New York’s best-known love birds, the famous Fifth Avenue hawks, have returned to the city after winter and come back to their plush address overlooking Central Park. The pair of hawks, known as Pale Male and Lola, are one of the city’s top tourist attractions.
It didn’t start out romantic — he stood her up on a blind date. But 60 years later, Mary Jane Weimer and George Longmire are married. Mary Jane (81) and George (90) met in 1946, when George was a law student at the University of North Dakota and working at the Grand Forks Police Department, and she was working as a nurse in the same town.
The white car halts on the outskirts of town and a pretty woman rolls down the window at the sight of a fat man trudging by with a rucksack on his back. ”Are you Steve?” asks Kim Saylor (26). ”I am such a big fan.” For Steve Vaught, being stopped in the street is now a daily occurrence. He has become an unlikely celebrity.
The allure of the sparkling white snow of Europe’s mountain peaks is becoming an increasingly fatal attraction as figures show that more skiers and climbers will have died in avalanche accidents in the Alps this winter than in any previously recorded season. By Saturday, in the French Alps alone, 49 people had died in off-piste avalanche accidents.
The Absa Cup turned into a ”cup of controversies” as a 10-man Orlando Pirates sneaked a 1-0 win over Free State Stars at an emotional Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday night. In other matches, Supersport United were defeated 3-1 by Kaizer Chiefs, Mamelodi Sundowns beat Lamontville Golden Arrows 1-0 and Santos beat Island FC 6-0.
The Wellington Hurricanes put a week of internal strife behind them to score two late tries to down the Western Stormers and stay in the hunt after Super 14 leaders and tournament favourites Canterbury Crusaders this weekend. Australia’s ACT Brumbies remain unbeaten with a tense 35-30 win over South Africa’s Coastal Sharks.
Contingency plans are in place ahead of the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union’s nationwide strike scheduled for Monday, Transnet said on Saturday. Transnet’s John Dludlu said: ”We will spare no effort to ensure that we move the people who rely on our services and customers’ freight.”
One of the guns believed to have been used in the murder of three African National Congress members, including a party councillor, is also suspected to have been used in the 1995 Shobashobane massacre, KwaZulu-Natal minister of safety and community liaison Bheki Cele said on Saturday.
Police have released the man taken in for questioning in connection with the murder of the four-year-old grandchild of Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe. Makgabo Bernice Matlala’s killers are still on the run, despite an intensive police manhunt.
Chipo Mapako, a village head in the eastern Zimbabwean district of Nyanga, does not remember when he last had a square meal. ”The daily struggle for us is to find enough food to stave off hunger,” says Mapako, who heads a village in the district renowned as much for its picturesque mountain ranges as for its dry, stony fields.