My first visit to Bela Bela (as Warmbaths is now called) was a hurried affair. I arrived in the afternoon and only glanced at the people strolling in the streets. Ten years later, on yet another trip to Warmbaths, and I have to admit that my feelings for the small dorpie were not infatuation but genuine love — feelings that have propelled me back toward the town and into another bout of real passion.
Air traffic at Cape Town International airport was delayed on Tuesday afternoon after an ex-military fighter jet jettisoned about 3 000 litres of fuel following an engine failure shortly after take-off. The drama unfolded at about 3pm when one of the two-seater aircraft’s two Rolls Royce engines failed.
Property group Gilboa Properties plans to change its name to Absolute Holdings and transfer its listing from the main board of the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) to the Alternative Exchange (AltX) in 2005, in line with its change in focus from a property-development company to tile wholesaling and retailing, as well as mining.
In Zambia, the battle for equality between men and women is being waged on many fronts — not least concerning the sentences handed down by courts. Men who kill their wives in this Southern African country are typically charged with manslaughter, rather than the more serious crime of murder.
On the opening day of a trial in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday, a British man was accused of offering to sell 200 shoulder-fired missiles to a Somali group he thought would use them to shoot down United States commercial airliners. However, the man claims he was the victim of a sting operation.
Mahmoud Abbas, who is expected to win Sunday’s election for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, condemned ”the Zionist enemy” on Tuesday after seven children on their way to pick strawberries were mistaken for Palestinian militants and killed by Israeli tank shells.
Fears are growing for children orphaned in the tsunami disaster after a senior United Nations official warned of credible reports that criminal gangs in Indonesia are offering them for adoption or exploitation. Carol Bellamy, executive director of the UN Children’s Fund, said organised syndicates are exploiting the crisis in Aceh province.
Iraq’s president reignited calls for a delay to the first national elections, due in three weeks, when he said on Tuesday that escalating violence will make it difficult to hold a proper vote. The main Sunni party has withdrawn from the election already, while other senior Iraqi officials, including the defence minister, have publicly suggested a delay.
Ten days after the tsunami devastated large swaths of the south and south-east Asian coastlines, aid agencies battling to bring relief to millions left homeless and starving on Tuesday warned that the full scale of the disaster has yet to be revealed. The known death toll approached 150 000 on Tuesday night.
Musica, the retail chain offering music and other gaming, DVD and lifestyle products that is owned by listed health and beauty retailer New Clicks Holdings, plans to open its first store selling only DVDs (excluding CDs) on a trial basis in Cape Town in early January, the company revealed in its 2004 annual report.