Twenty-five primary-school children died on Wednesday from apparent food poisoning in the central Philippine province of Bohol, officials said. The students from the San Jose Elementary School in the town of Mabini had eaten snacks made from cassava roots in their mid-morning break before falling ill, officials said.
Media, entertainment and leisure holding group Johnnic Holdings has named acting chief and financial director Christine Ramon its CEO with immediate effect, the group announced on Wednesday. Meanwhile, at the general meeting of shareholders held on Wednesday, Johnnic shareholders approved the unbundling of Johncom.
Bill Clinton is to have another operation to remove scar tissue and fluid from his left chest, following on from his quadruple bypass surgery in September, his office said on Tuesday. The statement said that the procedure was a ”recognised, occasional consequence of open heart surgery”, and carried a low risk.
Once it was the mighty Jordan river, a crossroads of civilisations and continents, and a favourite of pilgrims seeking baptism in its waters. Now just about the only thing that flows for large parts of the year, keeping the river alive, is sewage. Decades of competition for water have turned the lower Jordan river, running between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, into little more than a drainage ditch.
Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, on Tuesday clung to its forecast of a recovery in profits this year, despite warning that rising raw material prices and the strength of the euro would damage earnings. The group, which saw pre-tax income slump 19% last year to â,¬1,1-billion, issued an unmistakable profits warning for the current quarter.
First National Bank, a division of FirstRand, has launched its new cellphone banking offering, making every handset in South Africa a banking channel. The new service uses SMS technology for customers to conclude banking transactions, increasing mass-market reach and adding functionality.
The JSE Securities Exchange was firmer in noon trade on Wednesday, despite a stronger rand. Dealers said that the market was primarily order driven, with few clear trends. By 12.07pm, the all share index added 0,24%. Resources rose 0,69%, with the gold and platinum mining indices jumping 1,34% and 1,39% respectively.
Josh Cunliffe of Dainfern Country Club in Johannesburg won the men’s Sanlam South African Amateur Stroke-Play Golf Championship at Wingate Park Country Club on Tuesday. The 21-year-old closed with a 70 in the afternoon’s fourth round for a 10-under-par 278.
All Blacks pair Doug Howlett and Tony Woodcock will make their first Super 12 rugby appearances of the season for the Blues against the Chiefs at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, on Saturday. There are two other changes from the team who sneaked an 18-15 win over the Queensland Reds on Friday.
Justin Nurse, the founder of T-shirt company Laugh It Off, made a bold statement on Tuesday when he took off his jacket in the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg. What looked like colourful Hawaiian flowers on his shirt appeared to be drawings of Saddam Hussein.