No image available
/ 22 January 2006
One of the United States’s most experienced astronauts has denounced the space shuttle as a deathtrap and accused US space officials of stifling all concerns raised about its safety. The revelation comes as the US prepares to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Challenger disaster.
No image available
/ 22 January 2006
A series of legal actions has been launched by European governments to regain priceless works of art that they claim have been illegally smuggled to the United States to be sold off to wealthy collectors and museums. One of the highest-profile cases is in France, where it has been dubbed ”The Affair of the Hebrew Manuscripts”.
No image available
/ 22 January 2006
A total of 108 people, most of them from the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress, joined the newly formed National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) in Gauteng on Saturday. ”Every week, we receive leaders of substance,” said Ziba Jiyane, Nadeco’s founder and national leader.
No image available
/ 22 January 2006
A bizarre plan to relocate the remains of President Thabo Mbeki’s father to a Port Elizabeth struggle museum has been slammed as illegal and immoral by his family, the Sunday Times reported in its first edition. The plan is driven by Nelson Mandela metro mayor Nceba Faku and was detailed by the municipality last week.
No image available
/ 22 January 2006
The African National Congress in the Western Cape and the Democratic Alliance in Pretoria reported on Saturday that both parties’ election posters were being removed. The DA filed charges against five people on Saturday afternoon for allegedly removing DA election posters in Centurion.
No image available
/ 22 January 2006
No aircraft other than a sophisticated Gulfstream V intercontinental jet was available to take Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to Sun City this week, Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota said on Saturday. According to media reports, the 13-minute journey cost taxpayers an estimated R75 000, and use of alternative planes could have cost less than half that amount.
No image available
/ 21 January 2006
Rebel fighters have seized six towns and villages in the turbulent eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after Congolese troops apparently withdrew, officials in the area said on Friday. Insurgents occupied the municipalities on Thursday and Friday, they said.
No image available
/ 21 January 2006
Rescue workers tried on Saturday to save a northern bottle-nosed whale that swam up the River Thames past Big Ben and other London landmarks, the first such sighting of the endangered species since records began nearly a century ago. Amazed onlookers crowded the Thames riverbanks on Friday.
No image available
/ 21 January 2006
The annual cannabis growers’ bonanza in The Netherlands, the HighLife hemp fair, which is under way until Sunday, has come up in the world since it started nine years ago. More than 20 000 visitors from Europe and North America are expected to travel to Amsterdam for the annual event.
No image available
/ 21 January 2006
Oil prices charged toward a barrel on Friday in a rally that mainly reflected fears of a possible loss of supply from Iran, which is in a diplomatic stand-off with the West over its nuclear ambitions. Labour unrest in oil-rich Nigeria and new threats from al-Qaeda contributed to traders’ jitters.