Authorities in Pamplona have painted a special non-slip coat on to the streets where the city’s annual bull-runs start today, in an effort to reduce the number of people gored or trampled. The 848m route to the city’s bullring, down which six bulls will run every morning for the next eight days, has been coated with an acid-based product designed to stop bulls and runners from falling over.
Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika on Wednesday pardoned 413 prisoners convicted of minor offences to mark the country’s 41 years of independence from British rule, his office said. He also said that celebrations will be low-key, as the government wants to use the money to buy maize for Malawians in need of food aid.
A German teenager admitted on Tuesday that he created last year’s devastating ”Sasser” computer worm, which brought systems crashing to a halt and caused millions of dollars worth of damage. Sven Jaschan (19) confessed to having used the computer in his bedroom to invent the worm, which crippled hospitals, closed banks and grounded planes and trains.
Two of the three women arrested in Brazil for allegedly dealing in cocaine are South African, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. Officials were able to confirm the nationalities of the women after their fingerprints were sent to the Department of Home Affairs in Pretoria.
A group of protesters started burning tyres at the entrance to the informal settlements at De Doorns, near Worcester, in the Western Cape, on Wednesday, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported. Residents threatened to blockade the N1, which runs past De Doorns and Worcester.
The JSE was just marginally weaker just before midday on Wednesday in extremely quiet trade. Dealers said that while rand hedge stocks were lower on the back of the firmer currency, there was nothing to give the rest of the market direction. At 11.53am, the all share index was down a neither-here-nor-there 0,04%.
England midfielder Steven Gerrard insisted on Tuesday he wasn’t to blame after refusing to sign a new contract with Champions League winners Liverpool. He said: ”The past six weeks have been the toughest of my life, and the decision I have come to has been the hardest I have ever had to make.”
Ter de Villiers made a strong claim for inclusion in the South African team to the 2005 World Championships when he defeated his main rival for the third spot in the 400m hurdles, Ockert Cilliers, at the International Association of Athletics Federations Super Grand Prix meeting in Lausanne on Tuesday night.
Aside from the pursuit of gold medals, competitors at the World Dwarf Games being held in France this week want to be treated as serious athletes, and not pitied because of their height. The fourth edition of the championships at Rambouillet, south of Paris, has drawn together 135 dwarves, with the largest delegation coming from Britain.
The New Zealand government has formally asked the International Cricket Council to ban Zimbabwe from its touring schedule because of appalling human rights abuses taking place there, Minister of Foreign Affairs Phil Goff said on Wednesday. The New Zealand cricket team are scheduled to play a series in August in Zimbabwe.