A 14-year-old boy has died after apparently being asphyxiated by fumes from a brazier at an initiation school in Port Elizabeth, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday. The police have opened an inquest docket, and a post-mortem will be conducted to establish the exact cause of his death.
A raucous welcome greeted Michael Jackson as he returned to his Neverland Ranch after being acquitted on all counts in his child molestation trial — a victory that triggered jubilation among the pop star’s fans and embarrassment for the district attorney’s office. ”All of us here and millions around the world love and support you,” proclaimed a banner.
The trial of a reputed Ku Klux Klansman accused of the 1964 murder of three young civil rights workers in Mississippi began on Monday with potential jurors bussed past barricades to the the Neshoba County courthouse. The defendant, 80-year-old Edgar Ray Killen, looked straight ahead and said nothing as he was taken by wheelchair into the red-brick courthouse.
Fifa is to consider using an electronic microchip in balls at the 2006 World Cup finals if experiments prove successful, Fifa president Sepp Blatter said on Monday.
The microchip, which is supposed to confirm whether or not a ball has crossed the goal line, is being tested at the under-17 world championship in Peru later this year.
Turkey was being set up as the main casualty of French and Dutch rejection of the European Union Constitution on Monday night when France seemed to put the brakes on Ankara’s 40-year dream of joining the union. However Britain is determined to press ahead with accession talks on October 3.
Some of the women sat at a wooden table littered with documents. Others hovered near a computer learning how to write a press release, or traded gossip over weak tea. It could almost be a PTA meeting or a ladies’ social circle — but for the tragedy that haunts this room. All of these women lost relatives in last September’s Beslan school massacre.
The Chamber of Mines told the representative unions for the gold mining sector on Tuesday that the sector was experiencing its worst crisis for the past 44 years. Three unions — Solidarity, the National Union of Mineworkers and the United Association of South Africa — have started talks with the chamber regarding wages and other conditions of employment.
South African motor trade sales rose by 23,2% year-on-year in March 2005 to R18 308-billion compared with those for March 2004, Statistics South Africa reported on Tuesday. However, the seasonally adjusted motor trade sales for the first quarter of 2005 decreased by 0,3% compared with the previous quarter.
South Africa’s Cell C said on Tuesday that it has extended its international roaming partnerships to 287 telecommunications operators worldwide. With global roaming, Cell C subscribers will be able to communicate on their cellphones while visiting certain destinations — including Australia, Brazil, India, Lesotho, Nigeria, Spain, the UK and the United States.
Nearly 100 refugees from various African countries are being detained in Zimbabwe as part of an ongoing police blitz in illegal housing, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. ”Operation Restore Order”, backed by President Robert Mugabe, is believed to have left an estimated 200 000 people homeless and bread supplies scarce.