A fire raged through part of Equatorial Guinea’s capital and destroyed about 100 homes and left almost 1 000 people homeless, but claimed no lives, national radio reported on Monday. A first house in the impoverished Ela Nguema district of the tropical Central African city caught fire when a candle set light to a pile of clothes.
French journalist Georges Malbrunot, who was released just before Christmas after four months in captivity in Iraq, saw in the new year in France with a sense of relief that he was not British. ”On Planet Bin Laden, they look first at your nationality. Had we been British – or from another coalition country – we would have been decapitated within days.”
At a texas school, the talk is all about sex. Or, rather, about how you absolutely must not do it or anything close to it outside wedlock. It is part of the sexual revolution in US schools called Abstinence-Only Until Marriage, a programme being cascaded with funding from the Bush administration.
Six injured South African survivors of the tsunami in Thailand arrived at Lanseria International Airport on board a rescue flight from Bangkok on Saturday night, as one of the biggest relief efforts ever seen finally cranked into action, with world aid pledges passing the -billion mark.
The Zimbabwe government has denied media reports that controversial information minister Jonathan Moyo has tendered his resignation to acting president Joyce Mujuru. Moyo allegedly sent his resignation by fax from Kenya, where he is on holiday, but Mujuru reportedly refused to accept it.
The toll of people killed in Somalia when a deadly tsunami tidal wave struck the Horn of Africa country’s Indian Ocean coast on December 26 has climbed to 176, a presidential spokesperson said on Saturday.
Poised on the brink of a new year, Loose Cannon has managed to engage the services of the renowned Brakpan siener, Danie van den Horne. Using both his crystal balls, Danie has provided an almanac for 2005. Study it and know that some things seldom change. Here are his predictions for the new year …
One of the biggest relief efforts ever seen has finally started to crank into action, with supplies beginning to reach some of the worst-hit areas. Pledges of aid from around the world passed the $2-billion (about R12-billion) mark, with Japan’s announcement that it was boosting its aid from $30-million to $500-million.
Former president of the SA Football Association, Solomon ”Stix” Morewa, is very ill in the intensive care unit at a private hospital in Soweto, City Press newspaper reported on Sunday. He played a pivotal role in getting South African football readmitted to the international fold after a period of isolation.
South Africa scored slowly but ended up with a satisfying total for the loss of only four wickets on the first day of the third Castle Lager/MTN cricket Test against England at Newlands on Sunday. South Africa had 247/4 at close of play with an imperious looking Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla still at the crease.