The Hollywood tradition of product placement will soar to a new level when the Steven Spielberg-produced action film Transformers is unleashed on United States cinema-goers this week. The new movie version of Transformers has become one of the most-talked-about films in years.
The Malaysian state of Melaka is upset that scientists have named a new bat-borne virus after it, news reports said on Sunday. Australian and Malaysian scientists announced last week they had discovered a new virus likely carried by bats that can cause respiratory illness in humans.
Flooding in south-eastern Australia could leave hundreds of people stranded inside their homes for the next three days until the water recedes, officials said on Sunday. Victoria state’s Gippsland region, which earlier this month was suffering drought and the after-affects of summer bushfires, has been inundated by days of heavy rain.
Chinese archaeologists have discovered an ancient and mysterious subterranean building near the tomb of the nation’s legendary first emperor, state media reported on Sunday. The building is hidden inside a 51m-high, pyramid-shaped earth mound on top of the tomb of emperor Qinshihuang in north-west China’s Shaanxi province.
The number of Zimbabweans seeking asylum in South Africa has increased dramatically since Robert Mugabe’s police assaulted the country’s opposition leaders on March 11 this year, experts say. Thousands of Zimbabweans are jumping the border into South Africa every week.
The Republicans are disarray as they seek to find a man — and it will be a man — who can keep the White House in their party’s hands, despite the unpopularity of United States President George Bush. The party is in turmoil and each campaign has been dogged by scandals, infighting and arguments.
A decision on winter schools in KwaZulu-Natal is expected on Monday when various stakeholders will meet to discuss it, the provincial department of education said on Saturday. Similar plans are afoot in North West and the Western Cape to recover from the effects of the lengthy public-service strike.
African National Congress (ANC) president and head of state Thabo Mbeki says he will stand for a third term as head of the organisation if asked to do so by its leadership. The ANC policy conference that ended on Saturday produced a compromise resolution on this and several other high-profile issues.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has proposed to Parliament that there should be a separation of powers between the head of the government and the head of state in the country, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Saturday.
Seven prisoners regarded as ”dangerous” escaped from a holding cell at an Eastern Cape police station on Saturday. A police spokesperson said the seven, arrested for crimes including murder and armed robbery, overpowered a police officer, grabbed the keys to the holding cell and locked him inside at the central police station in Mthatha.