Turning lemons into tourist lemonade, the Chamber of Commerce in the mining city of Butte, Montana, is charging admission to see one of the United States’s largest bodies of toxic water. And people are paying. "Some people see contaminated water," said chamber executive Marko Lucich. "I see wealth."
An Austrian advisory panel handling claims for paintings, sculptures and other items looted by the Nazis during World War II has recommended that 6 292 artworks be returned to their original owners, the minister of culture said on Wednesday.
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has been appointed to serve on the World Bank’s new Commission on Growth and Development, his ministry said on Wednesday. ”This Commission will highlight fundamental aspects of economic growth for the attainment of development objectives and identify forward-looking growth policies.”
Magisterial districts are being reviewed to ensure they can be aligned with municipal boundaries where possible, Minister of Justice Brigitte Mabandla said on Wednesday. Her department had already finalised a process of investigating current magisterial district boundaries through consultative meetings.
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When Jacob Zuma apologised to the mother of the woman who has accused him of rape, it was only for the effect that her laying the charge was having on her mother, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Wednesday. ”I was only apologising for the effect that impacted on her,” said Zuma.
Electricity utility Eskom is to launch a major energy conservation campaign next month in an effort to reduce consumption and relieve the current strain on power transmission and distribution facilities, the government announced on Wednesday. The campaign will be ”more intense” in the Western Cape, government communications spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said.
This year is likely to be another bad one for hurricanes, according to an early forecast issued on Wednesday by a scientific team that last year accurately predicted the 2005 storm season would be major. Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) said there was an 80% probability that 2006 would be in the top one-third of the most active seasons for Atlantic tropical storms in the record books.
The African Union mission in Sudan is launching a probe into allegations that AU troops in Darfur sexually abused Darfuri women. The allegations were aired on British television channel four and charge that AU peacekeepers paid displaced Darfuri girls as young as 11-years-old for sex.
A Kenyan court on Wednesday charged five teenage boys with rape in connection with an incident in which as many as 10 young girls were sexually assaulted outside a high school last month. The five suspects, arrested on March 29 after three of the alleged victims identified them as their attackers, pleaded not guilty to rape and indecent assault charges.
Confirming the suspension of the Eastern Cape’s superintendent general of health, provincial health minister Bevan Goqwana on Wednesday resisted calls for him to resign. ”I don’t think I will resign,” Goqwana said. Asked if he was satisfied with his work, Goqwana said: ”I’m a human being … I’m satisfied. I think I’m on the right track.”