More than 1,2-million people in the central Chinese province of Hunan are facing a ”water crisis” after four weeks of drought and high temperatures, which are also straining power-generating capacity, state media said on Tuesday. Hunan has received 25% less rain than normal and about half of its two million water-storage facilities are half-empty.
Transnet Freight Rail, formerly Spoornet, will spend R34-billion over the next five years as part of its turnaround strategy, CEO Siyabonga Gama said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Johannesburg, Gama said the overall turnaround strategy entailed refurbishing and building new railway lines linking the country’s economic centres.
Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula appears to be ”deliberately misinterpreting” legislation in order to avoid the government’s legal obligation to set up camps for refugees from Zimbabwe, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. The minister had recently rejected a DA suggestion that refugee camps be put up.
The end of brutal wars in West Africa and global efforts to halt recruitment have cut the number of child soldiers, but experts say vulnerable children are still forced into battle from Latin American to Asia. Armed with Kalashnikovs and machetes, traumatised children were at the heart of wars in the 1990s in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Theunis Olivier was on Tuesday found guilty by the Cape High Court for the murder of six-year-old Steven Siebert. Passing judgement, Judge Essa Moosa said the testimony given by the accused, the psychiatrist’s evaluation report as well as the statement submitted by the accused were enough to convict Olivier on all the charges.
South African fixed-line operator Telkom said on Tuesday that its customers are set to benefit from an overall price reduction of 1,2% as of August 1. Telkom filed price changes on June 13, which have been subsequently approved by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.
The light from the cellphone screens allowed surgeons to complete an emergency appendix operation during a blackout in a city in central Argentina, reports said on Saturday. Leonardo Molina (29) was on the operating table on July 21, when the power went out in the Policlinico Juan D Peron, the main hospital in Villa Mercedes.
South Africa’s trade balance shifted further into deficit in June, recording a shortfall of R5,31-billion and keeping pressure on South Africa’s current account, official data showed on Tuesday. The data follows May’s smaller R2,67-billion shortfall and compares with expectations of a R3,5-billion gap.
About 70% of South Africans believe the country will be ready to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, a survey by African Response has found. Jo’burgers were slightly more optimistic, with 76% of them believing that the country would be ready. Only 60% of Capetonians agreed.
At least eight people were killed in attacks in southern and central Somalia, during which four people were also wounded, witnesses said on Tuesday. In a one-hour gun battle between 40 heavily armed insurgents and government soldiers in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, two men and a four year-old child were killed, said Abdi Mo’alin Mohamed, a clan elder.