A post template

No image available
/ 4 January 2005

Soldier asks troops to disobey West Bank orders

An off-duty soldier on Monday called on fellow troops to disobey orders to tear down structures during a violent confrontation at an unauthorised West Bank settlement — a sign of trouble ahead when Israel’s government orders evacuation of entire settlements in the summer. The incident on Monday was the first of its kind, according to the military.

No image available
/ 4 January 2005

The quest for the perfect toilet paper

Britain’s civil service embarked on an 18-year quest for the perfect toilet paper after a doctor voiced concern about a diplomat’s haemorrhoids, according to a government file made public on Tuesday. John Hunt, a London physician, wrote to the Treasury’s medical adviser in 1963 after he examined Sir John Pilcher.

No image available
/ 4 January 2005

A cosmetics model at 96

It’s never too late to start a new career — even if you’re 96 years old and the new job is modelling cosmetics. Irene Sinclair, a Guyana-born pensioner living in London, is appearing on billboards around Britain this month, wrinkles and all, to help sell Dove, a popular brand of facial cream.

No image available
/ 4 January 2005

From lifesaver to ‘hoodlum’

An Australian man who was hailed a hero for allegedly saving more than a dozen lives in Thailand during the tsunami disaster has been arrested by local police on outstanding assault and burglary charges. Thomas David Connell was handcuffed and arrested after he stepped off the plane at Brisbane International airport on Monday.

No image available
/ 4 January 2005

Through the camera lens

1. A photograph released to The Washington Post on May 6 shows United States soldier Lynndie England holding a leash connected to a naked Iraqi detainee at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Photograph: AP/The Washington Post 1. A photograph released to The Washington Post on May 6 shows United States soldier Lynndie England holding […]

No image available
/ 4 January 2005

Napster now on stock market

Napster, the name that once was a symbol of rampant music piracy, on Monday completed its transformation to respectability by becoming a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq exchange. The new company is a far cry from the old Napster, which had as many as 70-million members freely trading music files.

No image available
/ 4 January 2005

Peru moves to free seized police station

The leader of a Peruvian paramilitary nationalist group that seized a police station, took 10 officers hostage and allegedly killed four more surrendered late on Monday as security forces launched an offensive against his followers, an Interior Ministry official said. Former army major Antauro Humala turned himself in to Peru’s national police chief.

No image available
/ 4 January 2005

A corrosive situation

A trailer carrying 15 000 litres of hazardous sulphuric acid overturned on the N1 outside Pretoria on Monday, disrupting peak-hour afternoon traffic. Tshwane Emergency Management Services spokesperson Johan Pieterse said traffic officers advised north-bound motorists to close their windows and turn off their air conditioning.

No image available
/ 4 January 2005

Keeping David out of harm’s way

Michelangelo’s David had centuries of gunk picked out of every nook and cranny of his perfect marble body last year in honour of his 500th birthday. But it seems the statue will be dirty again soon if it is not protected from the millions of visitors who traipse past it every year. Experts are considering blasting air from behind the 5m-high statue at the crowds of admirers.

No image available
/ 4 January 2005

Mbeki: Sudan, SA face same challenges

Neither South Africa nor Sudan has yet been able to establish societies acceptable to all their people, South African President Thabo Mbeki has told Sudan’s National Assembly. Mbeki was in Sudan after attending the signing of a peace deal between the Khartoum government and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement in Kenya.