More than 100 people were killed in Iraq in a wave of attacks on Wednesday, as insurgents demonstrated that the interim government’s honeymoon is well and truly over. In the deadliest single suicide bomb for a year, 70 people were killed and 30 wounded in Baquba, 64 kilometres north of Baghdad.
The fresh lick of paint on the toilet blocks can’t cover up what’s wrong with Ninga Mia. An Aboriginal shantytown in the shadow of one of the world’s biggest gold mines, living conditions here are probably as grim as they get in Australia. A third of houses lack bathrooms and toilets, and even those that have these basic facilities are overcrowded and often insanitary.
Job vacant: National Director of Public Prosecutions. Salary: Substantial. Perks: Cute Scorpions baseball cap and the best spin doctor in town — Sipho Ngwema. Pitfalls: The directorate is an occasional snake pit. Must prosecute arms dealer Schabir Shaik from October, and in the process hang a political noose around a deputy president.
Senegal is a role model in the fight against HIV/Aids. Along with Uganda and Thailand, the United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids says the West African country has succeeded in reducing the spread of the virus. But in spite of a concerted media campaign about the gravity of Aids and the likelihood of high-risk sexual partners transmitting the virus, the use of condoms in Senegal remains low.
The authorised use of drugs by military forces is rarely acknowledged by officials, but despite accidents like the one in Afghanistan, interest in using drugs to improve performance remains high. Yet, as money is directed into the hunt for newer and better pills to squeeze more out of exhausted troops, some military researchers believe it’s time to quit the drugs and try something radically different.
Llewellyn Herbert, silver medallist in the 400m hurdles at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, is well on his way to recovery after a bad reaction to a course of anti-malaria tablets for the recent African Athletics Championships in Brazzaville. A contingent of South African Olympians modelled the team’s uniforms at Nocsa House in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Close to 20 000 workers in the steel and engineering industry are expected to embark on a one-day protest march in Johannesburg on Thursday. This comes after the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the Steel Engineering Industry Federation of South Africa (Seifsa) failed to resolve a wage dispute over the last two months.
Siyabonga ”Kid Chocolate” Nyanga ”will melt from the heat” turned on by Vus’Umuzi Malinga in a rematch for Malinga’s South African bantamweight title at the Soweto Community Hall in Orlando on Friday night. This stern warning was issued on Thursday by the champion’s father, Jabulani, who doubles as his trainer.
Lemmer was impressed by the appointment of Kholeka Mzondeki as general manager for corporate services at Mintek. That is because Mzondeki brings impeccable credentials to her job. A United Kingdom-qualified chartered accountant, the press release also states that she has worked at ”Eskom, the water utilities corporation”. Presumably, she knows how to turn water into electricity.
There’s no entourage anymore, no angry tirades and no bizarre new tattoos. Mike Tyson is coming back once again, but this time he’s aging, broke, and seemingly determined to show his gentler side. On the verge of his fight with Danny Williams, Tyson can’t even bring himself to say anything bad about his opponent.