No image available
/ 30 September 2005
For years it remained a rumour, and at worst a suspicion, that the telephones of certain individuals in Ghana, mainly politicians, were being bugged. Now, however, a dramatic ”confession” by two journalists that they have the capacity to do it — and, indeed, have been doing it — has triggered an uproar in the West African country.
No image available
/ 30 September 2005
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his conservative rival, Angela Merkel, were back on the campaign trail on Friday ahead of weekend voting in the eastern city of Dresden, which will complete the country’s inconclusive general election. About 220 000 voters will go to the polls on Sunday.
No image available
/ 30 September 2005
In what must rank as a world record, animal-welfare officers in France have discovered a total of 340 dogs living in a single house near the north-eastern city of Nancy. The dogs were confined to the first floor of the house in the village of Marbache and had been interbreeding for years, officials said.
No image available
/ 30 September 2005
When an 11-year-old boy sneaked his first kiss under a British railway bridge in 1965, he most likely never expected it to be front-page news 40 years later. But then he did choose British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s future wife. Stephen Smerdon woke up on Thursday to find his fledgling love life of four decades ago splashed across newspapers.
No image available
/ 30 September 2005
President Thabo Mbeki has rejected criticism that the African Peer-Review Mechanism (APRM) will be ineffective because of its voluntary nature. Writing in the African National Congress’s online publication, ANC Today, on Friday, he said the process enables each African country to assess the progress it is making towards achieving shared goals.
No image available
/ 30 September 2005
A Swedish couple have won the right after a court battle to name their daughter Edradour, after a Scottish whisky brand, media reported on Friday. Initially the tax office, which in Sweden registers the names for newborns, refused the name, saying it was too closely linked to an alcoholic drink.
No image available
/ 30 September 2005
Without institutional autonomy and bold leadership, diversity of language in higher education in South Africa will not survive, says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. Furthermore, the autonomy of universities is in itself important, he said in his weekly newsletter on the DA’s website on Friday.
No image available
/ 30 September 2005
Friday’s Constitutional Court judgement on medicine pricing achieved nothing for the consumer and sowed more confusion, the Democratic Alliance said. The ”contentious matter” has been thrown ”back into the hands of the very people who were unable to find a solution to the problems in the first place”, the DA said.
No image available
/ 30 September 2005
There were gasps in the public gallery as Mark Scott-Crossley, one of the men who threw farmworker Nelson Chisale to lions at Hoedspruit in January last year, was sentenced on Friday to life imprisonment. His co-accused, Simon Mathebula, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, three of them suspended for five years.
No image available
/ 30 September 2005
Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer will meet with the European Union’s antitrust chief next week, her spokesperson said on Friday, as the company appeals a March 2004 ruling by EU regulators. Neelie Kroes planned to meet Ballmer over breakfast on Wednesday to discuss general antitrust issues, EU spokesperson Jonathan Todd said.