A post template

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Snail-paced Ophelia moves out to sea

The snail-paced Ophelia, downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, picked up speed and moved out to sea early on Friday after a three-day drenching of North Carolina in the United States that was far less severe than many had anticipated. To the south, the storm’s gusty wind ripped apart businesses and damaged homes.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

How a bad weld caused the Meredale flood

The burst pipe that flooded Meredale in southern Johannesburg with 80-million litres of water in July was the result of corrosion and a 41-year-old bad weld, Rand Water said on Friday. Rand Water chief executive Simo Lushaba said the pipe that burst developed a leak along a seam that had been welded in 1964.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

US oilmen arrive as hundreds battle Indian well blaze

United States experts arrived on Friday to help Indian firefighters battle a major blaze at a burst oil well which was sending smoke and flames shooting into the sky, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents. Hundreds of firefighters worked through the night but failed to put out the blaze near Dikom, 520km east of Assam state’s main city Guwahati.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Trunk calls

Researchers in Kenya and South Africa are using cellphone technology to gather information on elephants, cheetahs, leopards and other animals. The relatively cheap tracking device includes a no-frills cellphone that is put in a weatherproof case with a GPS receiver, memory card and software to operate the system. The unit, placed on a collar, is then tied around the neck of a wild animal.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Strangers on a plane

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> Weeks after the release of director Wes Craven’s <i>Cursed</i>, he is back with the highly thrilling <i>Red Eye</i> and it’s hard to believe it’s from the same director, writes Shaun de Waal.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Distell to unveil BEE deal soon

Distell Group, South Africa’s largest listed wine and spirits producer, will be unveiling details of its long-awaited black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction on Wednesday September 21, the company said on Friday. Distell will make an announcement together with its partners on the initiative at its Nederberg cellar in Paarl.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

How I did my bit for global apocalypse

On Wednesday, he was just watering the dead bonsai juniper on his desk when his in-box pinged. Dave down in Concentric Redundancies had flagged the e-mail as possessing "Extreme Priority", as he did with all his messages: Mr Maseko upstairs had already had a word with Dave about sending photographs of a brown smudge on various hideous quilts.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Govt IT agency boosts profit

The South African government-owned State Information Technology Agency’s net profit after tax for the period ended March this year jumped by 69% to R59,303-million from R35,085-million reported previously, Sita CEO Mavuso Msimang said on Friday. Revenue grew by 14,5% to R2,636-billion.