An astronomer has identified a planet with three suns far away in the galaxy — the first of a class dubbed ”Tatooine planets” after the home of Luke Skywalker, the young hero of the Star Wars films. The stars are about as close to each other as Saturn is to the sun.
Investec economist Annabel Bishop says the bank is forecasting a fixed investment growth rate of 7% a year that, in the absence of significant domestic savings, means the current account is likely to remain in deficit. "This would be exacerbated by the further importation of military equipment under the South African-Europe arms deal," she adds.
United States First Lady Laura Bush says she is looking to Rwandan President Paul Kagame to suggest how the world can make sure that a genocide his country experienced more than a decade ago is not repeated in Sudan’s Darfur region, or anywhere else. Bush was closing out a trip through Africa with a visit on Thursday to Rwanda.
Two South African pilots arrested in Zimbabwe last year over an alleged plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea will be released this month after serving two-thirds of their 16-month prison terms, their lawyer said on Thursday. The two men were jailed by a Harare magistrate last September.
Retail group Shoprite Group increased turnover by 12% to about R29,8-billion for the 12 months to July 3 this year, comprising 53 weeks. The group said that if the additional week of the current reporting period is disregarded, turnover growth was 9,5%. The previous 12 months was calculated over 52 weeks.
New interclan violence wracked parts of remote northern Kenya overnight after a brutal village massacre and reprisal attack killed at least 76 people this week, officials and residents of the region said on Thursday. Members of the rival Borana and Gabra clans continued to clash following Tuesday’s attack, they said.
Britain came to a standstill on Thursday at noon local time for two minutes of silence in memory of the victims of the London suicide bombings a week ago. Meanwhile, investigators carried out a forensic examination at a house in Aylesbury that may yield more clues into the bombings and those behind it.
Rescue workers recovered 10 more bodies after an overloaded ferry capsized in rough seas off Indonesia’s remote eastern province of Papua a week ago, officials said on Thursday. The discovery brought the total to 11 bodies and 15 survivors accounted for after the Digoel ferry capsized last Thursday night off the southern coast of Papua.
The lobotomy, once a widely used method for treating mental illness, epilepsy and even chronic headaches, is generating fresh controversy 30 years after doctors stopped performing the procedure now viewed as barbaric. A new book contends the crude brain surgery actually helped roughly 10% of the estimated 50 000 Americans who underwent the procedure.
Although Roger Waters dabbled with operatic themes in Pink Floyd’s The Wall, he’s never written a traditional opera — until now. Waters will debut Ca Ira (There Is Hope), his opera about the French Revolution, September 27 with a double-CD and DVD project from Sony Music.