July is the month most South African employees take sick leave due to influenza, a study released on Thursday showed. The study of 7 000 employees by Corporate Absenteeism Management Solutions shows that flu absenteeism hits companies the hardest in the winter months of May, June and July.
Russia announced on Thursday the expulsion of four British diplomats, a visa ban on British officials and the suspension of counter-terrorism cooperation amid a mounting diplomatic row. ”The British ambassador has been officially notified that four British embassy employees have been declared persona non grata,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
Zimbabwe has scrapped a scheme allowing fuel purchases with foreign currency, removing one of the few remaining ways for people to acquire petrol in a country struggling with a crumbling economy. The facility is also used by foreign diplomats and officials working for international aid organisations.
A member of one of Hong Kong’s most exclusive golf clubs is suing a fellow player after a stray ball hit him on the head. Alan Deakins has filed a High Court writ claiming he was "struck on the head by a golf ball whilst… walking up the 13th fairway", the <i>South China Morning Post</i> reported on Thursday.
Bulgaria asked Libya on Thursday to allow it to take custody of six foreign medics jailed for infecting hundreds of children with HIV after Tripoli commuted their death sentences to life imprisonment. After intensive diplomatic talks and payment of hundreds of millions of dollars to the families of 460 HIV victims, Libya commuted the verdicts on Tuesday.
The substance that Zaphanias Mathe, father of prisoner Annanias Mathe, tried to smuggle to his son was not lethal, the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court heard on Thursday. The 80-year-old Mathe appeared in court on Thursday only to hear that his case was postponed to July 30.
The tiny Southern African kingdom of Lesotho has declared a state of emergency over worsening food shortages caused by a drought that is threatening the food supplies of hundreds of thousands of citizens. More than 400Â 000 people are predicted to be in need of relief supplies by the end of the year.
A major Somali peace meeting resumed in Mogadishu on Thursday, hours after explosions echoed in the capital’s biggest market in the heaviest fighting in 15 days of non-stop violence. ”The conference has started. Prime Minister [Ali Mohamed] Gedi has arrived. The explosions will not deter us,” a security source said.
Brazil’s deadliest air disaster provoked anger over safety conditions in the aviation sector as rescuers on Thursday pulled more bodies from the burned-out wreckage. All 186 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus 320 were believed to have been killed in Tuesday’s fiery crash at São Paulo’s Cagonhas airport, along with a number of people on the ground.
The United States’s 160th richest person, a billionaire who made his money from the 1990s hi-tech boom, has been accused of planning to build a ”secret and convenient lair” underneath his California mansion dedicated to drug-taking and sex with prostitutes.