A 65,000 square meter mall worth $86 million opened in Soweto, and officials say the mall marks an economic turnaround in South Africa. The opening of Maponya Mall, which features 200 stores and eight movie theaters, is expected to boost the city's prominence and help it rise from a suburb of Johannesburg to its own city. The shopping promenade is expected to generate jobs and speed up the ongoing economic boom in Soweto. Johannesburg Mayor Amos Masondo noted Soweto is not just undergoing a facelift, "it is undergoing a racial reconstruction and the mood is one of excitement. "

Should Hilary Clinton be elected president of the United States, Bill Clinton's Scottish friends would refer to him as the "first laddie," the former president suggested during a recent TV appearance. "My Scottish friends say I should be called 'first laddie' because it's the closest thing to 'first lady'," Clinton jokingly suggested the unique reference during an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," on Tuesday.

A lovelorn Australian farmer who headed to West Africa last month seeking a love match is glad to be home, albeit without his bride by his side. Des Gregor, 56, went to Mali to pick up the bride he had met over the Internet and pocket the promised dowry of $85,000 in gold bars to marry her.

It came as a shock for a woman in Forrest city, Arkansas when she accidentally found a three-foot python in her cupboard when she was looking for plastic bags. Lula Sain's initial reaction was to call her neighbor for help, but there was little he could do; too scared to remove the reptile, which had wrapped itself up into a ball.

A Milan teacher was fired from her job after she allegedly used scissors to cut the tongue of a talkative 7-year-old pupil to silence him. As she held a pair of scissors in her hand, the 22-year-old teacher apparently told a boy to "Stick out your tongue so I can cut it. That way you'll stop talking!" She then slashed his tongue so badly that he needed five stitches to close the wound, the Il Corriere della Sera newspaper reported. The child's family, who hail from North Africa have filed suit against the teacher, who has been suspended after last week's incident.