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/ 23 September 2004
Cat Stevens, the British-born former pop star who has been denied entry to the United States on security grounds, said he was ”totally shocked” by the decision. He arrived in London Thursday. Stevens, whose heyday was in the 1960s and 1970s, told reporters: ”Half of me wants to smile, half of me wants to growl.”
‘Terrorist’ pop star barred from US
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/ 23 September 2004
South Korea launched a crackdown on Thursday on the sex industry as a new law targeting brothel owners, prostitutes and their clients went into force. About 3 000 policemen raided red-light districts in Seoul and other major cities, hauling in 138 violators, including sex workers, brothel owners and customers, the National Police Agency said.
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/ 23 September 2004
The government supports the principle of there being a minimum of four large banks supervised by the South African Reserve Bank, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Thursday. Absa has announced that Sanlam’s share in the bank may be sold and has confirmed it is in talks with British bank Barclays plc.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-Business&ao=122696">Absa stake may be for sale</a>
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/ 23 September 2004
Continuing violence in the Middle East is harmful not just to the people of the region but those outside it as well, United States First Lady Laura Bush said in comments published on Thursday in a rare interview with an Arabic newspaper. Meanwhile, several violent events were reported in the Middle East.
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/ 23 September 2004
A pair of elderly lovers leapt to their deaths hand in hand in southern China after their children refused to let them marry, a news report said on Thursday. The couple, both aged 61, jumped holding hands from the seventh floor home they shared in Guangzhou in China’s Guangdong province, according to the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily.
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/ 23 September 2004
The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa was very slightly lower on Thursday, with the market getting good support from the financial sector, especially banking group Absa and Sanlam. By 12h23, the all share and all share industrial indices were down 0,01% and 0,17% respectively.
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/ 23 September 2004
The Swazi government and the United Nations Children’s Fund are canvassing the country’s 55 rural districts in a novel initiative to collect ideas for developmental programmes aimed at orphans and vulnerable children. Out of a national population of 970 000, Swaziland has an estimated 50 000 orphans.
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/ 23 September 2004
Elton John warmed up his vocal chords for a concert on Thursday in Taiwan by telling photographers they’re a bunch of ”rude, vile pigs”. The media ambushed the rock star after he arrived by private plane on Thursday shortly after midnight at Taipei’s Chiang Kai-shek International airport.
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/ 23 September 2004
They may live in the land of the rising sun, but that doesn’t mean they know anything about it. According to a survey by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 42% of Japanese children believe that the Sun rotates around the Earth and 30% of children aged 11-14 do not not know that it sets in the west.
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/ 23 September 2004
Deputy President Jacob Zuma has encouraged young women to take part in the virginity-testing programme of the OR Tambo district municipality. Speaking at the AmaMpondomise heritage celebrations held at Emdibanisweni Great Place near Umtata in the Eastern Cape, Zuma said the ancient practice of virginity testing is a viable solution to curbing the spread of HIV/Aids and teenage pregnancy.