Thai police revealed on Friday that they have been searching for 82 missing cobras from the Red Cross Snake Farm in the centre of Bangkok for the past three months. The cobras, used to extract venom to treat snake bites, started to disappear in January, this year, said Police Lieutenant Colonel Wichien Watchirasaenglert.
Hours before the judge in the Michael Jackson case was expected to rule on whether comedian Jay Leno can tell jokes at the singer’s expense, The Tonight Show host found a way to slip in a quip without opening his mouth. After arriving ”late” for the taping of Thursday’s show, Leno stepped out of a black limousine wearing SpongeBob SquarePants pyjamas.
Injuries to three of South Africa’s main bowlers caused headaches for South African skipper Graeme Smith after lunch on the first day of the second Castle Lager/MTN Test against Zimbabwe at Supersport Park on Friday, in a session that saw three wickets fall in three overs without any addition to the score. Zimbabwe went to tea on 189 for seven.
Defending champions ACT Brumbies overcame new injuries on Friday to beat South Africa’s Stormers 22-19 Friday in the Super 12 rugby union competition. Already missing key backline players, the Brumbies suffered a further blow on the eve of the match when centre Gene Fairbanks withdrew because of a facial injury.
An Australian rugby enthusiast on Friday vowed to fight legal action from McDonald’s objecting to his team having the word ”McBrat” emblazoned on their uniforms. Lawyer Malcolm McBratney said he sponsored the Brisbane Irish rugby union team, which adopted the ”McBrat” tag because they could not fit his full surname on the back of their shorts.
Last weekend’s satellite television weekend was, to put it mildly, a disgrace. MultiChoice, the South African satellite signal distributor of satellite television programmes, is preparing for the launch of another of DStv’s famous ”bouquets”. In order to prepare the older decoders of many of MultiChoice’s existing customers, certain remote electronic re-jigging was necessary.
Indian-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal boosted his fortune faster than anyone in the world over the past year to become the third richest person in the world, Forbes Magazine said on Thursday. London-based Mittal, who built one of the world’s biggest steel empires, has a net worth of -billion, trailing only Microsoft chief Bill Gates (,5-billion).
Botswana has started providing anti-retroviral drugs to soldiers in an effort to mitigate the impact of HIV/Aids on its armed forces. The programme, described as "a key watershed in safeguarding the security of the nation", is expected to target an estimated 5 000 infected soldiers and their dependents.
African ICT market analysts BMI-TechKnowledge has released the results from their latest research, entitled Top 350 Telecoms Spenders. The report shows that close to 50% of the 350 indicated they would consider switching some of their telecoms business to the second national operator should the service offerings be competitive.
It was quite a week for Justin Nurse. The 27-year-old ”David” and his company, Laugh It Off, appeared in the Constitutional Court.