A group of Australian police dogs will have to be retrained after it was discovered that they were sniffing out talcum powder rather than cocaine during training exercises, police said on Friday. An investigation is being carried out into how baby powder was used rather than the illicit drug, Victoria state police said.
The Cabinet will finalise the roll-out plan of the taxi-recapitalisation process by the end of next month — but the transport minister has promised that the much-delayed scrapping of currently ageing vehicles ”will commence this financial year”. He was speaking in his Budget vote in an extended public committee on Friday.
Philandering communist-party officials in China’s eastern city of Nanjing will have to confess their extramarital affairs in a bid to stop corruption, according to a new regulation published on Friday. The regulation stems from concerns about declining morality among party ranks, and fears about the link between illicit affairs and corruption.
The Johannesburg High Court ruled on Friday that mining company Harmony’s multibillion-rand hostile takeover bid for Gold Fields lapsed on December 18 last year, effectively ending the bid seven months after it started. A Gold Fields spokesperson said the company feels vindicated by the court’s decision.
A South African peacekeeping soldier shot dead a comrade and wounded four others before killing himself in Burundi on Friday, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said. ”The reason for the shooting incident is unclear at this stage and the United Nations and the SANDF are investigating the incident,” a statement said.
Mining company Harmony will retrench 11 780 workers by the end of July, Harmony’s marketing director said on Friday. Responding to the retrenchments, Solidarity spokesperson Dirk Hermann said: ”The workers are now on the receiving end of an unsuccessful bid by Harmony to take over Gold Fields.”
The Crusaders set themselves up for a fifth Super 12 rugby title by crushing the hapless Hurricanes 47-7 in Christchurch on Friday. While the Crusaders started favourites for the semifinal at Jade Stadium, few would have predicted such a one-sided affair, with the hosts scoring six tries and very nearly keeping a clean sheet.
Marat Safin has been voted the sexiest man in tennis, but it’s success at the French Open he really craves as he desperately tries to pull his season out of a depressing tailspin. His second career grand-slam victory at the Australian Open in January has been the only highlight of what has become a wretched 2005.
Former Australian captain Greg Chappell was on Friday named India’s new cricket coach and entrusted with the task of masterminding the country’s campaign at the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. ”Greg spoke his mind, but he knew what he was talking about. He bowled me over,” a member of the selection panel said.
The shareholder’s agreement for the second national telephone operator (SNO) will be completed in the next few days, Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said in Parliament on Thursday. Addressing the National Assembly during her Budget vote, she outlined her department’s undertakings and aspirations.