An unidentified ship has been hijacked off the coast of Somalia in the latest in a series of piracy incidents in Somali waters that have prompted dire international maritime warnings, a militia said on Thursday. Pirates seized the vessel are holding its crew hostage, the Juba Valley Alliance militia said.
Leading KwaZulu-Natal businessman Don Mkhwanazi emerged on Wednesday as a key mover behind a campaign to raise funds for embattled former deputy president Jacob Zuma, The Mercury website reported on Thursday. Zuma is expected to face several charges in a costly and lengthy corruption trial starting in October.
The Scorpions’ raids on the homes of former deputy president Jacob Zuma and his financial adviser Schabir Shaik were still under way by noon on Thursday. The front door of Zuma’s Johannesburg home in Epping Road, Forest Town, was open and the Scorpions could be seen walking inside the house.
It has been a busy week for former Inkatha Freedom Party chairperson Ziba Jiyane.
A waitress in Sweden thought her elderly customer was joking when he offered her his Porsche as a tip, but he kept his word and gave her the keys to the car, the daily Aftonbladet reported on Thursday. ”I thought at first he was joking with me,” 19-year-old Josefin Justin told the paper.
Frantz Kruger, South African record-holder in the discus, inflicted a rare defeat on the Olympic and world champion Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania at an international athletics meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, on Tuesday night. Kruger’s winning throw of 65,97m was his best of the year and 6cm further than that of Alekna.
Bush Bucks and Jomo Cosmos played to a scrappy, goalless draw in their Premier League soccer match played on Wednesday in East London. Both teams came out of the blocks forcefully, with Bucks’ promising striker Phikolethu Stelman coming the closest in the 17th minute.
Roger Federer steadied after a slow start to beat German Nicolas Kiefer 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and move into the third round of the ,45-million Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday. The world number one from Switzerland lost serve twice in the first set against an opponent whom he’d beaten in five of their eight previous meetings.
The JSE was down for the third straight day at noon on Thursday as the profit-taking that started on Tuesday continued. A weaker rand did little to support the local bourse. At 11.58am, the all share index was down 0,61%. Resources retreated 1,48%, the gold mining index tumbled 2,78% and the platinum mining index weakened 0,67%.
Listed packaging group Nampak has reached agreement to conclude a 10% black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction pursuant to which approximately 5% of the issued share capital of Nampak will be owned by Nampak employees and 5% will be owned by BEE groups comprising a broad base of black people.