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/ 17 December 2004
Russia’s embattled Yukos oil giant was satisfied on Friday at a United States Bankruptcy Court ruling that slapped a 10-day halt to a planned sale of Yukos’s core asset, its main oil-pumping division Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos’s spokesperson said. But Russian federal property fund’s officials said the sale will go on as planned.
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/ 17 December 2004
Tolkien’s Gollum from his Lord of the Rings trilogy suffered a personality disorder akin to schizophrenia, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal on Friday. The disturbed hobbit-like creature most probably suffered from schizoid personality disorder, medical students from London’s University College found.
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/ 17 December 2004
Just a year ago, terrified inhabitants of African village of Mbomo desperately locked up their schools and churches and stayed inside their homes, not daring even to shake hands with each other for fear of contracting Ebola. Victims of this fever bleed to death after their internal organs liquefy.
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/ 17 December 2004
The South African rand could see more strength over the next few months on the back of a weak dollar, which has been the main driver of the rand since early 2002, Nedcor economist Dennis Dykes said in a commentary this week. According to Dykes, the rand’s fortunes look set to remain tied to the dollar’s in the short to medium term.
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/ 17 December 2004
Three students in sweltering Singapore realised their dream of seeing a snowman by scouring the internet for information and constructing the city-state’s first one, the trio said on Friday. Undeterred by the perpetual heat and humidity, they erected a 3m-tall snowman with a girth of 5,5m and weighing 2,5 tonnes.
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/ 17 December 2004
Vice-chancellors of South Africa’s universities have rejected reports that prospective students must write compulsory entrance exams in 2009. Several newspapers said the South African Universities Vice-Chancellors’ Association decided that students must write entrance exams because the proposed new grading system will be unreliable.
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/ 17 December 2004
A woman was killed in Johannesburg on Thursday when a Steers fast-food sign fell on her, police said. Police spokesperson Inspector Amanda Roestoff said on Friday the incident happened at 6.50pm when a storm hit the city. A post-mortem will be conducted on the 20-year-old woman on Monday.
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/ 17 December 2004
The F-word has been popping up in all South Africa’s newspapers this week, but not because of a liberalisation of the country’s fairly stringent anti-obscenity standards. ”F” stands for forgiveness and, as Thursday was Reconciliation Day, a public holiday, the press waxed eloquent on the need for it nationwide.
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/ 17 December 2004
United States scientists have tested a handgun that can only be used by its owner. Sensors embedded in the handle recognise the owner’s grip, so if the pistol is grabbed by an unauthorised user it should refuse to fire. The New Jersey Institute of Technology developed the system called dynamic grip recognition.
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/ 17 December 2004
Hollywood has joined the war. Universal Pictures announced on Thursday that it is to make The Battle for Fallujah. To prove it is serious, it has enlisted Indiana Jones himself, actor Harrison Ford, to help defeat the insurgency. The film — Hollywood’s first foray into the second Iraq conflict — is due to go into production next year.