Three American physicists shared the ,3-million Nobel prize for physics for calculating the bizarre properties of the ultimate fragments of matter. They provided the mathematics for a completely new theory, which in the last three decades, has helped scientists peer deeper into the atom and get closer to the mysteries of creation.
The man who shot former Beatle John Lennon nearly 24 years ago has again failed to convince a New York parole board that he was ready for early release from prison. Mark Chapman (49) was returned to Attica State Prison after the three-man panel on Tuesday ruled an early release would undermine respect for law and order.
Scientists working in top-security labs say they have recreated pathogens from the 1918 flu pandemic, the greatest plague of the 20th century, in a bid to find out why this strain was so extraordinarily lethal. The United States team took two key genes from the 1918 virus and slotted them into human flu viruses to which lab mice were known to be immune.
Vodacom will announce the launch date of its third generation (3G) network at the Sandton convention centre on November 9. Vodacom will also, for the first time, run a public 3G demonstration at a location outside its offices at Vodaworld. The event will begin with a series of workshops including panel discussions on topics including WiFi, broadband, 3G technology, mobile marketing and messaging.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks in Sudan on Wednesday to pressure the country’s leaders into taking action over the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Darfur. Blair, who underwent an operation to correct a heart flutter only five days earlier, was greeted at the presidential palace in Khartoum by Vice President Ali Osman Taha.
Blair seeks pledge from Sudan
The chief executive of ThisDay newspaper, Graeme King, has resigned from the company. In a joint statement released on Tuesday King said he hoped the newspaper would become a ”leading voice in the market”. King led the company through the critical launch phase of the national daily newspaper last year.
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria awarded Uganda a new grant of -million last Friday to battle the disease.
The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa was flat in noon trade on Wednesday, having surrendered early gains due to profit taking and weakness in European markets. Volumes were good, despite a lack of fresh news to draw players into the market.
The services of the black economic empowerment company formed between financial services group Sanlam and a union consortium won’t be confined to the present members of the consortium, the parties said on Wednesday. "We see this as an entry point into a huge market — a huge market that is potentially available …and not insured," said one Sanlam executive.
The Eastern Cape education department has overspent its budget by more than R600-million, the province’s education minister Mkhangeli Matomela told MPs on Tuesday. Briefing Parliament’s education select committee, he warned the overspending would lead, among other things, to cutting the number of schools the region had planned to build this year.