A post template

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Diary of the UN World Summit: Part four

"This morning, I forgot it was my birthday until one of the Oxfam staff wished me a happy birthday. I never expected to be celebrating my 42nd birthday at the United Nations World Summit in New York," Wednesday was the opening day of the UN World Summit and the media here were flat-out covering speech after speech by world leaders.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

IMF commends SA govt, but …

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board has commended the South African government and South African Reserve Bank for their macro-economic polices, which have resulted in strong economic growth, low inflation, good fiscal policy management and a marked improvement in foreign reserves.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Nintendo unveils simpler game controller

Nintendo thinks it has the answer for people scared off by all the complex switches and buttons on home video-game controllers — a simpler device that looks like a TV remote control and can be waved like a wand — or a baseball bat. The Japanese game maker showed the gadget planned for its next-generation home machine called Revolution at the Tokyo Game Show outside Tokyo on Friday.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Hartbeespoort gets sewage shock

Residents in the Hartbeespoort Dam area northwest of Johannesburg this week discovered a pipe dumping raw sewage into the dam, media reports said on Friday. It said the pipe was several hundred metres from the Madibeng local authority’s water-purification plant.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Everton on brink of elimination

Everton’s miserable start to the season suffered a new low on Thursday when they slipped to a humiliating 5-1 defeat at the hands of Dynamo Bucharest in their UEFA Cup first round, first leg tie. The defeat came in the wake of their elimination in the Champions League qualifying round by Villarreal and followed a depressing start to the Premiership where they are third from bottom.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Fuel cells to power longer-playing music players

Toshiba said on Friday it has developed two small fuel cell prototypes that can dramatically increase the playing time for mobile music players. A fuel cell unit the size of a pack of chewing gum can power a flash-memory-based player for about 35 hours on a single charge, using highly concentrated methanol as its fuel, the Japanese technology giant said.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Japanese teams may join Australian provincial series

A new Australasian Provincial Competition rugby series will kick off next year with the possible future addition of teams from Japan, the Australian Rugby Union said on Friday. The competition will comprise Australia’s four Super 14 teams — Queensland Reds, NSW Waratahs, ACT Brumbies and Western Force — playing in a home and away series with a final in a five-week June-July window from 2006.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Smuts fishes in troubled waters

Smuts Ngonyama, who heads the Presidency in the African National Congress, intervened with government regulators to smooth the way for Bato Star, a fishing company in which his family — and allegedly he — holds interests. The company was struggling for permission for its newly purchased trawler, the Sandile, to fish in South African waters, and Ngonyama arranged the meeting between Bato Star and government officials.