No image available
/ 21 November 2007
German authorities closed a secondary school in the west of the country on Tuesday after being warned of a plan to carry out a massacre, in the latest of a string of violent plots believed to have been hatched by students in internet chat rooms.
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
It has been more than 31 hours since a petrol tank was struck by lightning at Durban’s Engen Refinery and by 7am on Wednesday the tank was still burning. plant officials said. ”The fire seems to be very persistent,” said Engen spokesperson Herb Payne.
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
Zimbabweans endured hours in long queues at banks on Tuesday as a cash shortage forced limits on withdrawals, with the country in the midst of an economic crisis. ”Things have gotten worse since the weekend,” said an official at a bank in central Harare where a queue of customers snaked outside the building.
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
Ian Smith, who defied the world in 1965 when he led 270Â 000 white Rhodesians in a unilateral declaration of independence from Britain rather than accept moves to black-majority rule, has died in South Africa aged 88. State-owned radio ZBC, reporting his death, said ”Smith will be remembered for his racism and for the deaths of many Zimbabweans.”
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
More than three-quarters of Aids-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa — and South Africa is now officially the country with the highest prevalence of HIV in the world. The South African government currently estimates about 5,5-million of the country’s 48-million people are living with the disease.
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
In the run-up to the World Cup preliminary draw in Durban on Sunday, fresh questions are being raised over South Africa’s preparedness to host the world’s second-largest sporting event in 932 days. Once again the spotlight is on the 10 World Cup stadiums after strikes by thousands of workers.
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
The number of cellphone banking users in South Africa more than doubled in the past year, according to research released by World Wide Worx on Tuesday. "This year was a tipping point for all aspects of mobile," World Wide Worx managing director Arthur Goldstuck told reporters in Johannesburg.
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
Coordinated acts of sabotage struck France’s high-speed trains on Wednesday, causing further delays to services already widely disrupted by strikes, as talks were to coax unions into ending their walkout. The national SNCF rail authority stopped short of blaming strikers for the overnight vandalism.
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
It may have brought the world aspirin, rocket science, quantum physics and the diesel engine, but Germany’s days of scientific glory are long gone and it is now hunting for a new generation of Einsteins. Decades of underfunding and a distaste for the elitism nurtured by Nazis has means the world’s third-largest economy is trailing its global competitors, causing concern among business leaders and provoking warnings from economists.
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
Israeli Yfat Alon and Palestinian Radi Abu Eisha both view themselves as victims of hatred. And both scoff at talk of peace. Alon’s mother and niece were killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber. Abu Eisha watched his sick brother die when an ambulance was blocked by Israeli soldiers running just the sort of security controls Alon says are vital to prevent more attackers reaching Israel.