The chance to atone for their worst international defeat to the Kiwis comes at Brisbane’s Lang Park Friday in the annual Anzac Test match between rugby league’s two top teams.
Earl Woods, who inspired and moulded his son Eldrick into a golf legend, died on Wednesday at age 74, superstar child Tiger Woods and wife Kultida at his bedside just before cancer claimed his life. ”He was my best friend and greatest role model and I will miss him deeply,” Woods said in a Wednesday night posting on his website.
A United States jury rejected the death penalty for al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and ruled he should be jailed for life without parole for his role in the September 11 attacks conspiracy. True to his stormy and unpredictable character, Moussaoui shouted ”America you lost … I won”, as he was led from the court.
Twenty-seven people are still missing after their ship sunk off the coast of Port Alfred, the National Sea Rescue Institute said on Thursday. ”The Fortune Express [a bulk carrier] has launched a lifeboat and her crew are continuing to search for survivors,” said search and rescue coordinator Mark Hellenberg.
Early morning, somehow, does not seem to be Bob Dylan’s natural time of day. Nevertheless, the legendary singer-songwriter made his debut as a radio DJ on Wednesday at 10am on America’s east coast, which is 7am on the west coast — although anyone expecting a peppy, caffeinated rundown of the day’s news, perhaps with some traffic updates, would have been disappointed.
Police have worked through the night in the search for two Boeremag treason trial accused who escaped from the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday, police said on Thursday. Herman van Rooyen (33) and Rudi Gouws (28) went missing during the lunch hour recess. One of them had allegedly bankrolled the organisation.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair could be forced into naming the day he will step aside if Thursday’s key local elections go any worse than predicted for his scandal-hit Labour Party. Experts predict that after nine years in power, Blair’s centre-left party is set for a pounding at the polls.
Zimbabwean journalists on Wednesday marched from a local hotel in Harare to where the banned <i>Daily News</i> and <i>The Tribune</i> were formerly housed to mark World Press Freedom Day. Zimbabwe’s theme for World Press Freedom Day this year was <i>No to Statutory Regulation, Yes to Self-Regulation</i>.
As hideouts go, the Shawal Valley in northern Pakistan is a militant’s dream. Lonely goat trails wind through a rocky 40km corridor that nudges the Afghan border. Its fiercely conservative tribesmen and forbidding high-walled compounds have sheltered Taliban fighters and probably al-Qaeda fugitives.