A long-haul Air Madagascar flight carrying about 200 people had to make an emergency landing after its right engine failed moments after taking off, the airline said on Monday. No one was hurt in the incident involving a Boeing 767-300 jet that was bound from the capital, Antananarivo, to Paris late on Saturday night.
Algeria’s security forces continue to detain and torture prisoners secretly, Amnesty International said on Monday in a report ahead of the Algerian president’s trip to London. It said Algeria’s intelligence agency, the Department of Information and Security, is using the war on terror as an excuse to perpetuate torture and ill-treatment.
The Mthatha General hospital, which serves 2,5-million people in the eastern region of the Eastern Cape, has a 32% vacancy rate among doctors and a 39% vacancy rate among pharmacists, according to figures released by Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Monday.
The case of a 28-year-old man accused of murdering a Taiwanese businessman and his family before burying them was postponed in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Monday. Bao Xin Long, a Chinese national, is due to appear in court again on August 31.
When the world’s soccer fans descend on South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, most of them will disembark at OR Tambo International airport, as Johannesburg International airport will soon be known. Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan announced on June 30 that more than 50 place names will be changed, including that of the airport.
Two astronauts floated out of the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday to repair equipment crucial for the completion of the orbiting laboratory. Astronauts Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers, who arrived at the ISS last week aboard the Discovery shuttle with five other colleagues, started the second of three planned spacewalks.
Zimbabwe’s annual inflation slowed down by a marginal 8,9 percentage points to 1 184,6% in June, the government’s Central Statistical Office said on Monday. Inflation was pegged at 1 193,5% in May and remains the highest such rate in the world.
A day after the World Cup ended, host nation Germany was not only counting the immediate economic benefits for businesses during the month-long mega-event, but also was hoping that the party mood will continue for the eurozone’s biggest economy in the much longer term.
Investigators worked on Monday to determine what caused an Airbus plane to overrun the runway and crash in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, as Russia marked a day of mourning for about 130 people killed in the accident. Transport Minister Igor Levitin chaired a meeting of a commission set up to investigate the cause of the accident and told reporters here afterwards that so far 122 bodies had been recovered and six were still unaccounted for.
A Malaysian on Monday appealed for help after authorities ruled him dead more than four years ago, saying he was unable to work because of the mistake. According to records, Minggu Mang anak Madang died from head injuries in the town of Bintulu in the eastern state of Sarawak on January 18 2002, and was buried.