South-eastern Europe was a tinderbox on Wednesday in the grip of an unrelenting heatwave that has claimed hundreds of lives as wildfires swept southern Italy and bit into a national park in Slovakia. Southern Italy is sweltering under a heatwave that has brought temperatures often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.
Cell C said on Wednesday it was investigating the cause of their network’s disruption on Monday and Tuesday that left 600 000 subscribers high and dry. According to Cell C’s executive head of corporate communications, Shenanda Janse van Rensburg, they had identified that there was a problem on Monday afternoon.
Rain continued to fall in the Western Cape on Wednesday following the occurrence of a cold front in the area this week. Spokesperson for the South African Weather Service Mnikeli Ndabambi said rainy conditions would continue until the end of the week. ”Cold and rainy conditions will persist until the end of the week,” said Ndabambi.
Ethiopian authorities have ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to pull out of the volatile Ogaden region for allegedly interfering in political issues, officials said on Wednesday. ”We have asked the ICRC to leave the region within seven days because they have been meddling in the region’s affairs,” said Jema Ahmed Jema, the vice-president of the region.
A woman (73) faces eviction from a retirement home in Halifax in eastern Canada for, among other things, her salty language, it was reported on Tuesday. Mary Vaughan told the <i>Globe and Mail</i> newspaper she was once offended by profanity, but learned to cuss a generation ago when she lived in the northern Yukon territories.
A 28-year-old man is expected to appear in court in connection with the hijacking of Judy Sexwale outside a school last week, Gauteng police said on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Sergeant Sanku Tsunke said the man would appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. He faces charges of armed robbery and hijacking.
Negative sentiment saw a sell-off across world markets at midday on Wednesday, adding to profit-taking on the local bourse. At 12.04pm, the all-share index was 0,97% lower than its close of 29Â 590,811 on Tuesday. It was trading at 29Â 303,960 at midday on Wednesday.
Defence parastatal Denel reduced its net loss from R1,363-billion to R549,1-million for the year to the end of March — a 60% improvement. This was achieved on the back of a 17,8% growth in revenue from R2,773-billion to R3,268-billion. Gross profit for the 12 months rose to R754-million — a 675% improvement on the previous year’s profit of R131,1-million.
The Tour de France, which began with such high hopes when millions turned out to cheer its grand départ in the south of England two and a half weeks ago, was in disarray on Tuesday night after an annoucement that the pre-race favourite, Alexandr Vinokourov of Kazakhstan, had tested positive for blood doping.
Zimbabwe is to import 200 000 tonnes of the staple maize from Tanzania to avert widespread food shortages following a poor harvest, state television reported. The report said efforts were under way to bring in another 200 000 tonnes from Malawi.