In nursing homes and college dorms, in crowded cities and spread-out suburbs, Americans confront an ailment with no single cause or cure. Some call it social isolation or disconnectedness. Often, it’s just plain loneliness. According to a new study documenting Americans’ shrinking circle of intimate friends, it is worsening.
The sudden resignation of campaigning Nigerian minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala last week is a blow to the credibility of the government and places a question mark over future economic reforms, Nigerian economists and analysts say. She quit last Thursday, 44 days after she was moved from the influential finance ministry to foreign affairs.
The African National Congress is developing a new policy that will limit the number of empowerment deals its members and their spouses may make, the Sunday Times reported. Based on its newly compiled ”Rich List”, the newspaper said new evidence has emerged that the party’s executives are richer than ever.
The death toll from a bridge collapse in Pakistan’s northern town of Mardan rose to at least 39 on Sunday as rescuers continued searching for dozens of people feared drowned in floods, reports and officials said. ”According to local people, more than 100 people were on the bridge when it caved in,” a senior district administrator said.
At least 72 people were killed early on Sunday in flash floods after an intense, sudden downpour pounded eastern Ethiopia, many of the victims swept away while asleep, medical officials and rescue workers said. Doctors said they had received bodies from villages that were inundated in the country’s Dire Dawa region.
Two senior members of the Scorpions elite investigation unit have been arrested for alleged involvement in an international drugs syndicate, media reports said on Sunday. They were arrested at Johannesburg International airport during an undercover operation by the police’s crime intelligence unit.
Tropical Storm Prapiroon swept across south China, leaving a trail of destruction with more than 70 people reported dead or missing by Sunday. ”It’s still raining heavily, and the situation is pretty serious,” an official said from the flood-control headquarters in Guangxi region, where the eye of the storm was located early on Sunday.
Michael Schumacher was left seething at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday after being hit with a time penalty that wrecked his chances of claiming pole position. The stewards’ decision meant he was given an identical penalty to that meted out to championship-leading Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault.
Floyd Landis’s doping samples contained synthetic testosterone, indicating the Tour de France champion’s elevated levels were not produced naturally, the head of France’s anti-doping commission said on Saturday. The revelation could damage Landis’s defence prospects.
The Lions staggered back from their disappointing start to the Absa Currie Cup competition at Ellis Park on Saturday by destroying the Pumas 74-15 in their bottom-of–the-log clash. In other matches, Western Province edged Griquas 27-23, the Boland Kavaliers thrashed the Griffons 59-0 and the Blue Bulls beat the Cheetahs 24-12.