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/ 9 February 2006

Judging Jacob Zuma

Judge Phineas Mojapelo may preside over the rape trial of Jacob Zuma next week, but the final announcement will only be made on Friday. An official in the Johannesburg High Court registrar’s office said on Thursday that Mojapelo would preside over the trial, but an official in Mojapelo’s chambers said he could not confirm this.

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/ 9 February 2006

SA to reopen probe into Machel plane crash

South Africa on Thursday said it would reopen a probe into the death of Mozambique’s first president Samora Machel, who was killed in mysterious circumstances in a plane crash during the apartheid era. ”We will deploy some of the best resources we have, human and material, to get to the bottom of that matter,” said Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula.

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/ 9 February 2006

Pioneer of the tortilla chip dies at 98

Rebecca Webb Carranza, who is credited with playing an important role in popularising the tortilla chip, has died at age 98. In the late 1940s, the Carranza family’s Los Angeles-based El Zarape Tortilla Factory began making tortillas by machine, but at first many of the corn and flour disks were misshapen and had to be thrown away.

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/ 9 February 2006

SA biodiesel plant may triple soyabean demand

The mooted biodiesel plant that is to be the subject of a pre-feasibility study by South African petrochemicals group Sasol and the Central Energy Fund (CEF), could almost triple soyabean demand in South Africa. Sasol and the CEF said the plant would require more than 500 000 tonnes of soya beans to produce 100 000 tonnes of biodiesel per annum.

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/ 9 February 2006

Olympic countdown as Torch enters Turin

After 64 days of travel, the Olympic torch has finally arrived in Turin to begin the countdown to Friday night’s lavish opening ceremony extravaganza for the 20th Winter Olympic Games when the cauldron will be lit. Over 10 000 torch-bearers have borne the torch on its 11 300 km odyssey from the lighting of the flame at Olympia in Greece.

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/ 9 February 2006

‘With freedom comes responsibility’

The sound of Muslims singing praises reverberated in Cape Town on Thursday, as an estimated 30 000 people marched in protest and called for a boycott of Danish products. It was the first mass South African response as worldwide condemnation of Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad gathered momentum.

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/ 9 February 2006

Suicide bombing, clashes kill 31 in Pakistan

A suspected suicide attack tore into Shi’ite Muslims in Pakistan on Thursday as they celebrated the holiest day in their calendar, sparking riots and leaving at least 31 people dead and 50 wounded, officials said. Soldiers rushed to the northwestern town of Hangu after angry Shi’ites torched shops and cars following the attack on devotees marking Ashura.