Although the economic powerhouse of Gauteng has only 1,4% of South Africa’s land area of 1,219-million square kilometres, it has 24% of the population aged between 25 and 59 years, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. It also announced that the life expectancy at birth in South Africa is forecast to be only 50,7 years next year.
Doctors will continue negotiating with the Department of Health in a bid to resolve differences over doctors requiring licences to dispense medicine. The South African Medical Association (Sama) is currently in communication with the department and has received a ”positive response”, Sama chairperson Kgosi Letlape said on Tuesday.
As complaints against the state-owned broadcast signal distributor Sentech gathered steam this week, the company has announced some measures that it hopes will improve the service on its MyWireless product range. The MyWireless — described as high-speed broadband wireless services — roll-out got under way in January, but since then the distributor has come under fire because of the service’s speed and tariffs.
A bomb threat that forced a United Airlines 747 jet to make an emergency return to Sydney International airport was a hoax, police said late on Tuesday. Police superintendent Peter O’Brien said passengers and crew aboard the flight had been cleared of writing the hoax note, which triggered a full-scale security alert.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=119367">Bomb note grounds Aussie flight</a>
Zambian and Angolan interior ministers on Tuesday were holding talks to try to clear obstacles in the way of allowing about 40 000 refugees from Angola to return home, an official said. Zambia is sheltering close to 200 000 Angolan refugees, the highest number of Angolans living outside their country.
A wild-eyed Russian fires a revolver above his head. And they’re off. Ivan storms into the lead with Dukat and Olga III in hot pursuit, knocking into the walls of the little plastic corridors they are enclosed in, each beast straining for that winning edge. Welcome to the wild world of cockroach racing.
A United Airlines flight from Australia to Los Angeles returned to Sydney International airport late on Tuesday afternoon after staff on board found a note carrying a bomb threat, Australia’s transport minister said. Roads leading to the airport also reportedly were closed off during the emergency.
France’s first gay marriage — performed last month in the southwest city of Bordeaux — was officially declared void by a court on Tuesday. The judge sided with the conservative government by ruling that the June 5 wedding between a shopkeeper and a male nurse was not allowed under French law.
As the muddy brown flood waters began to recede in the northeastern Indian state of Assam on Tuesday, government officials warned of the threat of water-borne diseases. Meanwhile, flood waters that have submerged two-thirds of Bangladesh leaving 30-million people cut off or homeless will not recede for at least a week, experts warned.
The Eastern Cape soccer referee who allegedly shot and killed a coach and injured two players during a dispute over a decision is still on the run, Grahamstown police said on Tuesday. The shooting allegedly occurred during a match between the Ekuphumuleni and Marcelle soccer teams at Kenton-on-Sea on Saturday.