Many a beer lover may dream of having free beer on tap at home. That dream came true over the weekend for Haldis Gundersen of the western Norwegian city of Oslo, reports said on Monday. ”I thought I was in heaven,” Gundersen told the online edition of Verdens Gang.
With the government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (Asgisa) in full steam, it is confident that South Africa will achieve an economic growth rate of at least 6% between 2010 and 2014, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Monday.
Two weeks after bird flu was confirmed in Niger, authorities have received only limited assistance to tackle the deadly H5N1 virus. The government of Niger launched an appeal for assistance the day after bird flu was confirmed in Niger at the end of February. First off the mark with help was neighbouring Nigeria.
Former Scotland winger Jimmy Johnstone, best known as one of the ”Lisbon Lions” when Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967, died on Monday. He was 61. Johnstone became an active campaigner for stem-cell research after being diagnosed with motor neuron disease in November 2001.
Munaf Patel bagged seven wickets in his debut game and Virender Sehwag regained his form with a blazing 76 not out as India shattered England’s dreams with an emphatic nine-wicket win in the second Test on Monday. England go into the third and final Test at Mumbai on Saturday hoping to square the series.
Dan Brown took the stand on Monday to rebut accusations that he copied from other writers’ work to produce his massive best-seller Authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh are suing Da Vinci Code publisher Random House for copyright infringement, claiming Brown ”appropriated the architecture” of their non-fiction book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.
The quiet Tokyo neighbourhood of Higashikurume is getting its 15 minutes of fame — all because of a root vegetable that doesn’t know when to give up. Residents were amazed to find that a daikon — a thick white radish often used in Japanese cooking — had pushed its way between an asphalt pavement and roadside ditch, kilometres from the nearest field.
Sandra Day O’Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last month after 24 years on the Supreme Court, has said the United States is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party’s rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary. ”We must be ever-vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary,” said O’Connor.
The possibility that California could choose the first lesbian bishop in the Anglican church has deepened the schism over sex and faith, defying a 2004 moratorium on consecration of gay bishops. If elected on May 6, Reverend Bonnie Perry would become the church’s first lesbian bishop, a new milestone for the Episcopal church.
Senior police officers were overpaid, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday. ”It seems that President Thabo Mbeki’s 2005 State of the Nation commitment to ‘improve the salaries of members of the police service’ has largely only benefited senior police managers, including National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi,” DA spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn said.