With an income of -million, Oprah Winfrey is the world’s most powerful celebrity, according to Forbes magazine which placed the talk show queen at the top of its annual ranking of the 100 personalities with the biggest pull. In second place for the second year in a row, Tiger Woods pulls in -million.
A dinner party at the home of the South African deputy high commissioner to Botswana was ruined when guests were seriously assaulted in a robbery in Gaborone on Thursday. ”They [the dinner guests] were very badly assaulted and burnt with an iron,” said High Commissioner Eunice Komane.
Zimbabwe has extended the destruction of informal homes and businesses from the cities to rural areas, police told state radio on Friday. A police spokesperson said his force has started tearing down shacks and kiosks found at major crossroads in the Midlands area, as well as homes built without permission.
The United States business community sees great potential for growth in the relationship between the US and South Africa, with more and more US businesses interested in investing in, exporting to, and importing from this country, according to Thomas Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce.
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Moviegoers in 32 countries have been flocking to see Mr and Mrs Smith, the action-thriller starring screen icons Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, writes Thami Masemola.
The board of directors of Stilfontein Gold Mining Company Limited — including Brett and Roger Kebble — have resigned en masse following the failure by AngloGold Ashanti to nominate new directors to the Stilfontein board. Stilfontein is unable to pay the R1,8-million a month the Johannesburg High Court ordered it to contribute to pumping costs in the Kosh basin.
A series of disasters including the Indian Ocean tsunamis has meant strong sales for the Iridium global satellite telephone service which has been launched in Japan, a company official said on Friday. Demand from government offices, utilities and hospitals, using the handset as emergency tools, has increased.
Israel is to build an underwater security barrier on the coastal border with the Gaza Strip in a bid to prevent any infiltrations from the sea by would-be Palestinian attackers, security sources said on Friday. The navy-built barrier is expected to stretch nearly one kilometre out into the Mediterranean sea.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters plan protests around the world to mark her 60th birthday on Sunday, demonstrating outside Myanmar’s embassies in a dozen countries to demand her release from two years’ house arrest. Suu Kyi will only be able to hear of the protests on her short-wave radio, one of the few links she has with the outside world.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has reinforced his message that his administration and the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is not in the business of tolerating corruption. He says his ruling party will be providing "clear guidelines" governing its behaviour in the future.