A strike by local workers in the world’s biggest United Nations peacekeeping force took hold on Friday, cutting off power and radio broadcasts from the mission headquarters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). About 100 striking daily hire employees gathered on the second day of a protest over pay and conditions.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has responded to President Thabo Mbeki’s call for those with evidence of a Cabinet member neglecting their duties to send him the proof. In an open letter published on the DA’s SA Today website on Friday, it has offered the president a list of reasons why he should sack controversial Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
Smog is menacing Japanese cities for the first time in 30 years and cropping up in rural areas for the first time ever, alarming the government and prompting experts to point the finger at neighbouring China. Warnings for high levels of hazardous smog have been issued in a record 28 prefectures so far this year.
Scotland coach Frank Hadden has told his World Cup aspirants to prepare for the most physically taxing match of their careers when they square up to the Springboks at Murrayfield on Saturday in the final tournament warm-up outing for both sides. The encounter is billed as a ”friendly”, however Hadden laughed off the notion that the teams would merely be going through the motions.
Two bogus policemen wearing police-issue bullet-proof vests and with toy guns in their holsters were arrested in Kempton Park on the East Rand on Friday, police said. Captain Jethro Mtshali said members of the Kempton Park crime-prevention unit were on patrol when they spotted two men running near the Kemstar Mall at about 2am.
Hundreds of snakes, forced out of their pits by flood waters, have entered villagers’ homes in eastern India, creating panic and adding to the torment caused by monsoon flooding, officials said on Friday. About 1Â 800 people have been killed — scores of them due to snake bites — since July when swollen rivers burst their banks.
An international human rights group has accused President Yoweri Museveni’s government of promoting ”state homophobia” in Uganda and urged the repeal of a colonial-era law against sodomy. Human Rights Watch’s attack added to a fierce social debate in the East African nation, where the gay community has been increasingly vocal in demanding rights.
Somali government security forces killed seven insurgents and lost of one their own in intense overnight clashes in the capital, Mogadishu, police said on Friday. ”The insurgents launched two separate attacks on our security forces and there were heavy exchanges of gunfire,” police spokesperson Abduwahid Mohamed said.
European power companies are making billions of euros in excess profits in the European Union’s battle to beat global warming by cutting emissions of carbon gases, and consumers are paying for it, economists say. The electricity generators are given, free of charge, permits to emit millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, but are then charging consumers.
Zimbabwe central bank chief Gideon Gono was recently refused entry into Britain after the government in London said his visit could lead to public protests, state media reported on Friday. Britain accuses Gono of "involvement in corrupt practices that have undermined democracy and the rule of law" in Zimbabwe, the <i>Herald</i> newspaper reported.