Heavy rains triggered severe flooding in southern Germany overnight and authorities warned on Tuesday that worse is still to come. The city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen was the first to ring alarm bells after flooding near the nearby town of Eschenlohe prompted police to evacuate people from their homes in boats.
<i>Spin</i> magazine has built a veritable rock-star Frankenstein, composed of Michael Stipe’s skull, Elvis Presley’s pelvis and Madonna’s bellybutton. Madonna’s navel tops the list of the 25 "most incredible" rock-star body parts in <i>Spin</i>’s September issue, now on newsstands.
The African Christian Democratic Party says that larger parties — in particular the ruling African National Congress — will benefit from the upcoming floor-crossing period for MPs and the nine provincial legislatures. The ACDP opposes floor-crossing because it undermines the will of the voter as expressed in an election.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed a cash donation from Germany for its aid operation in Mali on Tuesday. The German ministry for economic cooperation donated €500 000 (R3,9-million) for urgently needed food aid for the people in the West African country, according to a WFP statement.
Other players still need to be brought into peace talks among the divided St John Apostolic Faith Mission Church, according to the South African Council of Churches (SACC). The church and two splinter groups met SACC peace brokers, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on Tuesday.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said on Tuesday that almost all issues dogging the draft Constitution are resolved, but Sunni Arabs warned it is divisive and will be rejected when put to the nation. ”We have made an important stride,” the Shi’ite prime minister said.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on Tuesday reported an 18% increase in revenue for the year ended March 31 2005, to R3,314-billion from R2,711-billion a year ago. Profit after tax rose to R240,3-million from R1,7-million, according to the SABC’s chief financial officer, Robin Nicholson.
An independent police complaints panel said on Tuesday it will finish a report into the fatal London shooting of a Brazilian man wrongly suspected of being a suicide bomber by the end of the year — but the findings will not be published until all other proceedings linked to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes are completed.
Fifty-six percent of crime in the Johannesburg Metro Police Department takes place in the licensing department, city traffic chief Chris Ngcobo told Parliament on Tuesday. ”This is where staff collaborate with criminals, especially with the licensing and delicensing of vehicles,” he said.
Former Springbok rugby player Howard Watt, who died earlier this week at the Amberfield frail-care home in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, was the last surviving member of the 1937 tour to Australia and New Zealand, and the last surviving pre-World War II Springbok.