Floods and landslides in North Korea have killed at least 151 people and left 29 missing, the Red Cross said, but the exact death toll could be much higher. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said floods also damaged 23 400 houses and rendered about 17 000 families homeless.
The body of a 45-year-old Mpumalanga woman was stolen from a mortuary in Ermelo, police said on Friday. Superintendent Abie Khoabane said that Sibongile Nhlabathi’s body was taken to Siza Funeral Services at 11am on Thursday after she died of natural causes.
Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni on Thursday announced a 50 basis point increase in the repo rate to 8%, in a move he described as ”moderately prudent”.
The 0,5% hike in interest rates was widely predicted by economic analysts, although there were also rumours that the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee would hike rates by 1% .
Fired intelligence boss Billy Masetlha successfully parried efforts this week to evict him from his state-owned residence in the National Intelligence Agency’s high security Musanda complex outside Pretoria. Masetlha has refused to accept that he was lawfully sacked by President Thabo Mbeki.
Controversial draft legislation aimed at overhauling the structure of the judiciary has indeed been shelved as the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> reported at the end of June, despite furious denials by the Department of Justice at the time. President Thabo Mbeki told reporters that the government believed it would be better to reach an agreement nationally on issues affecting the judiciary.
Violence erupted at the University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi campus on Friday, university authorities said. Students are protesting following a decision by the university that the campus will be turned into a community centre to cater for the needs of the Mamelodi community.
An Israeli air strike killed at least 33 farm workers in north-eastern Lebanon on Friday and Hezbollah fired scores of rockets into Israel in a worsening conflict that world powers have failed to halt. It was the second-deadliest strike in Lebanon after an air raid killed up to 54 civilians in the village of Qana on Sunday.
Hundreds of Britons are being urged to attend what is being branded as Europe’s first ”Masturbate-a-thon”, a leading British reproductive health-care charity said on Friday. Marie Stopes International said it expects up to 200 people to attend the sponsored masturbation session in Clerkenwell, central London, on Saturday.
The dog days of summer are murder on China’s canines. For the second time in days, a Chinese region has ordered a mass slaughter of dogs to curb a rabies outbreak, drawing criticism from animal lovers but also support from many who say such culls are the only sure way to contain the disease.
An African National Congress (ANC) councillor was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his home in Umhlali, KwaZulu-Natal, early on Friday morning, police said. KwaZulu-Natal ANC spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu said Khumalo had been ”receiving death threats for quite some time”.