A private spaceship has won the -million Ansari X Prize after making a second successful flight into space in a week. SpaceShipOne reached 368 000 feet, according to X Prize officials, well beyond the space threshold of 328 000 feet. The prize was offered for the first successful manned private space flight.
One of the Boeremag treason trial accused had to be rushed to a district surgeon after apparently suffering a nervous breakdown in the Pretoria High Court on Monday. Kobus Pretorius – whose two brothers and father are also on trial on charges including treason, terrorism and murder – suddenly jumped up and ran to the holding cells shortly after his advocate raised concerns about his client’s mental state.
Around 20 Commonwealth election observers are in Cameroon to monitor next week’s presidential election, the head of the delegation told reporters in Yaounde on Monday. ”We are here at the invitation of the government of Cameroon to observe the presidential election of 11 October,” said former Canadian prime minister Joe Clark, head of the observer team.
A South African soldier has been arrested in Burundi in connection with the murder of a young woman, the Defence Ministry said in Pretoria on Monday. Sergeant Philippus Jacobus Venter, 32 – a VIP protector – was arrested on Friday and was being detained at the SANDF base in Bujumbura after local law-enforcement agencies laid a charge of murder.
After touching a fresh all time high during Monday morning’s session, the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa remained strong, but off its highs by midday. Dealers said most of the major indices were strong, with the exception of gold and resources, which were both in the red. Several companies’ share prices reached all time or long term highs.
Janet Leigh, the wholesome beauty whose shocking murder in the classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho was credited with making generations of film fans think twice about stepping into a motel room shower, has died at her Beverly Hills home, her daughter’s publicist confirmed on Monday. She was 77.
It must have seemed like a terrific stroke of luck: Dick Cheney, the man who for the past five years had been the chief executive of Halliburton, became the vice-president in 2000. The oil services and engineering company was given a direct line to the White House. But Halliburton’s relationship with the Bush administration is beginning to prove more problematic than it is worth.
Cobbled and quaint, Louisburg Square perches on fashionable and flush Beacon Hill, home to Boston’s elite. In one corner stands a mansion as stately, tall and imposing as its owner, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. If you are looking for clues to why Kerry’s campaign has struggled and why he should not be counted out yet, there are few better places to start than his own front door.
Wildlife conservationists and government delegates on Monday approved proposals by Namibia and South Africa to kill and export as hunting trophies a small number of endangered black rhinos, protected under an international treaty. South Africa’s downscaled proposal was widely endorsed, but drew criticism from some countries and the World Wildlife Fund.
South African new vehicle sales in September 2004 increased by 22,7% year-on-year (y/y), or 7 971 units, to 43 145 units after rising in August 2004 by 18,8% y/y and in July 2004 by 15% y/y, figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa on Monday showed.