In a new twist to the battle over next-generation DVDs, United States movie giant Paramount Home Entertainment said it will support Sony’s Blu-ray format while also making DVDs for Toshiba’s rival technology. Paramount will begin releasing content in North America, Japan and Europe suitable for the Blu-ray hardware after its launch.
As fires raged across six provinces this week, killing at least two people and causing billions of rands’ damage, Khomotso Moagi was making sure the fighters tackling the flames had the firepower to put them out. The 27-year-old single mother from Bushbuckridge played a critical role in managing the crews battling runaway fires in the tinder-dry grasslands in Mpumalanga.
Australian rugby’s newest team kicked off in humble surrounds on Monday when players from the Western Force practised on a bumpy training paddock for the first time in preparation for next year’s Super 14 competition. About a dozen players had their first hit-out under former All Blacks coach John Mitchell, who conceded his charges, nearly all drawn from teams on Australia’s eastern seaboard, were rusty.
Fed up with petrol pumps that often run dry, commuters in Zimbabwe’s capital are turning to an alternative way to get around — trading petrol power for pedal power. The humble bicycle is becoming a vehicle of choice as the Southern African country wrestles with its worst fuel crisis since independence in 1980, prompted by a severe foreign currency shortage.
Turkey faces a tense wait on Monday to discover whether it will be invited to talks on European Union membership, after European foreign ministers failed to reach agreement on Sunday night on the ground rules. Negotiations in Luxembourg broke up shortly before midnight after Austria refused to abandon its demand for Turkey to be offered an ”alternative” to full EU membership.
A team of doctors will on Monday accuse Hollywood of irresponsibility over its portrayal of sex and drugs after a review of some of the biggest blockbusters from the last 20 years showed that only one movie made reference to a condom. None of the top 200 films promoted safe sex, and nobody ended up with an unwanted pregnancy or any infection.
Up to 21 people were killed on Sunday night after a tour boat carrying 49 mainly senior citizens capsized on a lake in upstate New York. The 12m vessel, the Ethan Allen, overturned on Lake George, a popular tourist resort in the Adirondack mountains, about 80km north of the state capital, Albany.
On Baaba Maal’s third tour to South Africa, it’s all about ritual: the crowd stills as his two drummers start beating out their heartbeat, one pulse at a time. Nadine Botha relives the spectacular night.
Indonesian police on Monday were hunting the suspects who helped suicide bombers attack the resort of Bali, leaving at least 19 dead and raising fears of more violence from Islamic militants. Authorities said Saturday’s carnage bore the hallmarks of a group linked to al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah, that has waged a bloody campaign against Western interests since 1999.
The obsession with reality television is not new – it taps into voyeuristic viewing habits that stretch back to 1948, with the first flighting of <i>Candid Camera</i>. Kim Novick explores the evolution of the phenomenon with SA’s content bosses.