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/ 26 January 2006
South Africa’s producer price index (PPI) rose by 5,1% year-on-year in December from a 4,5% increase in November, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. The PPI was expected to have risen by 5,2% year-on-year, according to an I-Net Bridge survey of economists, with the range from 3,5% to 5,5%.
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/ 26 January 2006
It is the most expensive piece of technology ever built, supposedly a monument to international cooperation and the spirit of adventure and exploration. But 20 years and -billion later, the International Space Station is an embarrassment. The first pieces were launched in December 1998, but it has yet to produce any science worthy of its colossal price tag.
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/ 26 January 2006
Zimbabwe’s leading cricketers were preparing on Thursday to sue the Zimbabwe Cricket Board for unpaid salaries and fees in a civil action. The Zimbabwe Professional Players’ Association has engaged a leading lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, to pursue the board for more than 000 through the Harare High Court.
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/ 26 January 2006
Insurance giant Sanlam has sold 13% of the high-voting shares in Naspers, but in such a way as to keep the shares out of the hands of a corporate ”raider”. The shares — known as ”A” shares — have been injected into a new company, provisionally named Wheatfields 221, Naspers said in a media release on Thursday.
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/ 26 January 2006
One of the four Taiwanese fishing boats hijacked off the coast of Somalia last year was released on Thursday, the government said. ”Under the rescue efforts by related government units and shipowners, Chung Yi 218 had safely set sail from Somali waters and was on its way home,” the Fisheries Administration said.
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/ 26 January 2006
Rescuers suspended work at the site of a collapsed building in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Thursday as officials conceded there was virtually no chance of finding any more survivors and an Israeli military team that had been leading the effort prepared to leave.
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/ 26 January 2006
Google and other Western internet companies are competing in a ”race to the bottom” as they bow to Chinese censors in order to gain a slice of the world’s most promising market, critics said on Thursday. The Silicon Valley-based online search engine has agreed to censor websites and content banned by China’s propaganda chiefs.
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/ 26 January 2006
The radical Islamist movement Hamas looked set on Thursday for a stunning victory over Fatah in the Palestinian election, plunging the stalled Middle East peace process into further turmoil. Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia announced he would submit his resignation to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
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/ 26 January 2006
Betty Berzon, a psychotherapist and author who championed gay rights after struggling for more than half her life with her own sexuality, has died. She was 78. Berzon died at her San Fernando Valley home early on Tuesday, said her long-time partner Teresa DeCrescenzo. Berzon had battled breast cancer for many years, she said.
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/ 26 January 2006
Richard Hatch, who won -million in the debut season of the hit reality show Survivor, was found guilty on Wednesday of failing to pay taxes on his winnings and taken straight to jail. The charges carry up to 13 years in prison. The judge said he expects a sentence of between 33 months and 41 months.