Sub-Saharan Africa must urgently impose power rationing on companies and populations to limit the effects of a worsening energy crisis, industry and government experts said. Decades of underinvestment in electricity networks and growing populations mean the poorest 20% in the region have no access to electricity.
Roger Federer moved just two wins away from a fifth successive Wimbledon title after a 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero on Friday. The world number one will take on America’s Andy Roddick or Richard Gasquet of France for a place in the final as he continues his campaign to win a fifth successive Wimbledon crown.
Rescuers called off their search on Friday after pulling 32 bodies from the wreckage of a Mexican passenger bus buried when a rain-soaked mountainside gave way. Officials initially speculated as many as 60 people were aboard the bus when it was engulfed by tons of rock and earth as it travelled on a twisting rural road early on Wednesday.
Heavy exchanges of fire erupted on Friday between Islamist militants holed up in a Pakistani mosque and security forces after the militants’ leader said he and his hundreds of followers would rather die than surrender. Earlier, gunmen fired at Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s plane as it took off from Islamabad’s military airport.
Two youths were killed in Limpopo on Friday after they were circumcised — bringing the number of circumcision deaths to at least 17 in four provinces in the last five weeks. At least 12 deaths were reported in the Eastern Cape, three in Limpopo and one each in Gauteng and North West since the winter ”circumcision season” started.
South African Airways (SAA) could face a class action lawsuit for flights cancelled during a 2005 strike after a passenger succeeded in a suit for compensation. Michiel Spaapen said on Friday he had launched a campaign to mobilise other passengers who were also affected by flight cancellations.
The Ekurhuleni metro said on Friday it did not understand the basis of the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) call for the suspension of its police chief, Robert McBride, and believed any allegations against him should be tested first. ”We don’t understand the basis of that call and how they came to that conclusion,” said mayoral spokesperson Prince Hamnca.
Former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has been named as Manchester City manager, the Premier League club said on Friday. Eriksson’s appointment was made after former Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra gained enough shares to complete his takeover bid and he will be presented at a news conference later on Friday.
The Potchefstroom city council expressed sadness on Friday over the destruction by fire of a historical Afrikaans church in the town. Mayor Maphetle Maphetle said the council extended its sympathy to the congregation of the NG (Moedergemeente) Church after the building was gutted by fire on Wednesday night.
The N1 to Beaufort West in the Western Cape has been reopened to traffic after a collision involving two trucks and three buses outside Laingsburg earlier on Friday. Seven people were killed and 17 seriously injured, among them a seven-year-old girl. The accident started when a bus heading toward Cape Town collided with a truck.