Computer maker Hewlett-Packard sees Africa as one of its fastest-growing markets, it said on Tuesday, expecting the world’s poorest continent to rival India for IT outsourcing within a decade. Hewlett-Packard Africa MD Rainer Koch said its sales on the continent are rising by 25% year-on-year.
Sharon Sarmiento knew it was time to unplug when she realised she was blogging in her dreams and hearing imaginary instant messages. She is part of a new grassroots movement in which tech geeks, internet addicts, Blackberry thumbers and compulsive IMers are wresting back control of their lives by daring to switch off — if only for a day.
A ”silent tsunami” unleashed by costlier food threatens 100-million people, the United Nations said on Tuesday, but views differed as to how to stop it. The Asian Development Bank said there was enough food to go round, and the key was to help the poor afford it. It said Asian governments that have curbed food exports were overreacting.
Climate change in Africa could leave 250-million more people short of water by 2020, spurring conflicts and threatening stability on the world’s poorest continent, the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner said on Tuesday. Rajendra K Pachauri said the responsibility lay with wealthy developed nations to curb their carbon emissions.
Laughing excitedly, dozens of children on Tuesday filled a new park in Bramfischerville, Soweto, which was opened by Johannesburg City Parks and the district municipality to mark World Earth Day 2008. Johannesburg City Parks has also planted more than 15 000 trees in Meadowlands and Bramfischerville.
Hamas plans to give Egyptian mediators its final response on Thursday to a proposed truce with Israel, a Hamas official said on Tuesday. Egypt’s state newspaper, al-Ahram, reported a preliminary agreement had been reached on ”achieving a period of calm with the Israelis”.
Somali troops stormed a Dubai-flagged ship on Tuesday that had been hijacked off the Horn of Africa nation, releasing its crew and arresting seven pirates, authorities said. ”Our troops stormed on to the Al-Khaleej and engaged the pirates. There was brief fighting before they defeated them,” Abdirizak Hared, the mayor of Bosasso port, said.
Oil rose to a record high above on Tuesday, boosted by a jump in oil demand last month from China, the world’s second biggest energy consumer, and worries about supply from key producers Russia and Nigeria. United States light crude for May delivery was up 26 cents at ,74 a barrel by 10.05am GMT, after an all-time peak of .05.
The alleged downing by a Russian MiG-29 of a Georgian reconnaissance drone could be a foretaste of battles to come as Georgia seeks Nato membership and protection from the West, analysts say. The dramatic confrontation in the skies over Abkhazia pitted one of the most modern Russian fighter planes against the unmanned aircraft.
African National Congress president Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday Africa must send a mission to Zimbabwe to end a delay in issuing election results, which he called unacceptable. Zuma has made several forthright comments on the election delay, distancing himself from South African President Thabo Mbeki, the regional mediator.