The spot price of gold on Tuesday climbed to a three-week high of $521,03 a troy ounce on buying interest in very thin holiday trade, traders said. "The market for gold is very thin and gold is higher on a bit of buying. Gold could test $518/oz or maybe $525/oz today," a European gold trader said.
Rescuers on Tuesday searched through debris and mud for victims of flash floods that inundated villages in Indonesia’s East Java as the death toll rose to 57, officials said. Environmentalists have blamed the disaster on rampant illegal logging on the island of Java, one of the world’s most densely populated.
Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince scored centuries and Shaun Pollock added a rearguard 46 before South Africa declared at 451 for nine on Tuesday in the third Test against Australia. Kallis and Prince shared a 219-run fourth-wicket partnership to lift the tourists from 86-3 to 305-4, before Pollock led the tail-enders in a series of defiant stands.
Rescue workers struggled on Tuesday to reach 13 miners trapped 78m below ground in a mine explosion that may have been sparked by lightning — an effort delayed for almost 12 hours because of accumulations of dangerous gases. The condition of the miners was not immediately known.
A new security flaw exposing hundreds of millions of Windows PCs to easy infiltration by hackers worsened over the New Year weekend, with Microsoft failing to issue an official patch on Monday. The flaw stems from the way the Windows operating system treats image files.
Unidentified gunmen attacked the two main military barracks in Côte d’Ivoire’s largest city, Abidjan, on Monday, setting off a battle with security forces that officials said killed 10 people and heightened tensions in the war-divided nation. Gunfire and heavy explosions shook the barracks at Akuedo for about an hour.
An accused man is arrested. At the court’s holding cells he is savagely raped. His assailants shove a ”bullet” filled with contraband dagga up his rectum, to be couriered into prison. His ordeal has only begun. This is the testimony of ”Frank Erasmus”, contained in a letter read out to members of Parliament in October 2004.
The man sitting opposite me looks avuncular. With wispy greying hair and beard, Andre du Toit could easily play Father Christmas, but instead he is serving a 20-year sentence in a maximum-security prison for a double murder. ”I was terrified. I’ve never ever been to a prison in my whole life, and in a matter of three, four seconds, my whole life changed,” he says.
South Africa, an economic and political leader in Africa, is also the continent’s number-one jailer. If prisons are a reflection of society, what conclusions are to be drawn from this reality, particularly in a nation rightfully proud of its nascent democracy? Wendell Roelf investigates.
How much does your lifestyle contribute to the planet’s depletion? Are you aware of the impacts of your activities — and what can you do to reduce your footprint on the Earth? Try our quiz and find out. The Mail & Guardian offers 10 tips on how to move from callous consumer to eco warrior.