Greek health and fire authorities on Friday braced for a three-day heatwave expected to set in over the weekend, with temperatures scheduled to hit 42 degrees Celsius over parts of mainland Greece. In Athens, municipal and prefectural officers warned residents to avoid unnecessary travel during daylight hours.
South Africa’s Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang will appear in a live television debate with the shadow health minister Gareth Morgan on Sunday August 20 on SABC TV1. The show will debate the fact that the number of cases of tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa has increased by 400% between 1995 and 2004, and the link between HIV/Aids and TB.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Security Didymus Mutasa is suing a state prosecutor and a private newspaper for defamation, reports said on Friday. Prosecutor Levyson Chikafu and the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper are each being sued for Z-million (Â 000), the state-controlled Herald reported.
Zimbabwe has slashed fuel prices for private motorists by almost half after gas station owners unilaterally hiked rates in the wake of a serious oil crunch, a state daily reported on Friday. ”Government and the oil industry have with immediate effect fixed the price of diesel at Z (,28) and that of petrol at Z a litre for all users in the country,” the Herald said.
Cuban President Fidel Castro is recovering gradually, Raul Castro said in an interview published on Friday, his first public remarks since his ailing older brother temporarily handed him power last month. Raul Castro (75) thanked the doctors and others who have attended his brother ”with an unsurpassable professionalism and, above all, with much love and dedication”.
Lebanese army troops prepared to move on Friday to the edge of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, the main flashpoint for fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas before the war that a United Nations truce has halted. Trying to consolidate the five-day-old truce, the UN said it has received substantial offers of more troops for Lebanon.
Advertisements for toilet paper making claims about ”technology” may mislead the public and should be changed, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said on Friday. ”The ASA found that the claim implies some exclusivity and advantage of this product [over similar products from different manufacturers],” said Gail Schimmel, head of legal and regulatory affairs with the ASA.
Like many of my Protestant-born ilk, I was dismayed at yet more accusations of grimy carnal goings-on among the Catholic clergy. Not that, for even one lapsed Anglican minute, I believe one word of the lurid sensationalist twaddle of how children have been abused sexually by certain of God’s chosen representatives on Earth.
The South African Coin Corporation has been ordered to withdraw an advertisement about selling a R5 Mandela coin for R100 000, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said on Friday. In a statement, the ASA said it had received a complaint from a member of the public that the advertisement was misleading.
Mohammad Asif marked his return to Test cricket with four wickets as Pakistan salvaged some pride on the first day of the fourth and final Test against England at The Oval on Thursday. His 4-56 in 19 overs was instrumental in England being bowled out for a meagre 173.