South Africa’s famous Soweto township is undergoing an economic metamorphosis as more and more blacks join the middle class, creating a demand for top quality consumer goods. Plans are afoot in the township to build a world-class shopping mall as well as an upmarket hotel.
Federal customs agents seized a Mercedes-Benz from an army reservist who said the armour-plated, bulletproofed luxury car probably belonged to Saddam Hussein. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said on Thursday that the car, which was also equipped with loudspeakers and hidden microphones, was being treated as a ”possible war trophy”.
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Angola arrived in Hanover airport in Germany on Saturday ahead of the World Cup finals with threats by neo-Nazis of a march on the day of one of their matches. As the debutant West Africans became the third participating nation, after Togo and Costa Rica to set up camp ahead football showpiece, weekly magazine Der Spiegel broke the news about a planned anti-semitic neo-Nazi rally.
An immigration officer has been suspended following allegations that he offered to help a teenage Zimbabwean claim asylum in Britain in return for sex, The Observer newspaper said on Sunday. The middle-aged man offered to coach the 18-year-old rape victim on how to get through her asylum interview.
The icy weather experienced over the country was set to continue until about Thursday when the days will become slightly warmer, the South African Weather Service said on Sunday. Forecaster Ezekiel Sebego said another cold front would move in over the Western Cape on Monday night, bringing with it rain for that area, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
An oil tanker spilled up to 9 000 litres of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean, an official said. The coast guard and the state health department categorised the spill on Saturday morning as a minimal one, said Nathan Hokama, spokesperson for Tesoro, which owns the tanker. There were no immediate reports of harm to wildlife.
Port Shepstone rescuers are monitoring a mysterious situation in which ”numerous” eye-witnesses reported an unidentified object crashing into the sea, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said on Saturday. Eddie Noyons, NSRI Shelley Beach station commander, said eye-witnesses reported that the object, possibly an aircraft, had crashed into the sea behind the breaker line.
Sex — in many forms and, in at least one case, unsimulated — is heating up screens at the Cannes film festival, confirming the event’s reputation for taboo-busting fare. About five films in the official selection alone have already shown enough nudity to mark them for mature audiences only, and one, Shortbus, by United States director John Cameron Mitchell, blurred the boundary between pornography and art with its actors engaged in real intercourse.
In the twinkling of an eye, Dwayne Bravo was transformed from villain to hero, when he bowled Yuvraj Singh with the third last ball of the second one-day international on Saturday at Sabina Park to hand West Indies a heart-stopping one-run victory.
Kaizer Chiefs salvaged some silverware from a season that almost went horribly wrong when they were crowned champions of the lucrative Absa Cup beating Orlando Pirates 5-3 in a penalty shootout in an epic battle played at King’s Park Stadium on Saturday.