Washington | Friday THE ambiguous proposals released after a two-day crisis meeting between Pope John Paul II and 12 US cardinals shows the Roman Catholic Church is ”still in denial” about ongoing sex-abuse scandals, US media opined on Thursday. The proposals, which would remove the worst sex abusers from among the ranks of Catholic clergy, […]
MATTHEW BURBIDGE, SAPA, Johannesburg | Monday SEVENTEEN South African rugby players have been killed since 1996 – and 38 have been paralysed, raising questions about the level of coaching expertise in this rugby-mad country. Sisanda Nombekela (18) was buried at Libode near Umtata over the weekend. He was injured while playing against a King William’s […]
Guilin, China | Tuesday A SIGN welcomes visitors to the world’s biggest bear and tiger rehabilitation centre but a tour of Xiongsen Mountain Village in southern China reveals scenes of cruelty rather than caring. One of the ”highlights” of a series of events organised for local and foreign tourists is the mauling of a water […]
Toronto | Thursday EIGHT months after Canada passed regulations allowing people with terminal illnesses to use and grow marijuana, many sick people still have no legal means of obtaining the drug, groups say. Ottawa, which has harvested more than 250 kilograms of marijuana for research, according to the Globe and Mail, has no immediate plans […]
Maputo | Wednesday AT least 17% of Mozambique’s teachers will die of Aids during the next 10 years, according to a new study released on Wednesday by the education ministry. ”The picture is sombre, with the disease taking a serious toll amongst our teachers,” deputy education minister Telmira Pereira told state radio. Aids is already […]
New Delhi | Wednesday NEARLY 3 000 children were married off during the Hindu festival of Ramnavami in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, The Hindu newspaper reported on Wednesday. Most of the children were between four and 13 years old and did not even know the name of the partners to whom they were […]
Seoul | Thursday THE first shipment of South Korean fertiliser aid this year left for North Korea Thursday ahead of the planned reunions of families torn apart by the peninsula’s Cold War frontier. The Red Cross authorities said a cargo with 15 000 tons of fertiliser departed from the southern port of Yeosu for the […]
Perth | Thursday AUTHORITIES on Thursday launched an investigation into a riot by 150 armed detainees at a Western Australian detention centre in which an inmate and a guard were injured. Illegal immigrants armed with iron bars, sledgehammers and concrete blocks went on a rampage for several hours on Wednesday at the Port Hedland centre […]
Pretoria | Thursday PUBLIC Protector Selby Baqwa has cleared Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of impropriety regarding her purchase of a diamond tiara from an SA Diamond Board member, reportedly at a hugely discounted price. ”Allegations of conflict of interest are not substantiated by the investigation and the evidence before me,” he said in […]
Cape Town | Thursday MORE than 33 000 accidents involving government garage vehicles cost taxpayers about R93-million in repairs and replacement bills over the past five years, figures tabled in Parliament on Thursday showed. Information contained in a written reply by Transport Minister Dullah Omar to a parliamentary question revealed that a total of 432 […]