A post template

No image available
/ 12 January 2005

Shopkeeper smashes thieves’ getaway car

A pair of burglars learned that crime does not pay when Mohammed, a New Zealand shopkeeper, smashed up their car as they raided his mini-supermarket in the middle of the night, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. He saw the pair stealing cigarettes, sunglasses and telephone cards on a monitor in his West Auckland flat.

No image available
/ 12 January 2005

Aussie woman sets drunk-driving record

An Australian woman with a blood alcohol level nearly nine times the legal limit when she crashed her car has set a national record for a female, a Melbourne court was told on Wednesday. Leanne Bartelson (44), beat the 0,05% limit with a blood alcohol concentration of 0,448% when she was tested on the morning of May 14 last year.

No image available
/ 12 January 2005

They didn’t see it coming

Police in Istanbul have arrested a married couple after a sting operation in which officers posed as customers who wanted their horoscope read, Hurriyet newspaper reported on Wednesday. Undercover officers deposited 200 lira (about R870) into a bank account and used the receipt as proof of payment for a session with the mediums.

No image available
/ 12 January 2005

Nasa plans to crash into comet

For the first time in history, Nasa is setting off on a collision course with a comet, in hopes of blasting a huge hole in the celestial snowball and gazing upon the original ingredients of the solar system preserved inside. It all begins with a planned Wednesday launch of Deep Impact, a copper-fortified, comet-busting spacecraft.

No image available
/ 12 January 2005

British minister wants more aid for Africa

British Minister of Finance Gordon Brown opened a week-long tour of Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday with an appeal for the developed world to back a new plan to ease the continent’s chronic poverty. ”It is simply not acceptable in the modern age … to have hundreds of millions of children not getting the chance at education,” he said.

No image available
/ 12 January 2005

A cut-and-toasted solution

For all those concerned about the texture of their toast, a Japanese manufacturer said on Wednesday it has created a ”super toaster” that heats the bread a split-second after slicing it. Billed as a first, the super toaster can hold two loaves of bread and slice them with internal blades before making them crispy with infrared light.

No image available
/ 12 January 2005

‘We are all that they have’

The king and the queen of an endangered aboriginal tribe vowed on Wednesday to rebuild their jungle kingdom on an isolated Indian island that was smashed by the Indian Ocean tsunamis. The 62-year-old king and his queen shepherded their subjects to safety as the giant waves crashed ashore.

No image available
/ 12 January 2005

Rebels support Sharon’s Budget

Rebels in Ariel Sharon’s Likud Party declared on Wednesday that they will support his 2005 Budget, giving the prime minister a temporary lift in his efforts to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. The 13 rebels, who oppose the withdrawal, were threatening to vote against Sharon’s Budget in a parliamentary vote later in the day.

No image available
/ 12 January 2005

Jackson trial ban bypassed

BSkyB is planning to reconstruct the forthcoming trial of pop star Michael Jackson on a daily basis in an attempt to circumvent an order banning cameras from the United States courtroom. Using a technique first used to cover the Hutton inquiry in 2003, BSkyB will partner with US network E! Entertainment Television, employing official transcripts to reconstruct the previous day’s courtroom events.