Winter in the northern parts of the country has been very mild, but winter woollies could come in handy from next week, the South African Weather Service said on Thursday. Forecaster Evert Scholtz said average temperatures north of Bloemfontein have been about five degrees Celsius higher for June than normally.
It could perhaps be described as a niche market, but such is the continued fame of United States pop star Madonna that a pair of her black, lacy knickers — guaranteed pre-worn — have sold for £1 000 (R12 400). The underwear was worn by the 46-year-old star in the 1993 film Body of Evidence.
A man who stole two trays of cookies from a bakery in the Cypriot town of Larnaca caused a scare at the nearby airport when he drove on to the runway, forcing aircraft to slam on their brakes, police said on Thursday. The saga began when the man walked out of a bakery on Wednesday with 40 assorted cookies without paying.
Two babies are critically ill with the Klebsiella infection that has killed 11 babies in the past two weeks, the KwaZulu-Natal health department said on Wednesday. One is at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial hospital and the other has been transferred to the Mt Edgecombe hospital.
English is renowned as the world’s most swiftly evolving language, a process highlighted by the raft of sometimes curious new words — ”chav”, ”Asbo” and ”retrosexual” — featured in the latest edition of the Collins English Dictionary published on Thursday.
Calm returned to the Putco bus company’s depot in Bloed Street, Pretoria, by Thursday morning after stranded commuters went on the rampage on Wednesday, police said. Commuters infuriated by a bus drivers’ strike, which left them without transport home, torched six Putco buses on Wednesday evening and set fire to a ticket office.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court as a witness, testifying against her nephew in a theft case, The Star website reported on Thursday. It said her nephew and former bodyguard, Mzontsundu Madikizela (34), is charged with 97 counts of theft.
The salvage tug Nikolay Chiker was on Thursday morning closing in on the stranded log-carrier Kiperousa, as part of an effort to refloat her, the South African Maritime Safety Authority said. Spokesperson Captain Peter Kroon said the tug would try to refloat her during the high tide on Thursday afternoon.
The body of a 74-year-old woman who disappeared from a ward at the Kimberley hospital this week was found on the hospital grounds on Thursday, Northern Cape health authorities said. Shiwe Selao, Northern Cape minister of health, said hospital personnel found the woman’s body, after an extensive search, early on Thursday morning.
The streets of the Zimbabwe capital, Harare, were quiet early on Thursday after civil rights groups and the opposition called for a two-day strike to protest growing social and economic hardships and a crackdown by police against the urban poor.