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Eight British tourists are suing a South African safari park after they became trapped by a pride of wild lions when their tour vehicle overturned. The group are claiming hundreds of thousands of pounds for injuries and post-traumatic stress allegedly suffered when they were exposed to the “threatening conduct of the lions” at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve northeast of Cape Town. One of the animals also stole a boot from the tourists, they say. Papers lodged at Cape Town High Court claim that the injuries were due to the irresponsible actions of Natasha Van der Merwe, a park employee. According to...

The UN General Assembly has declared July 18 "Nelson Mandela International Day" to mark the South African anti-apartheid leader's contribution to peace. A resolution adopted by consensus by the 192-member world body on Tuesday calls for commemorations every year starting in 2010 on July 18 - Mandela's birthday - to recognise the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's contribution to resolving conflicts and promoting race relations, human rights and reconciliation. By adopting the resolution, General Assembly President Ali Treki said the international community was expressing its appreciation for "a great man" who suffered for the sake of people everywhere. Mandela, 91, led...

A new Guinness World record has been set in South Africa for the most women to parade around in a bikini, organisers say. Kellogg’s Special KR’s Sarah Mansfield said 287 bikini clad women descended upon Melrose Arch in Johannesburg on Saturday to help break the record for the “World’s Largest Bikini Parade”. “Decked out with smiles, sunglasses and even heels, these confident and fun-loving women of all ages, shapes and sizes paraded down 1,690 meters of Melrose Arch Boulevard to break the world record. “We were delighted to see tall, short, boyish, curvy, pear and apple-shaped women all have the...

S.Africa cancels deal for Airbus military planes (AFP) – 3 hours ago JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has cancelled a deal to buy eight Airbus A400M military transport planes due to hefty cost overruns and delivery delays, the government spokesman said Thursday. "The cost escalation would have placed an unaffordable burden on the taxpayer at a time when the national fiscus (Treasury) is under pressure due to the economic downturn," government spokesman Themba Maseko said in a statement. "Cabinet believes that the interests of the South African taxpayer will be best served by not proceeding with the contract," Maseko added. The...

A DURBAN father allegedly killed his teenage daughter after he discovered that she had pierced her tongue. The 17-year-old schoolgirl was allegedly beaten to death with an extension cord. The Ntuzuma township father allegedly punished his daughter on Saturday. The 38- year-old father was arrested yesterday morning, just hours after the killing. He had allegedly accused his daughter of having a boyfriend and misbehaving at school. The incident, which has shocked the community, has left the family devastated. KwaMashu police’s Constable Mumsy Mfeka said the father told the police he beat his daughter with an extension cord because she had...

(See all these news nuggets and more by clicking the excerpt link below): 1. BBC News: “Darwin Teaching ‘Divides Opinion’” Darwinism is a controversial topic, and many believe creation should be taught in the classroom. But why is that news? 2. ScienceDaily: “Junk DNA Mechanism that Prevents Two Species from Reproducing Discovered” Has the U.S. government finally supported creationist research? Alas, no, but the results of a National Institutes of Health study fit squarely within the young-earth creation framework. 3. PhysOrg: “Charles Darwin Really Did Have Advanced Ideas about the Origin of Life” Charles Darwin was convinced that life’s origin...

South African traditional leaders plan to perform ritual animal slaughters to bless stadiums for the 2010 World Cup tournament ahead of the start of the showcase event next June, they said on Friday. Zolani Mkiva, chairman of the Makhonya Royal Trust, a grouping responsible for co-ordinating cultural activities, said the tournament, the first to be held in Africa, needed to be blessed in true "African style." "We must have a cultural ceremony of some sort, where we are going to slaughter a beast (cow)," said Mkiva. South Africa is set to host the World Cup -- the world's most watched...

SA could benefit if Brazil chooses Gripen over French fighter By: Keith Campbell 16th October 2009 Should Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab win the current Brazilian FX-2 contest for a new fighter with its Gripen NG, a docu- ment leaked to media in Brazil indicates, part of the aircraft would be made in South Africa. The document, obtained by the defence news website, Defesa@Net, shows that Saab is propos- ing that part of the airframe for Brazilian Gripens be built in South Africa. The Swedish company is also proposing the use of some South African mission equipment and weapons systems. Saab...

Tired of fighting, and largely losing, against the US in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, a group of Somali terrorists devised a strategy to take on the superpower in South Africa...the US's closure of its offices in the country was because of intercepted cellphone communication detailing planned attacks on American interests here. It is unclear whether American interests necessarily include a possible visit by US President Barack Obama for the official opening of the World Cup. Intelligence officers, according to two sources, intercepted a call made in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, to a group based in Somalia, and the conversation confirmed a...

Ecuador close to sealing deal to buy SA’s Cheetah fighter jets JULIUS BAUMANN Published: 2009/10/06 06:14:17 AM THE Ecuadorian Air Force has taken a step closer to acquiring 12 Cheetah aircraft previously operated by the South African Air Force after naming Denel Aviation as a preferred bidder. Denel Aviation was last year mandated by Armscor, the state agency responsible for the disposal of retired and surplus South African National Defence Force material and equipment, to sell the South African Air Force Cheetah fleet, believed to number about 40 aircraft. The South African Air Force decommissioned its fleet of Cheetah C...

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa's intelligence minister says a former underground intelligence agent and close ally of President Jacob Zuma will head the country's Secret Services agency. ... Shaik served in the underground intelligence of the apartheid-era African National Congress which was headed by Zuma. ... His brother Schabir, a former business adviser of Zuma, was found guilty of bribery and fraud in 2005. Zuma was implicated in the corruption case and it nearly stymied his chances of being president. ...

Cape Town - A controversial former member of the American congress and a 2008 presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney, was abruptly removed from a South African Airways flight on Tuesday. McKinney, who stood against President Barack Obama at an early stage in the race for the US presidency, was barred from boarding an SAA flight to Johannesburg in Washington DC. She would have travelled to South Africa to act as international guest speaker on the Channel 4 network's first Palestinian Struggle and Human Spirit film festival, which will be held in Athlone from Friday to Sunday. Passport irregularities According to SAA,...

"Milton Mbhele turned up in a white limousine and gave each of his four brides rings and a kiss. South African law recognises traditional polygamous marriages. Even President Jacob Zuma has three wives."

South Africa's murder rate — one of the world's highest — has dropped slightly, but the country faces a distressing rise in rapes, robberies and hijackings, South African police said Tuesday. The number of murders decreased 3.4 percent to 18,148 between April 2008 and March 2009. That still leaves 50 murders a day in the country of some 50 million people. Sexual offenses increased 10.1 percent, with a total of 71,500 reported offenses. Robberies at homes and businesses increased more dramatically, up 27.3 and 41.5 percent respectively. South Africa has one of the worst crime rates in the world, putting...

The holiday review website Zoover has released a list of the world's most dangerous destinations with the harbor city of Durban at the top. The South African city of Durban is first on the list for being notorious for lack of personal safety. Durban is followed by Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, which is known for its criminal activity and corruption. "At first glance it appears to be a beautiful city but in reality it's polluted and we were robbed at gunpoint of our money, sunglasses and sports shoes in the Ipanema suburb," said traveler Jeroen van den Bos. The...

KHAYELITSHA, South Africa — Seniors here at Kwamfundo high school sang freedom songs and protested outside the staff room last year because their accounting teacher chronically failed to show up for class. With looming national examinations that would determine whether they were bound for a university or joblessness, they demanded a replacement. “We kept waiting, and there was no action,” said Masixole Mabetshe, who failed the exams and who now, out of work, passes the days watching TV. The principal of the school, Mongezeleli Bonani, said in an interview that there was little he could do beyond giving the teacher...

PRETORIA, South Africa (CNN) -- The president of Athletics South Africa has admitted that he lied about gender tests on runner Caster Semenya before her gold-medal win at the World Athletics Championships last month. Caster Semenya celebrates her gold at the world championships in Berlin. The national sports body has always denied that it agreed to the tests before the race in Berlin, Germany -- an event that kicked off international controversy over the 18-year-old Semenya's gender. But after South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper printed e-mails on Friday showing that ASA President Leonard Chuene was aware of the tests,...

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – South Africa will not sign any deal that would compromise the country's economic development chances at the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen, the environment minister said Tuesday. "All negotiators are there to pursue national interests ... and South Africa is no different in this regard. If a deal is going to compromise our national interest we are not going to support it 100 percent," Buyelwa Sonjica told journalist. In the lead up to the crucial climate summit in December which hopes to thrash out a new climate treaty, Sonjica said it was unrealistic for developing countries...

The South African government has threatened a “third world war” if the International Association of Athletics Federation bans champion runner Caster Semenya over a test that shows her to be a hermaphrodite, a person with both female and male sexual characteristics.

South African police will have a shoot to kill policy at next summer’s World Cup in a bid to cut gun crime. The war on weapons is called Operation Wanya Tsotsi, which translates as: “You will soil your pants, criminal.” Deputy minister of police Fikile Mbalula warned armed criminals that officers were entitled to open fire at them. He said: “If you are a criminal and you are gun-toting, our message to law enforcement officers is clear – shoot to kill.” “We say we are going toe to toe, tooth for tooth, nail for nail with the criminals. Street by...

Athlete Caster Semenya has pulled out of her return to competitive sport amid growing fears over the psychological impact of rumours about her sex. The 18-year-old withdrew from a cross-country race in South Africa tomorrow after it was widely reported that a leaked sex test reveals she is a hermaphrodite. Her coach, Michael Seme, said she will not run because she is "not feeling well". South Africa condemned the international media reports as an invasion of the teenager's privacy and threatened a "third world war" if the women's 800m champion is disqualified from athletics.

Caster Semenya, woman who rocked athletics world, 'is hermaphrodite' Rick Broadbent and Fred Bridgland in Johannesburg Sex tests carried out on Caster Semenya, the world 800 metres champion, show that she is a hermaphrodite, a source close to the case claimed last night. If the allegation is backed up by the official results, the South African may find herself stripped of her gold medal and banned from racing. The IAAF, the world governing body, refused to comment on the claim last night, but earlier in the day its general secretary, Pierre Weiss, said: “It is clear that she is a...

White South African Claiming Racist ‘Persecution’ Is Granted Asylum in Canada By Robert Mackey South Africa plans to ask Canada to review a ruling last week by an immigration board in Ottawa granting asylum to a white South African carnival worker who claimed that he was forced to flee his homeland after being attacked seven times because of the color of his skin. As The Ottawa Sun reported on Friday: A Canadian immigration and refugee board panel ruled Thursday that Brandon Huntley, 31, could stay in Canada because he presented “clear and convincing proof of the state’s inability or unwillingness...

While much has been made of Sen. Ted Kennedy's involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process, there is another country in which he is known for playing a pivotal role in helping to bring about peace and justice – South Africa. In 1985 Kennedy visited the country on the invitation of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an outspoken anti-apartheid activist. There, the United States senator saw first hand the discriminatory practices of the white South African government. He stayed in a black township and held an illegal protest outside of Pollsmor Prison where Nelson Mandela was being held. Warned by the South...

Around the world Desmond Tutu is thought of as a powerful peace maker and one of the people who helped bring down South African apartheid. All that is true, but there is one fatal flaw in the Tutu's Character, he hates Jews, and I don't mean he is anti-Israel (which he is) but he hates Jews. Here are some examples: People are scared in this country [the US], to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful - very powerful. Well, so what? For goodness sake, this is God’s world! We live in a moral universe. The apartheid...

Two big questions hang over President Obama's radical "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones. Is he still a communist? Is he a security threat? Many have assumed that Van Jones' committment to communism ended when the organization he helped to lead STORM (Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement) dissolved in 2002. Yet a 2004 treatise Reclaiming Revolution: History, Summation, and Lessons from the Work of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement written and endorsed by a majority of former STORM members makes it clear that most ex STORMers are still committed to the revolutionary movement; From page 49. When...

Expert: Tests Extra-Complicated and Could Well Prove Inconclusive; South African Champ's Backers Call Probe Racist, SexistSouth Africans planned to rally in support of track champion Caster Semenya - celebrating her win in the 800 meters at the world championship, and denouncing questions about whether she should be allowed to compete as a woman as racist and sexist. The International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) has initiated gender tests on Semenya. The tests are expected to take weeks to complete. They are extremely complex, involving a physical medical evaluation and including reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, internal medicine specialist and gender...

The IAAF has given new meaning to the term "governing body." The organization, which oversees track and field internationally, has asked the South African athletics federation to conduct a gender verification exam on the nation's running sensation, Caster Semenya, who Wednesday won the 800-meter event at the World Championships in Berlin. Semenya finished in 1 minute, 55.45 seconds, the best time in the world this year. Behind her were Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya (1:57.90) and Jennifer Meadows of Great Britain (1:57.93). Results won't be available for several weeks, apparently because gender verification has become much more intricate than it was...

Cape Town - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is stockpiling arms and ammunition and preparing for war, the Democratic Alliance warned on Thursday.... ..."Mugabe is [also] talking to Venezuela, Cuba and Korea to fund a war-chest in preparation for the referendum and election, following the implementation of the global political agreement (GPA) brokered by former president Thabo Mbeki on behalf of SADC."... ...James said Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party appeared to be "mobilising for war against their own citizens"....

NOTE: This article was written in January, 2005. But it is actually more applicable and prophetic today than it was then. It is a little long but well worth your time. By Gemma Meyer (Gemma Meyer is the pseudonym of a South African journalist. She and her husband, a former conservative member of parliament, still reside in South Africa.) People used to say that South Africa was 20 years behind the rest of the Western world. Television, for example, came late to South Africa (but so did pornography and the gay rights movement). Today, however, South Africa may be the...

CAPE TOWN (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Saturday for a broad alliance with South Africa as she basked in a warm welcome from everyone from President Jacob Zuma down to street children as she visited Africa's wealthiest nation. A visibly upbeat Clinton shook her hips to the sounds of a street brass choir in the slums of Cape Town, where she was swarmed by women and children at a housing project she had visited more than a decade ago as first lady. Clinton is emphasising public diplomacy during her 11-day, seven-nation tour of Africa, hoping...

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – At a housing project for the homeless she once visited as first lady, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton basked in the cheers and serenade from an adoring crowd Saturday and pronounced U.S.-South African ties on the mend after years of strain. Clinton was in her element as she worked rope lines at the project on the outskirts of Cape Town that she had toured by herself in 1997 and then again in 1998, with her husband, President Bill Clinton, in tow to see the progress.

The president spoke with FIFA head Sepp Blatter in a meeting at the White House on Monday and stated his belief that hosting the event may help to promote the profile of soccer in the United States. Blatter said in a press conference that he has a duty to be impartial to all 11 contenders for the 2018 event -- but confirmed that Obama had appealed to him to "make another move toward United States soccer."

Angry over poor services and unemployment, South Africans responded with violence in different townships across the country on Wednesday (July 22). In Thokoza township and Meyerton, police tried to control the stone-throwing protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets. In the northeastern region of Mpumalanga, residents in Balfour threatened to burn down municipal offices if they would not release the 100 people arrested in protests on Tuesday (July 21). A crowd of protesters heckled a group of councilors at the local stadium. Trade unions demand more pay and benefits, and threaten to continue with strikes. The recession, caused by the...

Members of the SA Unemployed People's Movement went on a rampage on Wednesday afternoon looting shops in Durban, police said. A hundred people were arrested after hundreds of people stormed Shoprite Checkers and Pick n Pay, said Captain Khephu Ndlovu. "Earlier today we received information that the organisation was going to hold an illegal march. We then decided to deploy our members in town to monitor the situation," Ndlovu said. . . . . He said they would be charged with looting and theft.

Cash machines offer an ever-growing menu of services beyond merely dispensing money. For tampering criminals, this now includes a squirt of pepper spray in the face . The extreme measure is the latest in South Africa's escalating war against armed robbers who target banks and cash delivery vans. The number of cash machines blown up with explosives has risen from 54 in 2006 to 387 in 2007 and nearly 500 last year. The technology uses cameras to detect people tampering with the card slots. Another machine then ejects pepper spray to stun the culprit while police response teams race to...

ACCRA, Ghana, Sep 23, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Monday urged Africans to team up to fight poverty, saying boundary-less cooperation means boundless economic potential. "Through cooperation and collaborative efforts, termites have been able to pull down strong edifices," Clinton said. "Bees have been able to build houses for humans to tap heir honey from." Clinton, who is in Africa to promote efforts to fight AIDS and encourage economic development, was speaking to an assemblage of government ministers, traditional rulers and academics at the launch of Ghana President John Kufuor's Foundation for...

Posted on Tue, Aug. 05, 2003 Macon mayor defends trip to Africa Ellis says Ghana could process city's parking tickets By Mike Donila Telegraph Staff Writer Macon Mayor Jack Ellis on Monday defended his plans to visit Africa, saying that his mission, in part, is to encourage Ghanian officials to import more goods from Middle Georgia. Ellis also said that during his weeklong trip he will lay the groundwork to possibly enable Macon's Ghanian sister city of Elmina to process local parking tickets. "Ghana is very important to the city, the state - even the region where we live. They...

Bloemfontein - Police are intimidating South African gun owners and defrauding citizens of their lawful property, black firearm owners said on Thursday. Chairperson of the Black Gun Owners Association of South Africa (BGOASA), Abios Khoele, said the police had "legalised" theft and fraud. "The association is shocked to find that the police are still insisting that they can fine and imprison one million firearm owners and continue to intimidate and defraud citizens of their lawful property," Khoele said in a statement. He was reacting to the transitional period for the renewal of firearm licences in terms of the new Firearms...

South African rape survey shock South Africa's government has been urged to solve the rape epidemic One in four South African men questioned in a survey said they had raped someone, and nearly half admitted having attacked more than one victim. The study, by the country's Medical Research Council, also found three out of four who admitted rape had attacked for the first time during their teens. It said practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding. The MRC spoke to 1,738 men in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces. The research was...

BANGKOK, Thailand - A Russian dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly supplying weapons to Africa's bloody conflicts over power and diamonds was arrested Thursday in Thailand on suspicion of conspiring to smuggle guns to Colombia's leftist rebels. Viktor Bout, 41, whose dealings reportedly inspired a 2005 movie about the illicit arms trade, was arrested at U.S. request in his hotel room in Bangkok, said police Lt. Gen. Pongpat Chayapan. Bout had eluded arrest for years and was finally seized after a four-month sting organized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In New York, federal authorities unsealed a criminal complaint...

One in four men in South Africa may have raped someone - with most of those attacking more than one victim, data from a new survey suggests. The study, by the country's Medical Research Council, also found three out of four who admitted rape attacked for the first time while in their teens. It said practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.

Only 70 miles from a 2010 World Cup football stadium, a farmer's wife and a boy aged 13 learn to defend themselves with lethal weapons. They say thousands of white landowners have been killed by Zimbabwe-style marauders; their black rulers accuse them of belligerence and right-wing tendencies...

Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 14 04:31 PM Age: 11 hrs By: Urged by a senior al-Qaeda ideologue to take over Pakistan, members of jihadi internet forums have begun to examine the possibility of controlling Pakistan’s nuclear weapons (al-faloja1.com, April 24). At the same time, jihadis continue to collect information on nuclear facilities around the globe, especially Israel’s nuclear projects, waiting for an opportunity to perpetrate successful terrorist attacks against these facilities after massive terrorist attacks using conventional weapons failed to give rise to the global supremacy of Islamic law (al-faloja1.com, April 22). On March 14, al-Fajr Media Center...

James William Kilgore, the last captured member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, was released on parole Sunday morning from a Northern California prison. Kilgore, 61, was arrested in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2002 after almost three decades on the run. He was one of five SLA members who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 1975 death of Myrna Opsahl, a 42-year-old mother of four who was killed by a shotgun blast after she arrived at a suburban Sacramento bank. Kilgore apologized to Opsahl's family at his sentencing, saying he wished he could live that day over. He served...

Washington - US President Barack Obama telephoned Jacob Zuma on Friday to congratulate him on becoming South African president and urged Zuma to take a leadership role on the African continent, the White House said. Obama praised South Africans for their "commitment to democracy" after more than three-quarters of the voting population took part in last month's elections, White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs said. The ANC won 65.9% of the vote, and Zuma was elected president on Wednesday by the National Assembly. He will be inaugurated on Saturday. Obama "encouraged president-elect Zuma to show strong regional leadership" and to help...

South Africa's next president chose to celebrate his sweeping election victory in familiar fashion. Jacob Zuma, the leader of the African National Congress (ANC), delighted thousands of revellers gathered outside the party's headquarters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg by dancing and singing with an energy that belied his 67 years. Not for him the cerebral aloofness of Thabo Mbeki, whom he ousted as ANC leader, or the innate reserve of Nelson Mandela. Instead, Mr Zuma belted out his signature anthem, Bring Me My Machine Gun, for the umpteenth time. This song of his own composition, first performed during the anti-apartheid...

S Africa's dilemma: Two wives, one First Lady 24 Apr 2009 KWANXAMALALA: There’s little question who will lead South Africa after Wednesday’s national election. The real mystery lies in who will be the country’s first lady. As Jacob Zuma, the man preordained to be the country’s next president, voted in his rural Zulu homeland Wednesday, one of his two current wives stood to the side watching patiently as he was mobbed by cheering crowds and reporters. But Nompumelelo Ntuli, 34, Zuma’s newest and youngest wife, was soon attracting her own crowd of admirers. Women whispered, “Isn’t she beautiful!” as Ntuli...

First-time voters in 1994 who automatically chose ANC have doubts, writes Franny RabkinIN PREVIOUS elections, all my friends overwhelmingly supported the African National Congress (ANC). We were critical but committed. It wasn’t even a question who we would vote for. After all, we were the first generation of youth to be free in SA. We were in our first year of university in 1994 and we graduated into good jobs. Our days of early adulthood were joyous ones — celebrating freedom, carelessly rebelling against authority and sprouting revolutionary rhetoric, safe in the knowledge that there would be no security branch...

ASPIRANT African National Congress (ANC) MP and struggle stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said yesterday she would work tirelessly to serve the interests of the people. Speaking after casting her vote at Soweto’s Orlando West High School, she said the elections were special because people were starting to claim back the “lost vibrancy” within the ANC. “Today South Africans are claiming back the vibrancy of the organisation. So far, we have received countless wake-up calls from the people in areas such as Khutsong and Matatiele. We are ready to serve their interests.” Early yesterday more than 300 Alexandra residents boycotted the elections...