Europeans honoured the 146Â 000 victims of the Asian tsunami disaster on Wednesday, observing a European Union call for three minutes’ silence at noon. Flags were lowered to half-mast, stock exchanges stopped trading and public transport came to a standstill.
Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party was wracked by further divisions on Tuesday when ordinary members briefly held hostage National Political Commissar Elliot Manyika. Protesters, many of them from Zanu-PF’s Women’s League, blocked the entrance to Zanu-PF’s looming headquarters in downtown Harare, refusing to let Manyika leave.
The country’s property prices rose 32,1% in 2004 from 21,5% in 2003, South African banking group Absa said on Wednesday. In December 2004, the monthly Absa house price index rose by 32,6% in nominal year-on-year terms and the November increase in the index was revised to 34,6%.
A young Iranian conscript has had 15 of his teeth pulled out by a dentist in the false belief that the drastic move would get him out of his military service, the Iran newspaper reported on Wednesday. According to his father, the young man was led to believe that a quick ticket back to civilian life was the loss of 15 teeth.
The United Nations is appealing for $13,1-million (about R76-million) to provide urgent relief to 54Â 000 Somalis who lost their homes and livelihoods after last week’s deadly tsunami slammed African shores, a UN spokesperson said on Wednesday. Somalia’s civil war has devastated the country’s physical infrastructure.
The skies over Asia are being darkened these days by an abundance of relief-bearing cargo planes, reflecting the huge outpouring of international sympathy and support in response to the tsunami crisis. But in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, people might reasonably ask: ”How about some relief for us?”
In expressing its dismay at Telkom’s new tariffs for 2005, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Wednesday accused the fixed-line monopoly of "milking" poor South Africans to support tourists. Telkom has increased the cost of local calls and calls to cellphones while reducing international rates.
Hidenobu Murakawa stops his tour for a moment and apologises for the interruption. It’s the midday crunch, and he doesn’t want to disturb the bereaved.
The crematorium is his pride and joy, and performs 15 000 cremations each year. With precious little space left in Japan for traditional graves, innovation has become important.
A United States federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out a defamation lawsuit that Evel Knievel and his wife brought against the cable television sports network ESPN for labelling the daredevil a ”pimp”. The 66-year-old Knievel and his wife, Krystal, claimed a caption to a photograph posted on ESPN’s website damaged their reputations.
Agencies in China’s Chengdu city are offering rented girlfriends to bachelors who need someone to show off to relatives during the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, state press said on Wednesday. A hired girlfriend can cost as much as 300 yuan (about R200) a day.