House prices increased by 22,5% for the 12 months to May this year, with the average home costing R678 800, Absa said on Thursday. Absa economist Jacques du Toit said Absa predicts growth in house prices of between 15% and 20% for 2005, compared with growth of about 32% in 2004.
Black economic empowerment company African Renaissance Holdings has joined forces with the South African Grand Prix Bid Company in its initiative to apply for a licence to stage the formula-one grand prix in South Africa. Bid company chief executive Dave Gant has recently returned from meetings with formula-one boss Bernie Ecclestone in London.
Justine Henin-Hardenne’s impressive recovery from illness and injury continued on Thursday when a 6-2, 6-3 win over outclassed Russian Nadia Petrova put her within touching distance of a second French Open title. For the Belgian 10th seed, the 2003 champion, it was her 23rd successive win.
Police have warned bank customers on the East Rand to be cautious after two people were duped out of their cash by fake police officers on Wednesday. Superintendent Andy Pieke on Thursday said a man and a woman were approached outside banks in Alberton and Germiston by bogus police officers.
Israeli lawmakers have drafted a Bill designed to make English translations of Israeli road signs more comprehensible and consistent, the Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday. Legislator Amnon Cohen of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, who initiated the Bill, called the lack of uniformity ”embarrassing” and ”disgraceful”.
Haley Stevens was getting ready for school when the 14-year-old’s morning routine was shattered by the sounds of trees and wood-frame houses being torn from their foundation. The next thing she knew, her family was rushing out the door as a massive landslide bore down on her neighbourhood of hillside homes.
Prominent anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir was assassinated on Thursday when his car blew up in a residential sector of mostly Christian east Beirut in an attack that drew widespread condemnation. Lebanese opposition figures blamed the blast on the government and its political masters in Syria.
Thousands of people rallied on Thursday in the Niger capital to demand the distribution of free rations to stave off a food crisis that already threatens about three million people. The vast desert state’s food supply travails have been compounded by years of drought and last year’s invasion of desert locusts.
Zimbabwe said Thursday it didn’t ask for and doesn’t need the food aid the United Nations has promised, insisting it can provide for its own people amid a mounting humanitarian crisis rooted in politics. The minister of social welfare said Zimbabwe has bought 1,2 tonnes of corn from South Africa.
Médécins sans Frontières (MSF) has expressed deep concern about overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions for thousands of Rwandan Hutus who have fled into Burundi fearing persecution at home. ”As each day passes, the situation is growing more precarious for these refugees,” MSF said.