The use of lethal injections in the United States has led to at least nine bungled executions, including one in which the prisoner took 69 minutes to die and another in which the condemned man complained five times: ”It don’t work,” a report by Amnesty International said on Thursday.
Ethiopia on Thursday pledged 5 000 troops to a United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region. The 26 000-strong joint mission is to replace a hard-pressed AU force that lacks experience, equipment and cash and has been unable to stop the conflict.
A Soviet-era Antonov 26 cargo plane crashed in Kinshasa on Thursday, smashing through a dozen houses and killing 25 people on board as well as a number of people on the ground, officials and the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo said. Witnesses said it exploded in a fireball on impact.
About 1Â 250 miners remained trapped more than 2,2km underground in Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand mine near Carletonville on Thursday after an all-night rescue mission. The mine’s general manager, Stan Bierschenk, said the morale of workers still stuck below ground was ”fairly brittle”.
Formula One stewards are investigating Lewis Hamilton’s Japanese Grand Prix victory after complaints about the championship leader’s erratic driving behind the safety car last weekend. ”New evidence has emerged and the stewards are looking into it,” a spokesperson for the International Automobile Federation said.
South Africa’s business confidence inched up slightly in September on firmer equities and precious metals but a lull in exports and subdued manafacturing output were a concern, the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) said on Thursday. The Sacob Business Confidence Index was at 98,7 after dipping to 98,1 in August.
All Johannesburg municipal workers who participated in a strike earlier this week are to return to work by Friday, city officials said. The Johannesburg Labour Court on Thursday ruled in favour of the city and prevented a secondary strike by the South African Municipal Workers’ Union.
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Time has done little to erode the shock and nothing to erase the pain felt in New Zealand after France came back from the brink to win the 1999 World Cup semifinal. A match New Zealand had seemingly won was lost in the most astonishing reverse in the 20-year history of the World Cup.
The South African Human Rights Commission has spoken out against children’s rights violations at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, where newborn babies were put in a cardboard box. ”The commission reiterates that section 10 of the Bill of Rights provides that everyone has inherent dignity,” spokesperson Vincent Moaga said in a statement on Thursday.
Even with a new man at the helm in acclaimed former Platinum Stars coach Owen de Gama, the Orlando Pirates ship continued to flounder at Ellis Park on Wednesday night as the Buccaneers slumped to a 5-4 penalty shoot-out defeat against Benoni Premier United after a dramatic Telkom Knockout game finished 1-1 after extra-time.