Unheralded Harmony Gold athlete Sipho Ngomane won the 80th running of the Comrades marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on Thursday and at 23 years old became one of the youngest champions.
Johannesburg’s emergency services are assessing the damage caused to the Rand Club on Thursday after a fire broke out on the presmises late on Wednesday night. Emergency services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said the fire began at about 10pm and caused severe internal damage to the historic club.
The government that Moscow has installed in Chechnya admitted on Wednesday that there were more than 50 mass graves on its territory. It said that up to 60 000 people had lost a relative or friend in the disappearances that have blighted the republic for the past five years.
It might appear to be somewhat of a problem in his chosen occupation. But Todd the Human Cannonball insists a simple fear of flying did not merit his being sacked. Todd — 26-year-old daredevil Todd Christian — had no fear of the swift 12m flight he took when he was fired by a cannon high above the ring at Britain’s Cottle and Austin Circus.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanded on Wednesday that
Sudan’s government disarm militias terrorising people in Sudan’s Darfur. In a report to the Security Council, Annan warned that militias were still roaming Darfur, chasing people from their homes and harassing others in camps
Myanmar’s Supreme Court has begun hearing the junta’s case against former premier and military intelligence boss Khin Nyunt, who was sacked in October and accused of corruption, legal sources said this week. ”His legal proceedings in the Supreme Court have started,” one lawyer following the case said on condition of anonymity on Tuesday.
About 50 children per day are raped in South Africa as the country struggles with the legacy of apartheid, HIV/Aids and an influx of sexual material into a society that remains somewhat puritanical. Police reports recount girls as young as five being raped, sometimes by boys who are barely into their teens.
Japan and France have agreed to develop the technology for a new supersonic commercial aircraft that could cut the flying time between Tokyo and New York by almost half to six hours. Japan’s trade and industry ministry said the countries would each invest about 100m yen ( 000) a year over three years on research for the plane.
One of the most notorious murder weapons in modern history, the ice-pick that killed Leon Trotsky, appears to have been found, 65 years after it was apparently stolen from the Mexican police. The daughter of a former secret service agent claims she has the steel mountaineering instrument, which is stained with the blood of the Russian revolutionary.
Jacob Zuma took the first step in a thousand-mile journey this week when he made it clear that his sights are still fixed on the country’s presidency. Zuma has until the African National Congress’s next national conference in 2007 to mount a challenge for the ANC leadership, as a bridge to the highest office.