A new lane will be added to the N1 freeway between the Allendale and Buccleuch interchanges to alleviate congestion, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) said recently. ”As of October 2 there will be a full additional lane between the two interchanges open to all road users in congested periods,” said Sanral project manager Alex van Niekerk.
The BMW Z4 coupé is available from this month at European dealers just a year after the first design study was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Prices start at â,¬38Â 900 (about R335Â 000) and are between â,¬1Â 500 and â,¬2Â 000 cheaper than the convertible, depending on the engine size.
The correct use of a car’s air-conditioning system, including switching the unit off completely when it is not needed, can save fuel, experts at the TUV Nord testing centre in Hanover point out. When the car interior heats up after the vehicle has been standing in the sun for a long period, it is far more effective to open all the doors and the tailgate first before switching on the air conditioning.
The United States braced on Monday for a ”Day without Immigrants”, a nationwide strike and business boycott organised by illegal immigrants and their supporters, as labour unions and workers held events across Europe, Asia and the Russian Federation on Monday to protest against unemployment, poor working conditions and low wages.
Zimbabwean union and civic leaders vowed on Monday to take to the streets to protest worsening hardship under President Robert Mugabe’s rule, and asked police to refrain from beating them. Plans for the protest strikes and dates will be discussed at the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions’ congress later this month.
Zimbabwe’s central bank has stopped compelling exporters to sell 30% of their foreign currency earnings at an outdated official rate, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Monday. The central bank said the move is a bid to ”consolidate and support growth” in the export sector.
About 1 000 people were evacuated on Monday morning in southern Romania, after high water levels on the Danube opened two cracks in a dyke in Macesu de Jos, flooding about 400 houses in the same village, local authorities said. Local authorities maintained a state of alert in the nearby villages of Bistret and Plosca.
President Thabo Mbeki was silent on the topic of HIV/Aids on Monday though it was highlighted by his co-speakers at a Workers’ Day rally as a key challenge facing workers today. Meanwhile, trade unions should be held responsible for ”unlawful and criminal actions” of their members, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Monday.
At the Costain livestock market in Nigeria’s biggest city of Lagos, chicken buyers are again waiting while boys in their early teens slaughter, clean and cut up birds for them to take home. The sight had all but disappeared in the first shock that followed the discovery of Africa’s first cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
Oil prices were higher in Asian trade on Monday amid concerns Iran would be hit with sanctions or even military action because of its controversial nuclear programme, dealers said. At 2.25pm local time, New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for June delivery was at ,40 a barrel.