ZIMBABWE?S Roman Catholic bishops have lashed out at President Robert Mugabe’s government, and denounced the 15-month campaign of violence led by liberation war veterans loyal to him. The pastoral letter, which will be distributed to every Catholic church, school and institution in Zimbabwe, is the harshest criticism yet of Mugabe’s regime from any of the […]
A YOUNG Egyptian bride who was disenchanted with her new husband simply fled during her honeymoon and married another man at a nearby resort, the government daily al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday. Nefissa Abdel Hamid, a 26-year-old servant, left her 38-year-old truck driver husband 20 days after their wedding, and was married again, without having obtained […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday PROSTITUTES who questioned long distance truck drivers in South Africa and took spit samples found that a third of those surveyed always stopped for sex during journeys, and more than half tested HIV-positive, according to a study made public this week. The country’s Medical Research Council said the questions […]
LEADING cement and concrete producer Pretoria Portland Cement is set to acquire a 48% stake in the Zimbabwean cement manufacturer, Portland Holdings, for over R200m, SABC radio news reported on Wednesday. PPC told the public broadcaster an agreement had been reached with Anglo-American Zimbabwe and its associate companies to finalise the deal. It planned to […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday THE biggest trial to date of members of the Muslim vigilante group PAGAD began in a South African high court on Wednesday when three men pleaded not guilty to 138 charges including murder and kidnapping. Ebrahim Jeneker and brothers Abdullah and Ismail Maansdorp are accused of robbing two Cape […]
A 27-year-old Nigerian man, held for months in a detention centre in Switzerland after being refused asylum, died on Tuesday after a struggle with police ordered to forcibly repatriate him. Police said the man, who was not identified, resisted attempts by the two officers to handcuff him prior to escorting him to Zurich airport. After […]
THE Baptist Church in Nigeria is refusing to marry couples unless they present certificates proving they are free of the HIV virus that causes Aids, Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday. “Baptist ministers should demand a certificate of a HIV/Aids test from would-be couples before they are joined in holy matrimony,” the paper quoted a statement […]
RICHARD Branson on Wednesday launched the Virgin Group of Companies’ latest product in South Africa – bottles of still mineral water. Virgin Water, sourced locally in the Drakensberg mountains, will be sold at the group’s newly acquired South African chain of Virgin Active health clubs, Virgin boss Branson said at a media conference. “We’re experimenting […]
JAN HENNOP, Pretoria | Thursday PALESTINIAN leader Yasser Arafat declared on Wednesday that “we are trying our best” to find peace in the Middle East as he arrived in South Africa for a meeting with ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Arafat met later with President Thabo Mbeki, the current chairman of the pro-Palestinian movement, […]
THE African National Congress has backtracked and admitted that Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete damaged South Africa’s image by naming three prominent party members as allegedly plotting to overthrow President Thabo Mbeki. Tshwete is to be carpeted before Parliament?s safety and security committee today, where he is expected to justify why he ordered a […]