Hurricane Stan, which slammed ashore on Mexico’s oil-rich Gulf coast on Tuesday but was downgraded to a tropical storm by the end of the day, drenched much of the country’s south after killing at least 58 people. The storm packed maximum sustained winds of 130kph as it made landfall near Punta Roca Partida, 120km southeast of the port city of Veracruz.
According to the latest Absa house-price index, nominal house prices rose by 17,6% year-on-year in September, versus a revised 19,6% in August, the lowest year-on-year growth since December 2002, when it was 17,3%. On a month-on-month basis, nominal growth in house prices was 0,6% in September.
The nucleus of Bafana Bafana’s top stars on Wednesday joined the squad in Durban for Saturday’s decisive African Nations Cup qualifier against the Democratic Republic of Congo as scheduled. ”Everything is running smoothly,” commented general manager Stanley ”Screamer” Tshabalala.
While describing its rates as "some of the lowest", Saudi-owned Cell C has entered the cellular-pricing fray by enhancing its "Friends and Family" product to provide its customers with the lowest tariffs in the market. Cell C’s enhanced offering follows Vodacom’s and MTN’s recent price-cutting moves.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat first on Wednesday in the opening Super Series limited-overs international against the World XI. Number-one-ranked Australia are playing combined world line-ups in three indoor one-day matches at Melbourne’s Docklands stadium this week.
New franchises Western Force and Central Cheetahs have received home games in the opening round of next season’s expanded Super 14 provincial rugby series, which starts next February. The draw was released on Wednesday by Sanzar, the board representing the South African, New Zealand and Australian rugby unions
M&G Media, owner of the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> newspaper, announced on Wednesday that Jason Zeelie has been appointed as the group’s managing director of publishing with effect from November 1. Most recently, Zeelie has worked at Independent Newspapers, where he was Gauteng retail and special projects advertising manager.
A solid final-round 66 in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour at Erinvale reignited Eugen Marugi’s career after a rather non-descript 2004 season. Last week, Marugi underlined his comeback at the Seekers Travel Pro-Am. With back-to-back top-10 finishes, the 21-year-old Johannesburg golfer is finally back on the Sunshine Tour fairways.
Young people today are better educated than any previous generation, but 130-million youths are still illiterate, more than half a billion live on less than a day, and a record 88-million are unemployed, according to a United Nations report. The report highlights the stark differences in the lives and opportunities of young people in poor African and Asian nations and richer Western countries.
Seeking to close a gap in the nation’s defence against mad cow disease, George Bush’s administration is proposing to eliminate cow brains and spinal cords from feed for all animals, including chickens, pigs and pets. The US government already bans virtually all cattle remains from cattle feed.