Israeli tanks and troops ploughed deeper into Gaza on Thursday, killing six Palestinians and occupying three former Jewish settlements in their biggest offensive since leaving the territory last year. Helicopter gunships and artillery pounded the territory, as troops moved further into northern and southern Gaza Strip, coming under heavy fire after a ninth consecutive night of air strikes.
South Africa is ”well placed” to discuss this week’s missile tests with North Korea, Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister said on Thursday, citing Pretoria’s good diplomatic relations with Pyongyang. North Korea on Wednesday fired a salvo of seven missiles of various types into the Sea of Japan that separates the Korean peninsula from the Japanese islands, sparking an international outcry.
If you are one of the 400-million users of Microsoft Office, prepare to feel confused, lost and possibly abandoned. The user interface in next year’s version, Office System 2007, has been completely changed, and there is no going back. The file formats have changed as well, though the old ones are still supported.
A Polish priest with a penchant for a bet has slipped out of his parish in the central Polish town of Lowicz, taking with him the collection box, local press reports said on Thursday. The faithful at the Holy Spirit parish in Lowicz were a bit bemused at not seeing Father Franciszek Augustynski since mid-May.
Somali Muslims who fail to perform daily prayers will be killed in accordance with Qur’anic law under a new edict issued by a leading cleric in the Islamic courts union that controls Mogadishu. The requirement for Muslims to observe the five-times daily ritual under penalty of death was announced late on Wednesday.
A probe has been ordered into the leaking of SMS messages over an apparent secret love affair between a married Western Cape provincial minister and a journalist, the Cape Times reported on Thursday. Provincial Premier Ebrahim Rasool said there had been ”several incidents of breaches of provincial government security” in the past few weeks.
An estimated three million children in South Africa are involved in exploitative labour, a conference on the matter heard on Thursday. ”The government of South Africa estimated that 32,5% of children aged five to 14 years were working in 1999. Between 248Â 000 and three-million children are engaged in exploitative child labour in South Africa,” Dr Helene Aiello of Khulisa Management Services told the Reducing Exploitative Child Labour in South Africa conference in Boksburg.
The Johannesburg Labour Court has granted an order preventing Ekurhuleni metro police from taking part in illegal protests. The court order prevents the South African Municipal Workers’ Union and its members from marching on Thursday as planned, said Ekurhuleni metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago.
England captain Michael Vaughan has been ruled out of the Ashes tour of Australia after a fourth operation on his right knee, the BBC reported on Thursday. The Yorkshire batsman went under the knife on Monday, still clinging to the hope that he could be fit in time to lead England on the tour, which begins in November.
United States aerospace giant Boeing is well placed to win a multibillion-dollar deal to provide strategic transport aircraft and helicopters to Canada. The Canadian government last week announced plans to purchase 16 helicopters for Can,7-billion (,2-billion), and 21 military transport planes for Can,3-billion (,4-billion).