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/ 14 November 2005

‘He is, I fear, a born drifter’

Graham Payn, a South African-born singer and actor who was a post-war fixture in London’s West End, has died, agents for the estate of Payn’s long-time companion, Noël Coward, said on Monday. He was 87. Payn, a product of the white-tie-and-tails school of song and dance, made his breakthrough in Coward’s 1945 Sigh No More.

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/ 14 November 2005

‘Dog meat’ lands 25 in hospital

Twenty-five people, mainly children, were taken to hospital after eating food believed to be dog meat in an Eastern Cape village on Monday, the provincial health department said. Departmental spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the parents of a 17-year-old boy had told him to kill a dog that was attacking and killing their sheep.

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/ 14 November 2005

‘Massive’ lack of education plagues Africa

”Massive” educational deprivation continues to plague sub-Saharan Africa, South African Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said on Monday. ”It is clear that an extraordinary effort will be required to ensure that all countries are directly assisted to succeed,” she told the 15th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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/ 14 November 2005

Police fire rubber bullets to disperse protest

Police used rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of disgruntled Sydenham residents, and arrested 45 of them for marching illegally on Monday, Durban police said. Angry residents marched on the mayor’s office to hand over a memorandum that cited dissatisfaction over housing and the alleged removal of basic services from shack dwellers.

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/ 14 November 2005

Wanted crook begs police for money

A man who went to a Portuguese police station to beg for money wound up behind bars after officers found he was a wanted criminal, daily newspaper Correio da Manha reported on Monday. The 32-year-old man told officers that he needed the cash to return to his home in northern Portugal.

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/ 14 November 2005

Thai transvestites employ criminal kiss

Thai transvestites are often pretty enough to fool tourists into taking them home for the night, but the unwary visitor risks losing his wallet as well as his pride. Members of a transvestite gang have confessed to concealing strong sedative pills under their tongues and spitting them down the throats of their victims while kissing.