China has cracked a terrorist group plotting to kidnap foreigners during the Beijing Olympics, police said on Thursday. The announcement follows the revelation of two other terror plots last month, but there has been scepticism over whether Beijing is inflating a terror threat to justify tighter control on dissent ahead of the Olympics.
Murder accused Najwa Petersen on Thursday returned to her Cape Town home for the first time since her arrest early last year. But her every move was watched by a ring of heavily armed police. She was taken to the Athlone house under police guard for an on-the-spot inspection by Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai and his two assessors.
South African economic confidence recovered from a near four-year-low in March, pointing to signs conditions may improve in the medium term, although the growth and inflation outlook remained bleak. A survey of 22 economists released on Thursday showed the Reuters Econometer ticked up to 231,39 from 227,02 in February.
The JSE remained quiet by midday on Thursday as investors waited anxiously for the local monetary policy committee’s (MPC) rate decision at about 3pm. The consensus is for an unchanged repo rate at 11%, according to a survey of leading economists.
Microsoft plans on Thursday to unveil a web-based service for driving directions that uses sophisticated software to help its users avoid traffic jams, the New York Times reported. The software technology system, called Clearflow, will provide drivers with alternative information for routes that takes into account prevailing traffic patterns.
India and South Africa enter the third and final Test on Friday with the series on the line, and having to deal with the threat of a reported terrorist plot against the match, which is being played in Kanpur. Security was bolstered after police sources said that they had intelligence of a planned attack in the northern Indian city by Islamic terrorists.
A leader of Zimbabwe’s feared war veterans, hard-line supporters of President Robert Mugabe, on Thursday denied the invasion of white-owned farms in the wake of a poll dispute. ”There are no farm invasions in Zimbabwe,” national chairperson of the War Veterans’ Association Jabulani Sibanda told South African Broadcasting Corporation radio.
Grim-faced Chinese guards protecting the Olympic torch have attracted further criticism ahead of the global relay’s arrival in India, where bitter memories of war with its neighbour remain fresh. Phalanxes of Chinese security personnel are accompanying the flame’s around-the-world journey to shield it from pro-Tibetan demonstrators.
Israel warned on Thursday it will retaliate against Hamas, blaming the Palestinian Islamist group for a deadly explosion of violence in the Gaza Strip that followed a month of relative calm. Israeli authorities said they temporarily shut down the Nahal Oz fuel terminal following Wednesday’s attack.
Pressure mounted on Thursday on Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and prime minister-designate Raila Odinga to resume coalition talks amid warnings that a delay was fomenting violence. The pair met last on Sunday and failed to agree on a unity government, a key step in implementing a power-sharing deal.