Two German engineers who were held hostage in Iraq for more than three months said they were glad to be alive after they returned home on Wednesday. Rene Braeunlich (32) and Thomas Nitzschke (28) landed at Berlin’s Tegel airport after spending the night at the German embassy in Baghdad following their release on Tuesday.
Austrian President Thomas Klestil was hospitalised in a critical condition on Monday after suffering a heart attack three days before the end of his term, his office said. The president was revived by a bodyguard who used a defibrillator to jolt his heart back into action after he collapsed as he prepared to leave for his office.
TROUBLED talks in South Africa on the future of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were ”going much better” on Sunday after Rwandan-backed rebels agreed that President Joseph Kabila could remain as head of state, said DRC Human Rights Minister Ntumba Luaba.
South African farmers this winter harvested the country’s first crop of genetically modified (GM) maize aimed at human consumption.
Half the countries facing famine in southern Africa are stalling food aid from the US, fearing that genetically modified maize may cause health problems and harm their exports.