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/ 17 December 2004
The queen has sacked a member of the Buckingham Palace staff for offering for sale on eBay one of the Christmas puddings she hands out to staff during the festive season, the Daily Mirror reported on Friday. Ben Church was frogmarched off the premises earlier this week, the left-wing tabloid said.
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/ 17 December 2004
The police destroyed more than 20 500 firearms in Kempton Park on Friday in a bid to fight the proliferation of guns in the country. ”The police are winning the war on the proliferation of illegal firearms,” Gauteng police’s acting spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said.
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/ 17 December 2004
Zimbabwe’s information minister has warned that alleged plans by the British government to deport up to 10Â 000 Zimbabweans could be cover for saboteurs to enter the country. Moyo said on Thursday that the British government has been training young Zimbabweans in violence and sabotage.
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/ 17 December 2004
A group of Free State farmers’ efforts to raise money with a nude calendar, inspired by the movie <i>Calendar Girls</i>, seems to be paying off despite the outrage of some fellow farmers. The group of eight "nude and well bodied" Viljoenskroon farmers hope to raise money for their local Groenbloem farmers’ association.
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/ 17 December 2004
An internet virus disguised as an electronic greeting card was spreading on Thursday across the world, duping e-mail users with a ”Merry Christmas” message that automatically appears in their native language. The Zafi-D virus infected 10% of e-mail on the net, according to anti-virus firm Sophos.
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/ 17 December 2004
A Norwegian court on Thursday awarded a young couple 356 000 kroner (about R330 000) in damages after the stench of their Italian leather sofa made them physically ill and forced them to move out of their apartment. They claim the smell was so overpowering that it made them nauseous, and caused vomiting, headaches and nose-bleeds.
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/ 17 December 2004
Dumping on one’s royal family is a harmless enough sport in some countries, but in the fiercely independent eastern Spanish region of Catalonia the concept has taken on a whole new meaning. Traditionally at Christmas, Catalans place ceramic statuettes in nativity scenes, but this year the statuettes have sparked some controversy.
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/ 17 December 2004
Media group Primedia has made a firm offer to buy New Africa Investments Limited (Nail) for R45,1-million, or R0,356 a share. William Kirsh, CEO of Primedia, said: "The conclusion of the Nail deal is another milestone for Primedia and brings to conclusion Primedia’s successful bid for Nail’s key media assets."
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/ 17 December 2004
The Mental Health Care Act has been promulgated by President Thabo Mbeki and comes into effect immediately, the Department of Health said on Friday. The measure seeks to realign mental health-care service with the National Health Care Act by emphasising the protection of patients’ rights, equity, affordability and access to quality health care.
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/ 17 December 2004
Civilians looted shops and patients lay unattended in a clinic in the front-line town of Kanyabayonga on Thursday after days of fighting between renegade soldiers and troops loyal to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) government. At least 25 000 people have fled the area over the past three weeks.