Multiple car bombs exploded at about the same time and killed at least 40 people in a mainly Shi’ite town north of Baghdad on Thursday, officials said. A hospital source said in addition to the 40 dead, at least 80 more people were wounded in the blasts. One witness reported seeing at least eight people killed in one of the blasts.
Irish rock star and anti-poverty campaigner Bono was made an honorary British knight at a ceremony in Dublin on Thursday, the British embassy said. Presenting the insignia on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, ambassador David Reddaway said it was awarded in recognition of his services to the music industry and for his humanitarian work.
Draft legislation that will dramatically increase the penalties for those found guilty of contravening anti-smoking laws was passed by the National Assembly on Thursday. The Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill aims to close loopholes in existing legislation that are ”exploited by the tobacco industry and make prosecutions for contravention … very difficult”.
World leaders must speak out to help pull Zimbabwe out of a political and economic quagmire, former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu said on Thursday. ” … this is not the time for silent diplomacy,” the authors wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.
Bookings for the Easter holidays have not been seriously affected by storm damage along KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) coastline, the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa) said on Thursday. Fedhasa’s East Coast chairperson, Alan Vels, said: ”There has been no impact in Durban. In fact there seems to be a curiosity factor more than anything else.”
A Nigerian presidential candidate died on Thursday, local radio and television stations reported, casting doubt over whether landmark elections will be held as scheduled next month. Adebayo Adefarati (76), candidate of the opposition Alliance for Democracy, died in the south-western state of Ondo, private radio Ray Power FM reported.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced on Thursday the creation of a new national security department to fight terrorism as part of a radical overhaul of the beleaguered Interior Ministry. Under the plan announced by Blair in a written statement to Parliament, the ministry known as the Home Office will be split into two departments.
Global Positioning System coordinates of two British boats seized with 15 sailors were changed by Iran to make it appear they were in Iranian waters, Britain’s United Nations envoy said on Thursday.The 15 Britons were captured on Friday in the northern Gulf in what Iran insists were its territorial waters but Britain says they were picked up in Iraqi waters.
A reconsideration of name changes may be on the cards after a court reversed the renaming of Louis Trichardt in Limpopo, the Freedom Front Plus said on Thursday. ”The decision means the proposed name changing of Pretoria to Tshwane and Potchefstroom to Tlokwe will in all likelihood be placed on ice,” said party leader Pieter Mulder.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) have vowed to campaign for a change in the way the tripartite alliance operates. They said on Thursday the status quo in the alliance — comprising Cosatu, the SACP and the ruling African National Congress — encouraged opportunism.