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.
Kenya is evicting thousands of families who illegally occupy a vast swathe of forest in the country’s Rift Valley region, government spokesperson Alfred Mutua said on Friday. ”These forest areas are water catchment areas and the waters from these areas not only feed our country but [also] … trickle through the Maasai Mara to our neighbours”.
The storm in a tea cup over the use of the word ”rooibos” finally ended this week with an agreement that worldwide registration of the name will be cancelled. This concludes a protracted R6-million rights and licence fee dispute. The name ”rooibos” was initially registered by cosmetic giant Annique Theron in 1994.
President Thabo Mbeki had established a precedent by dismissing Deputy President Jacob Zuma, says official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. But he should now appoint a judicial commission of inquiry into the arms deal to include an investigation into the role played by Schabir Shaik’s brother, Chippy.
Batman Begins, which raked in ,8-million in North America since its opening on Wednesday, failed to come close to the opening weekend record set by fellow comicbook hero Spider-Man at ,8-million.
VILLA AT 90 edited by Karel Nel, Elizabeth Burroughs, Amalie von Maltitz (Jonathan Ball/Shelf) WILLEM BOSHOFF by Ivan Vladislavic (David Krut Taxi) Two sculptors who couldn’t be more different: Eduardo Villa and Willem Boshoff. Yet, reading a book on each, looking at them together, casts fascinating light both ways. Villa is an adoptive South African, […]
Property conglomerate Liberty International, listed in both the United Kingdom and South Africa, announced on Friday that Robert Finch would assume the role as the group’s chairman from July. Finch is the most recent mayor of London, the most senior London partner and former head of the property department at leading UK law firm, Linklaters.