President Thomas Klestil, who died overnight on Tuesday, is to receive a state funeral in the capital Vienna on Saturday, his office announced on Wednesday. Klestil died late on Tuesday aged 71 after suffering a heart attack only two days before he was due to leave office. He had served as head of state for 12 years.
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has awarded Russia a two-year, $34,2- million grant for treatment.
They have been boiled, fed to ducks, even attached to hot air balloons and cast into the night sky — when it comes to permanently depriving a cheating lover of a recently severed penis, the imagination of the wronged Thai woman knows few bounds.
When culture meets media, interesting things happen. A provincial premier gets pictured in bed; a bunch of fortysomething journos stage a reunion; and innovative publishing technology gets deployed. It’s festival time in Grahamstown again — the 30th edition of an event that’s always like a first time. But there’s a whole lot more going on this time.
Israel’s intelligence service has warned of growing concern for Ariel Sharon’s safety as the far-right gives increasing support to violent resistance to his plan to remove Jewish settlers from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Amid echoes of the assassination of the then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin nine years ago, Sharon told parliament he was disturbed by the warnings.
The lethal spread of the HIV/Aids pandemic across the globe is speeding up, in spite of intensifying efforts on the part of UN agencies, the US, Britain and other European governments to turn the tide. A record five million people were infected by the virus last year and nearly three million died.
Church rolls out ARV programme
Aids report: The state we’re in
A coalition of independent human rights groups accused President Robert Mugabe’s government on Tuesday of trying to suppress an African Union report on human rights violations in Zimbabwe. The report, resulting from a fact-finding mission by the 53-nation body, presents damning allegations of a clampdown on civil liberties surrounding Zimbabwe’s 2002 presidential elections.
It’s been a whole decade since the last all-new Isuzu KB series bakkie arrived in South Africa. Now the fifth-generation pickup has been launched and it’s bigger, more comfortable and safer than the model it replaces. Gavin Foster gave it a spin in Namibia.
Fiat’s new Punto, already one of the most successful Fiat passenger cars ever in Europe, has arrived in Africa. The new range of cars comes in three and five door body shells, motivated by three different engines — a 1,2 litre double overhead camshaft 16 valve petrol unit, a 1,3 litre JTD turbodiesel and a high-performance 1,8 litre petrol burner.