A conversation with Dr Helen Fisher has strange after-effects. While talking to my husband, I am suddenly anxious we have not done anything ”novel” — one of Fisher’s favourite words — for some time. Perhaps the dopamine levels in my brain are falling. Maybe the romance will disappear from our relationship. Awareness of the chemical comings and goings that underpin one’s marriage is unsettling, to say the least.
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A packed commuter train jumped the tracks in western Japan on Monday and hurtled into an apartment complex, killing 54 people and injuring more than 417 others. Investigators are focusing on whether excessive speed or the actions of the inexperienced driver caused the crash.
Britain’s Prince Harry was put ”at risk” by photographers who pursued him and a girlfriend as they travelled in a jeep while on safari in Botswana, royal officials said on Monday. Aides to the 20-year-old prince have raised the issue with Britain’s Press Complaints Commission.
After 100 days as Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas is slowly but surely asserting his control over key institutions despite having failed to secure any major breakthrough in the peace process with Israel. While proud of his achievements to date, Abbas has stressed he is no miracle worker. ”We do not have a magic wand,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to reassure skittish investors on Monday in his annual State of the Nation address that rampant tax probes, greedy bureaucrats and a shifting economic playing field will be made things of the past. However, opposition politicians and economic analysts reacted sceptically to Putin’s promises.
The Land Claims Court has the power to override the new Minerals Act, an advocate presenting the Richtersveld community’s multibillion-rand claim argued in Cape Town on Monday. The 2002 Act makes mineral resources the common heritage of all the people of South Africa, and does away with the notion of mineral rights.
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Deputy President Jacob Zuma contravened his constitutional duty by providing assistance to his friend and financial adviser Schabir Shaik, the Durban High Court heard on Monday. Zuma ”at the very least exposed himself to a situation involving the risk of a conflict between his official responsibilities and private interests”.
People arrested for petty crimes in the Vaal area will in future be punished with menial tasks such as sweeping streets, picking weeds and mowing lawns, police said on Monday. Police spokesperson Superintendent Maria Mazibuko said the aim of the project, launched in Vanderbijlpark on Monday, is to clean up the area.
Crude futures rose on Monday ahead of a meeting between United States President George Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah that will focus in part on possible ways to bring down high oil prices. Analysts said that a rash of refinery outages in the US and Venezuela underpinned the bullish market.