South African Oscar-winner Charlize Theron on Monday got back a piece of the gold she so proudly dedicated to her home country. At a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria, the actress was presented with an ounce of gold still ingrained in the rock in which it was formed.
The South African government was concerned that SA citizens may be among the 64 alleged mercenaries aboard an aircraft impounded in Zimbabwe on Sunday. The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was in close communication with South Africa’s High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, Jerry Ndou, as he sought clarity on the circumstances surrounding the incident.
With the world marking International Women’s Day this week, women in South Africa might find themselves asking what benefits 10 years of democracy have brought them — especially in the important area of reproductive health. The country still faces problems relating to abortions, prophylactics and access to health care.
The board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia was locked in emergency meetings on Monday to determine the future of the company after its founder was last week convicted of lying to federal investigators.
After weeks of stop-start talks, backroom deals, sleepless nights and hard political bargaining, Iraq’s governing council finally unveiled its interim Constitution on Monday, declaring it to be ”a decisive moment in the history of the new Iraq”.
China, the most populous nation on Earth, could find itself dealing with the combined frustrations of as many as 40-million single men by 2020 because its one-child policy is creating a shortage of female babies. An expert, Li Weixiong, said the dearth of women would lead to a dramatic rise in prostitution and the trafficking of women.
The ousted leader of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, urged his followers on Monday to resist the ”occupation” of their homeland peacefully, and said that he still considered himself president. Aristide denounced the rebels as drug dealers and terrorists and repeated the claim that he had been kidnapped by the Americans.
The body of Spalding Gray, who used his experience of playing a bit role in a Hollywood film to create the memoir Swimming to Cambodia, was recovered from the East River in New York on Monday, two months after his disappearance.
Michelangelo’s statue David may be clean in time for his 500th birthday this year, but experts are concerned that his left ankle may not be strong enough to keep him standing forever. A team of experts at Bologna University has begun analysing tiny cracks in the marble masterpiece’s left ankle since restoration work began on the statue last September.
President Robert Mugabe’s government has terrorised almost every single opposition member of Zimbabwe’s Parliament with violence, intimidation and jail, according to a new report. More than 90% of the MPs have experienced jail, violence or the threat of it.