TORRENTIAL rains in central Mozambique are threatening 260_000 people with floods, after killing at least five people and making 18_000 homeless. The Zambezi river has already caused problems upstream in Tete province, where more than 10_000 have had to move to higher ground. The rains have now moved southwards into Sofala province, where one person […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH Africa’s crack investigating unit, the Scorpions, has teamed up with the SA Revenue Services (SARS) to raid the homes and offices of 26 customs officials suspected of being involved in corruption and fraud amounting to billions of rand. The team confiscated computers, other electronic equipment and documents from the […]

BUILDING workers have found four human skeletons at the French consulate in Casablanca in northern Morocco. The skeletons are those of people who died in the 1950s and have been taken to the Casablanca mortuary for examination, reports said, quoting informed sources. The French embassy in Rabat confirmed the discovery, but had little to say […]

A 70-year-old man has been caught driving at an alleged 201 km/h on the N3 highway near Heidelberg. Suliman Kholvadia of Johannesburg then apparently failed to stop and traffic officers gave chase for 25km before apprehending him. He claimed that his brakes had failed. Two visitors from India were travelling with Kholvadia, who appeared in […]

FOURTEEN people were killed and 10 injured when lightning struck a hut in a remote rural area of KwaZulu-Natal. A two-month old baby, two toddlers and a 70-year-old woman were among those killed when lighting struck the dwelling in the hamlet of Mogadi, southwest of Durban. Police said the deceased and injured were taking shelter […]

JOHNNIC e-Ventures, the Johnnic group’s online division, and SAIL, South Africa’s largest sports brand investor, have snapped up troubled Internet-based ticketing and box office services provider TicketWeb. The deal, which is subject to Competitions Commission approval, will see JeV and SAIL each acquire 42.5% of TicketWeb from African Media Entertainment Limited (AME), the listed media […]

FORMER Zimbabwean President Canaan Banana, 64, jailed for a year on gay sex charges, has been freed four months early after receiving time off for good behaviour. Banana was convicted on 11 counts of sodomy and abusing his power to rape, assault and carry out “unnatural acts” with men, most of whom were on his […]

AT least 10 people were killed in an attack this week by Guinean helicopter gunships on the Liberian border town of Solumba, Defence Minister Daniel Chea said. Chea told reporters he had instructed his artillery units to bring down any helicopter that enters Liberian airspace. The Liberian government, he added, was also registering its protest […]

TWENTY-TWO passengers drowned when their minibus plunged into the River Nile after colliding with a truck on a bridge between the two parts of the Sudanese capital. Police said nine men, nine women and four children drowned, while six people, including a woman, survived. Only five people, including the two-man bus crew, had been identified […]