Women struggling with the discomforts of menopause may soon find relief in a cold glass of beer. Experts in the Czech Republic are working on a beer specifically brewed for women experiencing hot flashes, troubling sleeping and other woes during this phase.
Public hearings to probe South Africa’s alleged illicit payments of oil surcharges and kickbacks to the former Iraqi regime under the United Nations’s oil-for-food programme will start next month. The Donen commission, which will start the hearings on May 8, said on Friday subpoenas were being served on key witnesses.
Chatsworth, Durban, lunchtime: 16-year-old Colin Pillay staggers out of an alleged drug-dealer’s semi-detached council home, oblivious. An hour earlier, Pillay and his mother had turned up at the Chatsworth Youth Centre seeking a prescription for Subutex (buprenorphine, a schedule six drug) to combat his three-and-a-half-year "sugars" addiction.
The Ubinas volcano in southern Peru is spewing out clouds of gas and sulphur and threatening about 3 500 local inhabitants with acid rain, officials said. Local authorities on Thursday declared a state of emergency in the remote area 900km south of the capital, Lima, allowing evacuation plans to go into effect.
A 35-year-old British pilot was arrested and fined in Zimbabwe this week for attempting to take 45 rounds of ammunition onto a London-bound flight, the state-controlled The Herald reported on Friday. Brett Jason Hamilton, who the paper said is a pilot for British Airways, was arrested on Tuesday after the X-ray machine at Harare International airport detected the ammunition in his luggage.
The African Development Fund (ADF), the soft-loan arm of the African Development Bank, has approved debt relief amounting to ,5-billion to 33 low-income African countries, an ADF statement said on Friday. Thirteen of these countries will receive immediate debt cancellation.
Telkom cables in the Germiston area on the East Rand were cut early on Friday, leading to network congestion, the company said. Three cables were damaged between the Germiston and New Doornfontein. ADSL users were also encountering a slow network, said Telkom spokesperson Lulu Letlape.
A giant Royal Standard flag over Windsor Castle heralded the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II on Friday, the focus of a week of celebrations in Britain. The queen has received more than 20 000 cards and 17 000 e-mails wishing her a happy birthday, Buckingham Palace said.
Less than two months have passed since AC Milan’s defender Kakha Kaladze returned to his homeland to bury his brother. It was a moment of closure of sorts. The end of an ordeal that lasted almost five years. Kaladze’s brother Levan, a medical student, was kidnapped in Tbilisi in May 2001, just as Kakha joined the San Siro club. Levan’s remains were discovered only in January.
The JSE had bounced into the black by noon on Friday, led by resources heavyweights Anglo American and BHP Billiton, which were up in London. A recovery in the gold price also helped the local bourse. By 12.01pm, the all-share index added 0,29%. Resources rose 0,7% and the platinum-mining index climbed 0,39%, while the gold-mining index was flattish (-0,04%).