Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to the controversial launch of a new nuclear reactor on the country’s western border with Poland, despite European protests and safety concerns. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has claimed the reactor does not meet safety levels.
Police in Rome have identified up to 6 000 potential targets of a terrorist attack, which are being kept under close surveillance by security forces, the city’s police chief was quoted as saying on Wednesday, as a terror group’s August 15 deadline neared for Italy to withdraw its troops from Iraq.
The Boeremag wanted to throw poisoned oranges in the streets of Soweto as part of its strategy to create chaos in the country, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday. Free State potato farmer Henk van Zyl testified about events leading up to "Operation Popeye", a trigger for a Boeremag plan to take over the government.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=120126">Boeremag had breeding plans</a>
The interests of the country will be central to any decision on the strength of the rand, South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni said on Wednesday.
He was addressing mine and textile workers protesting in Pretoria against job losses resulting from the currency’s strength.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=120185">Union asks for urgent rand summit</a>
The price of oil in the United States on Wednesday fell slightly on Wednesday with contracts for September deliveries on the New York Mercantile Exchange falling 0,2% to ,61 per barrel. On Tuesday, oil prices reached a new record of ,04 per barrel.
Stripped-down news anchors posed outside the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday to launch the latest addition to Britain’s competitive news media — <i>Naked News</i>. The revealing format, in which anchors disrobe while reading a digest of news, sports and entertainment, is due to begin broadcasting on Monday.
The Pan Africanist Congress has denied reports that, like the New National Party, it will join the African National Congress, saying on Wednesday such speculations are foolish. PAC president Motsoko Pheko said: ”I don’t understand why people are making such assumptions out of the blue.”
Britain on Wednesday granted its first license allowing scientists to clone human embryos, more than three years after becoming the first nation to authorise the technique to produce stem cells for medical research. In January 2001, Britain became the first nation to authorise the cloning of human embryos.
The organisation Doctors For Life has again spoken out against the formal recognition of South Africa’s traditional healers, as proposed by the Traditional Health Practitioners Bill, saying it is irrational to regulate the use of medicines that are not scientifically validated.
The political and humanitarian situation in Sudan’s western region of Darfur was again in the spotlight on Tuesday, thanks to a visit to south Sudan and Chad by United States Senate majority leader William Frist. ”What is going on there [in Darfur] is genocide,” the Republican senator from Tennessee told journalists.
Sudan’s ’empty promises’