In South Africa there is more chance of being caught for a traffic fine than for child rape, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. Speaking during a debate in the National Assembly to mark International Children’s Day, a DA spokesperson said 59 526 crimes against children were reported in the country last year.
In a bid to attract more direct foreign investment into Africa, the Nepad Business Foundation (NBF) has committed itself to two ”covenants” — anti-corruption and corporate governance. NBF chairperson Reuel Khoza was addressing the World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Opting for an outside field on neighbouring Kings Park instead of the main ground at the Kingsmead Soccer Stadium in Durban on Wednesday, Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter was able to get into the task in hand of preparing his side for the Cape Verde World Cup qualifier on Saturday without too much interference.
Financial services and life assurance giant Sanlam said on Wednesday it has achieved sound operating results for the first four months of the year, with most of the major businesses improving on their 2004 performance and net operating profit up by more than 10% on the restated results for the same period last year.
The trade union Solidarity will meet Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan in Cape Town on Thursday afternoon in a last effort to prevent the change of Pretoria’s name to Tshwane. The South African Geographical Names Council has recommended that Jordan approve the registration of the name Tshwane.
Squatters who protested their eviction from an illegal settlement by burning tyres and throwing stones early on Wednesday had calmed down and stopped offering resistance by mid-afternoon, said Ekurhuleni metro police. About 600 ”Red Ants” moved into the Angelo settlement in Boksburg, to demolish about 6Â 000 shacks.
At least 29 people died, 35 were missing and more than 60 000 were evacuated after flash floods and landslides swept down mountainsides in two areas of south-central China, state media said on Wednesday. National flood-control authorities on Wednesday forecast more heavy rain and flooding this month.
A German company on Wednesday launched a collector’s edition doll of Pope Benedict XVI, adorned with a baby’s face. ”Its arms and legs can be moved” and ”its clothes are of a high quality and correspond exactly to the ‘originals’ of the Holy Father”, the manufacturers said.
A British couple recognised as having had the world’s longest marriage ever recorded are celebrating their 80th anniversary on Wednesday, and revealed the secret to wedded bliss as never letting arguments fester. Or, as 105-year-old Percy Arrowsmith put it more succinctly, the regular use of two words: ”Yes, dear”.
If you are a fast-food junkie with little variation in your diet, the chances are that you ate the same way when you were two years old, according to a French study. The first part of the study took place between 1982 and 1999, when the researchers recorded the food selection of 418 children between the ages of two and three.