Modelled on the 1988 ”Mandela at 70” campaign for the then imprisoned leader, ”Suu Kyi at 60” involves demonstrations at virtually all Burmese embassies to protest the imprisonment of a leader who won 82% of the seats in Burma’s last general election in 1990, but has never been allowed to take office.
Once praised for their studiousness, Japan’s teenagers are gaining a less wholesome reputation, for promiscuity. Official figures show that Japanese schoolchildren are having more sex than ever before, and that many are shunning condoms, unaware of the risks of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
A stream of Iranians, many chorusing a demand for greater freedom, voted yesterday in a presidential election marred by violence and dismissed by the US as unfair. In Tehran, election officials reported a solid turnout for a contest between seven candidates in which the number of voters has been defined by religious rulers as paramount.
The JSE Securities Exchange roared to a record high on Friday, propelled by higher commodity prices and spill-over buying from Wednesday’s interrupted futures closeout. The gains came despite a firmer rand. By 12.08pm, the all share index advanced 0,8% to 14 323,94, having earlier touched an all-time high of 14 346,42.
New World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz on Thursday said the international community could do more to help Darfur, the troubled region of Western Sudan. Wolfowitz said he was ”certain that the bank has a role to play” in the reconstructing Darfur, calling the situation that prevails there currently a ”post-genocide situation”.
Women’s soccer should promote ”lovely looking” players to attract more sponsors, according to Uefa president Lennart Johansson. ”If you see a girl playing on the ground, sweaty, with the rainy weather and coming out of the dressing room, lovely looking, that would sell.”
With an income of -million, Oprah Winfrey is the world’s most powerful celebrity, according to Forbes magazine which placed the talk show queen at the top of its annual ranking of the 100 personalities with the biggest pull. In second place for the second year in a row, Tiger Woods pulls in -million.
A dinner party at the home of the South African deputy high commissioner to Botswana was ruined when guests were seriously assaulted in a robbery in Gaborone on Thursday. ”They [the dinner guests] were very badly assaulted and burnt with an iron,” said High Commissioner Eunice Komane.
Zimbabwe has extended the destruction of informal homes and businesses from the cities to rural areas, police told state radio on Friday. A police spokesperson said his force has started tearing down shacks and kiosks found at major crossroads in the Midlands area, as well as homes built without permission.
The board of directors of Stilfontein Gold Mining Company Limited — including Brett and Roger Kebble — have resigned en masse following the failure by AngloGold Ashanti to nominate new directors to the Stilfontein board. Stilfontein is unable to pay the R1,8-million a month the Johannesburg High Court ordered it to contribute to pumping costs in the Kosh basin.