Israeli settlers say Prime Minister Ariel Sharon missed the last opportunity to prevent a civil war on Monday after he defeated an attempt by dissident MPs to force a referendum on the government’s plan to remove all Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Parliament voted down the referendum Bill by 72 to 39.
A man who withheld conjugal relations with his wife for seven years has been forced to pay alimony. The man refused to have sex with his wife after she opposed him in a family argument. The highest Italian appeals court found that the man’s inaction regarding his wife amounted to an "offence to her dignity".
A four-year-old girl in Iceland has found a message in a bottle that was thrown into the sea off the coast of Greenland 18 years ago, Danish media reported on Monday. The message was sent off in the summer of 1987 by a group of youngsters being shuttled by boat to a football match
Forget about natural disasters. In Britain, you’re more likely to get your knickers in a knot. There are other perils, including insidious scorpions, nasty hornets and wicked rats. Your house is no haven either…with people hospitalised from accidents in their beds, mainly caused by cigarettes or faulty electric blankets.
Necessity is the mother of invention and this is especially true when it comes to party people. A new innovation being launched at the Glastonbury rock music festival will allow revellers to party right through the night without disturbing the neighbours.
Hong Kong prostitutes are using cellular technology to entice clients. Using automated voice messages, they have been sending prospective clients information, such as their addresses and phone numbers. "Our girls are only doing it part-time but you will like them," one message reads.
Michael Jackson suffered a serious setback in his attempt to fend off charges of child molestation on Monday when a California judge ruled that evidence of prior allegations could be considered at the pop star’s trial. The Santa Barbara county prosecutor said he intends to present evidence relating to five previous child accusers.
Leading secular and liberal groups have launched a counter-attack against what they say is the undue influence of hardline Shia Islamists and Iran’s theocracy on the formation of Iraq’s new government. Talks between the main Kurdish and Shia blocs over a coalition government have also taken a knock.
Survivors of the Boxing Day tsunami fled their homes on Monday night after a huge undersea earthquake measuring up to 8,7 on the Richter scale struck off the coast of Sumatra, with as many as 2 000 people feared dead on the Indonesian island of Nias, close to its epicentre.
Domestic employers, seasonal employers, farmers and their workers contributed R40,9-million to the Unemployment Insurance Fund during the 2003/04 financial year, according to Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana. This figure has already jumped to R68-million for the categories of employers and workers in the period from April 1, 2004 to January 31, 2005.