One of the seven travel agents arrested in connection with the parliamentary travel scam appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Monday. She is one of seven directors and consultants attached to Cape Town travel agencies arrested by the Scorpions in connection with defrauding Parliament of more than R12,5-million.
A story in a Sunday newspaper alleging that murdered student Leigh Matthews’ father might have contributed to her death by not paying the full ransom, was ”pure speculation”, police said. Superintendent Chris Wilken said he was not prepared to comment on speculation of that nature.
Overall consumer price inflation (CPI) in Lesotho increased by 5,3% year-on-year (y/y) in May and 5,1% in April, Standard Bank said in its research brief on the country, citing the data released by Lesotho Bureau of Statistics. The Southern African kingdom’s economic developments tend to be largely influenced by the economic situation in neighbouring South Africa.
The tiniest shift, history shows us, can signal the greatest change. Recent news that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser had lost a single percentage point of market share might not sound all that significant today, but it could well mean the browser wars are back on. One percent is all it takes, and may signify challenges ahead for Microsoft.
Nearly 300 people were killed and hundreds more injured when a deadly fire raced through a shopping centre on the outskirts of the Paraguayan capital, police said early on Monday. The toll of the blaze on Sunday was especially high because shopping centre security personnel locked the main doors to prevent customers from fleeing without first paying.
The quest for a full-flavoured decaffeinated coffee may be over: scientists report that they have found a naturally decaffeinated version of the world’s most popular coffee bean. Full-strength coffee can raise blood pressure, trigger palpitations and disrupt sleep, and decaffeinated now accounts for about 10% of the world market.
Assailants triggered a coordinated series of explosions outside five churches in Baghdad and Mosul during evening services, killing 11 people and wounding more than 50 in the first major assault on Iraq’s Christian minority since the 15-month-old insurgency began.
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, received the strongest challenge yet from a protégé when Mohammad Dahlan, a former interior minister, accused him of squandering -billion and ”sitting on the corpses” of Palestinians. He said that if Arafat did not begin to reform the Palestinian Authority there would be massive demonstrations on August 10 in Gaza City.
Two bank officials had petrol poured over them and were threatened with being burnt alive during an armed bank robbery in Fort Beaufort on the weekend. Inspector Mali Govender said the employees were saved from possible injury after complying with the robbers’ demands.
Rich and poor countries on Sunday night pledged to secure a new global trade accord by the end of next year after a week of intensive negotiations banished immediate fears of a new era of protectionism by agreeing to cut deep into the West’s lavish farm subsidies.
‘Milestone’ world trade pact