Thailand’s prime minister is trying to ferret out a government minister who allegedly had a penis enlargement operation, saying news of it is affecting the Cabinet’s reputation, a news report said on Wednesday. ”Who did it? Tell me,” Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra asked his ministers at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.
Jean de Villiers has moved onto the wing for South Africa and De Wet Barry comes into inside centre for the crucial Tri-Nations rugby clash against the All Blacks in Dunedin on Saturday. Springbok coach Jake White was forced to make the changes following a three-week ban slapped on winger Breyton Paulse for kicking a player during his team’s victory over the Wallabies in Perth last weekend.
South Africa’s consumer price index excluding mortgage rate changes (CPIX) for metro and other areas, which is used by the South African Reserve Bank for its inflation target, rose by 4,2% year-on-year in July after increasing by 3,5% in June, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday.
As a generation of young Swazi women ended a five-year vow of chastity in a traditional ceremony this week, health officials are debating the impact.
Listed short-term insurer Santam has reported a 16% increase in its fully diluted headline earnings per share for the six months to the end of June 2005, to 586 cents from 507 cents the previous year. The group declared an interim dividend of 108 cents per share, up from 95 cents in 2004.
October 13 is being declared Peel Day to celebrate the life and legacy of trail-blazing British Broadcasting Corporation disc jockey John Peel, who died suddenly last year at the age of 65, the public broadcaster announced. Gigs will take place across Britain in as many venues as possible, and organisers hope Peel Day will become an annual event.
Global resources group BHP Billiton on Wednesday announced that its attributable profit, excluding exceptional items, increased by 85,5% to $6,512-billion in the year to June 2005, from $3,510-billion previously. The group reported basic earnings per share for the 2005 year of 106,4 United States cents, up 88,7% from 56,4 US cents in 2004.
It is as normal a place as any to grow up. And for Andreas Grassl the small Bavarian village of Prosdorf, with its duck pond, pear trees and rolling fields full of cows, was the place he called home. On Tuesday Grassl — now better known as Piano Man — was back home with his parents after a remarkable odyssey which took him from Germany to a beach in Kent, and then hospital.
The African National Congress has rejected a Johannesburg daily newspaper report on Tuesday that President Thabo Mbeki and ex-deputy president Jacob Zuma had met ”face to face” at an ANC national working committee meeting on Monday. The newspaper said that at the meeting, Mbeki had ”come down hard on key backers” of the embattled Zuma, who will face corruption charges in Durban on October 11.
Former Western Cape leader of the Independent Democrats Lennit Max has blocked the swearing-in of his successor in the provincial legislature. His legal team was granted an interim interdict by a Cape High Court judge late on Monday to prevent the party’s new provincial leader, Neville Hendricks, from taking his place as a member of the provincial legislature on Tuesday morning.