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/ 2 September 2007
When it comes to wolfing chicken wings, Sonya Thomas is a wiz. The 48kg competitive eater who goes by "The Black Widow" bested a dozen beefy rivals on Saturday night, scarfing 173 wings in 12 minutes to win the wing-eating contest at the National Buffalo Wing Festival.
The retail price of all grades of petrol will fall by 10 cents per litre from Wednesday September 1, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. This follows a 15 cents fall on August 1 and an eight cents decrease on July 4.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>The state has decided to reinstate criminal charges against African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma who will likely be back in the dock before the end of 2007, events in Bloemfontein this week suggest.
The stage is set for South Africa’s biggest demonstration of political thuggery and the voters are hamstrung, watching from the sidelines as public representatives denigrate their wishes made through the ballot. For the next 15 days, bent politicians will be prostituting themselves to the highest bidder and there is nothing the disapproving voter can do.
Claims of huge bribes, fevered meetings between leaders of political parties, angry letters to newspapers: yes, it’s floor-crossing season once more.
South Africa faces the challenge of how to use its 5% economic growth in ways that everyone, especially the poor, will benefit, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Thursday. He was speaking at the launch of the Development Bank of Southern Africa’s annual report.
Inmates at a major Japanese prison found marijuana growing naturally on the grounds, but instead of getting high, they went to the wardens. The prisoners found about 300 hemp shoots growing on the exercise ground of Abashiri Prison, located on Japan’s northern-most island of Hokkaido, Jiji Press and the <i>Yomiuri Shimbun</i> said.
South Africa’s producer price index (PPI) rose by 10,3% year-on-year (y/y) in July from a 10,4% year-on-year increase in June, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) data on Thursday showed. The PPI rose 1,6% on a monthly basis after June’s monthly increase of 2,1%.
<b>Laying down the law</b>:The HIV-prevalence rate in Madagascar may be lower than that in Southern Africa countries, but the levels of stigma and discrimination are just as high. Activists and government officials are hoping that a recently introduced law will alleviate the problem.
Share traditionally brewed beer with a stranger while getting to know special African brewing processes. Experience 3D thrills inside an "ancient" Egyptian temple. Travel back in time to visit a Soweto shebeen during the harsh political days of the 1960s. These are some of the attractions at the refurbished World of Beer in Johannesburg.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=rugbyworldcup07_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/317644/icon_rwc_03.gif" align=left border=0></a>The All Blacks pleaded with New Zealanders to "keep the faith" at an emotional farewell on Wednesday as they left for France, intent on snapping a 20-year Rugby World Cup drought. To the strains of a stirring haka, the World Cup favourites made clear their determination to erase the chokers’ tag that has dogged them ever since they won the inaugural cup in 1987.
Recovering Japanese giant Sony said on Wednesday it will introduce a new line-up of flat-screen televisions, including the largest on the market, in a bid to boost its mainstay electronics sales. Introducing 15 new models of its Bravia line, Sony said its top-end flagship model with a 70-inch (1,78m) screen will be the largest flat television commercially available.
South African transportation and mobility group Imperial Holdings on Wednesday reported a 17% rise in headline earnings per share to 1 434 cents for the year ended June from 1 222 cents a year ago. Diluted headline earnings per share were up 16% to 1 330 cents from a previous 1 148 cents.
South African supermarket group Shoprite Holdings on Wednesday reported a 33,3% increase in diluted headline earnings per share from continuing operations to 194,3 cents for the year ended June from 145,8 cents a year ago. The group’s total dividend is envisaged to increase by 38,4% to 101 cents per share.
Working in torrential rain and then going home to spend hours in the laboratory are all in a day’s work for Dr Nadine Strydom, marine biologist specialising in larval fishes at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) in Grahamstown. And she loves it!
"I was never your typical African girl," says Izendu Emenike A Aghachi with an engaging grin. She liked to challenge the boys and always came top of her class, even in traditionally male-dominated subjects such as science and maths. Born in eastern Nigeria during the civil war, Aghachi knows what it means to fight for survival.
At the relatively tender age of 32, Dr Marieka Gryzenhout has completed a PhD, won a string of prestigious science awards, bursaries and grants and is in the process of publishing a book on her research. She is also mother to one-year-old daughter Sietske. Gryzenhout’s formidable international reputation in mycology began growing while she was a student.
Leaving aside the fortunes of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, another battle is brewing. This is the battle of the BEE baseline studies. Now that the legislation and its codes have been finalised, the emphasis is shifting to monitoring and implementation.
Type 1 diabetes is threatening the lives of about 17-million people worldwide, and this number is increasing. The financial burden associated with the treatment of this serious, debilitating disease is enormous. Early diagnosis and intervention are vital in the fight against the life-threatening complications of the disease.
Carren Ginsburg’s research ventures into areas where few women scientists have gone before. Not only is she combining two divergent disciplines of research, but her PhD study also has a strong emphasis on innovative statistical modelling techniques that have not yet been applied to longitudinal data analysis in the South African context.
The earliest examples of women scientists come from Africa — in the persons of the Egyptian physician Merit Ptah, who practised medicine around 2700BC, and Zipporah, a physician who lived around 1500BC. Ancient Egyptian women were free to attend medical school with men or attend one exclusively for them at Sais.
Why would a medical doctor give up a successful career as a clinician to pursue a career in public health, an area fraught with problems? "There is no simple answer," smiles Dr Mary Kawonga, who Âinitially intended to further her studies in paediatrics but eventually opted for a career in public health.
It was another hectic day in the life of Sue Harrison, professor in chemical engineering and director of the bioprocess engineering research unit at the University of Cape Town. Flying in from Cape Town where she delivered a paper at the annual mineral processing conference, she arrived in Jo’burg just in time to collect this year’s top award in the Distinguished Women Scientist category.
South Africa’s real gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised (saa) basis rose by 4,5% in the second quarter of 2007 from 4,7% in the first quarter of 2007, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. This comes after GDP rose as high as 5,6% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Natural disasters are far more destructive than wars, and the damage will only worsen unless drastic change is taken to address global climate change, a former United Nations humanitarian chief said on Tuesday. "Already seven times more livelihoods are devastated by natural disasters than by war worldwide, and this is going to get worse," Jan Egeland said.
There are currently more than 50 property websites available to South African internet users and they can be an invaluable tool when looking for a new home. But, with that many property portals to choose from, how do you pick a suitable site? There are a few key aspects to keep in mind.
Cellphone technology is about to revolutionise the efficiency of the country’s property industry, making searching for property that much easier and faster. That is according to Simon Leps, CEO of South African-based global mobile solutions firm Fontera.
A retired Serbian physics professor has built a house with plastic bottles in the place of bricks, a local newspaper reported on Monday. Tomislav Radovanovic, who came up with the idea before becoming a pensioner, built the dwelling from about 14Â 000 bottles in the central town of Kragujevac, 130km south of the capital, Belgrade.
After almost a decade of the good life, tubby animals in a South Korean zoo are to go on a diet. Seoul Grand Park Zoo, which had been feeding its charges according to 1998 guidelines, has decided to go back closer to nature, the <i>JoongAng Daily</i> reported on Monday.
South African gold-mining group Harmony said on Monday it would not be selling any of its South African gold assets. The world’s fifth largest gold producer told those attending a presentation of its June quarter and annual results that "vultures" were circling its South African operations but that the businesses were not for sale.
In May this year I went to St Helena to participate in its walking festival. St Helena is that tiny island in the middle of the vast South Atlantic which, even today, can be reached only by the last of the mailboats from Cape Town. Yet, who should be the first islander I strolled into, but King Dinuzulu’s granddaughter? There she was, striding along, writes Stephen Gray.
With returns from virtually all polling stations announced by the National Electoral Commission (NEC), it is clear now that a run-off poll will take place between the two leading presidential contenders in Sierra Leone. In two weeks the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) candidate, Ernest Bai Koroma, will face the current Vice-President, Solomon Ekuma Berewa in a one-on-one contest that will bring the electoral process to its logical conclusion.