Central African countries and international donors failed at the weekend to agree how to finance an ambitious plan to manage the region’s natural parks and forests, especially the Congo Basin forest, considered the world’s second-most important green lung after the Amazon.
Microsoft and Japan’s top computer maker Fujitsu said on Monday they have agreed to jointly develop next-generation Windows-based servers for release from 2005. Fujitsu and Microsoft said global sales from the new servers, software products and services are expected to reach 800-billion yen (,2-billion) by 2007.
The trial over the controversial Roodefontein development was postponed for a second time on Monday, pending a decision by Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla on whether to provide legal aid for the accused. Former Western Cape premier Peter Marais and his then environment MEC David Malatsi are appearing in the Bellville regional court.
The United States-led coalition on Monday transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government, two days ahead of the scheduled June 30 handover date. The transfer of power took place in a ceremony in Baghdad’s heavily guarded green zone, where outgoing US governor Paul Bremer signed over the country — and its escalating security troubles — to interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
Fifteen people were killed in a head-on collision between a taxi and a bakkie on the R61 near Aberdeen in the Eastern Cape on Monday morning, police said. Inspector Stephanie Smith said the drivers of both vehicles were among the dead. Twelve people were injured and were being treated in the Aberdeen hospital and the Midland hospital in Graaff-Reinet.
Police arrested a match commissioner in Welkom on Sunday, bringing to 19 the number of soccer officials who have been picked up in Operation Dribble, the police’s swoop against alleged match-fixing in soccer. A club director in Gauteng was also arrested over the weekend, and was expected to appear in the Welkom magistrate’s court on Monday.
Johannesburg police were still searching on Monday for the killer of Lord of the Dance merchandiser Daryl Kempster and appealed to the public for help. Kempster (37) from Bedfordshire in Britain, was shot by unidentified gunmen in the early hours of Sunday as he made his way from the Civic Theatre to the nearby Parktonian hotel.
The chilling spate of hostage taking in Iraq escalated on Sunday when Islamist militants claimed to have taken a United States marine captive and threatened to behead him unless Iraqi prisoners are freed. The US military on Sunday night said it was investigating video footage aired on the Arabic television station al-Jazeera showing a blindfolded man dressed in camouflage fatigues.
Withdrawing from previous pledges to freeze all uranium-enrichment activities, Tehran said on Sunday it would resume manufacturing parts for centrifuges on Tuesday and would also restart the assembly of the centrifuges, the machines that refine crude uranium into bomb-grade material or nuclear fuel for power stations.
Does watching television bring on early puberty? Many parents would not doubt that repeated exposure to Sex and the City or the kind of sensual variety shows common on Italian TV could as easily turn their daughters into Lolitas as stir up the latent testosterone in their sons.