Under United Nations pressure, Iraq’s Parliament on Wednesday reversed changes to an electoral law that critics had charged made it harder to reject the new and deeply divisive Constitution in next week’s referendum. The move came as thousands of United States troops widened a sweep for al-Qaeda fighters in a new offensive.
Yves Chauvin of France and Americans Robert H Grubbs and Richard R Schrock on Wednesday won the Nobel Prize for a breakthrough in carbon chemistry that opens the way to smarter drugs and environmentally friendlier plastics. The Nobel jury declared ”fantastic opportunities” had resulted from the trio’s work.
A Pretoria advocate facing an array of sex charges along with his ex-girlfriend was denied leave in the city’s high court on Wednesday to question the integrity of two of the pair’s alleged child victims. Dirk Prinsloo sought permission to cross-examine a social worker on the backgrounds of the two girls.
A Finnish man and his Indian girlfriend were arrested in India after neighbours complained that they were playing pornographic movies with the volume turned up too loudly, a police officer said on Wednesday. Exhibiting pornography and possessing pornographic materials are illegal in India.
A Springbok Radio classic, The Diary of Anne Frank, is to be rebroadcast on Saturday after being unearthed in the South African Broadcasting Corporation archives, publicist Peter Feldman said on Wednesday. The new production features Frank Graham as Mr Frank, Caroline Smart as Mrs Frank and Margaret Milner-Smyth as Margot Frank.
Former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s attorney Mike Hulley will not lodge an application in the Durban High Court on Wednesday for the return of documents seized during recent raids by the Scorpions, according to his secretary. On Monday, Hulley said the application would probably be lodged on Wednesday.
Workers may have accidentally cut or crushed the section of foam that broke off Discovery‘s fuel tank during its launch two months ago — a mishap that threatened the safety of the astronauts and grounded the shuttle fleet. That is the leading theory for the cause behind the disturbing loss of foam insulation that cast a cloud over Nasa’s return to space, said Wayne Hale, the new manager of the space shuttle programme.
Mayor Ray Nagin said the city is laying off as many as 3 000 employees — or about half its workforce — because of the financial damage inflicted on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. Nagin announced with ”great sadness” that he had been unable to find the money to keep the workers on the payroll.
Speaking from the International Space Station in orbit about Earth, American space tourist Greg Olsen said on Tuesday the experience was ”indescribable” and ”a dream come true”. ”I am having a great time. This is a dream come true, it’s an indescribable experience … I love it,” gushed the 59-year-old businessman and grandfather.
There is still no progress in the hunt for the killer or killers of mining magnate Brett Kebble, police said on Wednesday. It is still not known whether the killing of the controversial businessman was an assassination or a botched hijacking. Meanwhile, police returned to the crime scene on Wednesday.