Plans to broadcast a London musical that features a nappy-wearing Jesus who admits he is "a bit gay", have sparked a record 5 500 complaints, a television watchdog said on Thursday. The BBC nevertheless vowed to go ahead with its plan to show <i>Jerry Springer: The Opera</i>, based on the controversial United States talk show.
Miss Beazley, a 10-week-old female Scottish terrior puppy, moved into the White House on Thursday. Bred in New Jersey, Miss Beazley was a gift from United States President George Bush to his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, for her 58th birthday in November.
The South African Reserve Bank accumulated reserves over December, with its international liquidity position rising by -million to a new high of ,4-billion, it announced on Friday. Reacting to the central bank’s latest holdings, as on December 31 2004, Nedbank said there has been strong foreign interest in South African equities.
A team of divers, police and paramedics has descended on the small town of Daniëlskuil in the Northern Cape to recover a body. Located 30km from Daniëlskuil is Boesmansgat — the world’s third-deepest freshwater cave. In 1994, while diving in the cave with his father, Deon Dreyer, then 20, blacked out and sank to the bottom.
The favourite to win the Palestinian presidential election, Mahmoud Abbas, expressed hope on Thursday that peace negotiations with Israel could resume soon after the winner is declared on Monday. Abbas, who is about 40% ahead in the race to succeed Yasser Arafat, said he sees Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a potential peace partner.
The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was awash with red at midday on Friday, hit by a recovery in the rand. Volumes were extremely light, however, and were only expected to pick up next week. At noon, the all-share index was 0,67% weaker. Resources retreated 0,8%, with the gold- and platinum-mining indices slumping 1,94% and 1,36% respectively.
South Africa has many reasons to feel optimistic about 2005, with the economy gaining momentum, society becoming more unified and the country’s politics "returning to open dialogue", says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. "However, South Africans at home and abroad have received mixed messages from President Thabo Mbeki."
A South African law firm that acted as a conduit for information between a ”whistleblower” and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is instituting legal action against the central bank. It alleges the bank withheld its client’s payment after helping the police nab a high-profile businessman and political figure.
Nedbank says that while the short-term inflation outlook remains encouraging, the strong growth in credit poses dangers to longer-term price stability and it therefore feels that interest rates will be left unchanged in 2005. It says that as imports are rising rapidly, reserves in relation to import cover have remained static for several months.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information, Jonathan Moyo, is suing Munn Marketing for Z$100-million (about R109 000) for allegedly distributing in Zimbabwe the <i>Sunday Times</i> of South Africa — a newspaper he is also suing for carrying an allegedly defamatory article. Moyo said the article insinuated that he does not care about the people of Matabeleland.