About 150 Ethiopian troops, including a senior commander, have deserted the country’s army and escaped to Addis Ababa’s arch-foe nation Eritrea, officials said on Thursday. They said the desertions, which still remained unexplained, were the first to hit the Ethiopian military, but Asmara attributed them to a growing disenchantment with the ruling party.
Hezbollah guerrillas fought Israeli troops pushing towards the Shi’ite Muslim town of Khiam in south-east Lebanon on Thursday, though an Israeli Cabinet minister said plans for a deeper ground assault were on hold. Hezbollah unleashed a score of rockets on northern Israel, killing two people, including a toddler, medics said.
The number of executives leaving South Africa in 2005/06 rose despite higher pay packages, underlining the country’s struggle to retain a skilled labour force, a new study shows. It says 39% of respondents in the marketing and sales sector lost senior staff members between August 2005 and July this year, up from 24% the year before.
South Africa’s Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe announced on Thursday that the new international airport at La Mercy, 30km north of Durban, will be operational, and the Durban International airport decommissioned, in the first quarter of 2010 in time for the Soccer World Cup.
South African Airways (SAA) is not cancelling flights to the United Kingdom yet, but warned of lengthy delays on return flights. However, all passengers flying to the United States from Johannesburg International airport will not be able to indulge in duty free products such as perfumes or alcohol because all liquids and gels have been banned on these flights.
The death toll from weekend Ethiopia floods that devastated an eastern town rose to 250 on Thursday as rescue efforts entered a fourth day, making it the worst flooding disaster to date in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation, the government and police said. About 10 000 people are still displaced.
A government Aids-awareness campaign that mimics SMSs between lovers has angered activists in HIV-ravaged Swaziland, who say it implies people living with the disease are promiscuous. The campaign features pictures of a cellphone screen bearing SMSs such as ”Let’s have a quickie, my husband’s not around.”
United Kingdom stocks were sharply lower on Thursday as news of a foiled plan to blow up aircraft in mid-flight sent shockwaves through the market, with British Airways (BA) particularly hard hit, along with other stocks tied to the airline and leisure industries. Shares in BA fell 4,8%.
Health authorities have recovered scores of aborted female foetuses from a well in northern India, media reported on Thursday. The site was discovered by police in the city of Patiala in Punjab state, which has one of the worst gender ratios in the country, newspapers reported.
South African police have found the bodies of three men who were assaulted and burnt to death near Nelspruit in what is believed to be a case of mob justice, a spokesperson said on Thursday. Superintendent Benjamin Bhembe said police discovered the bodies on Wednesday after an anonymous tip-off in the township of Kabokweni, about 350km east of Johannesburg.