The capital of Guinea, Conakry, was at a standstill but calm on Wednesday, two days after security forces fired on protesting students and killed 18. Tens of thousands of high school students rioted on Monday after their final exams were cancelled because of a nationwide work stoppage.
Teachers need to ensure that their colleagues behave professionally, a teachers’ union said on Wednesday in reaction to a South African Human Rights Commission report according to which violence and abuse, including sexual abuse, is widespread in schools.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) ”ongoing marginalisation” by the tripartite alliance aggravates unemployment and poverty, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Wednesday. Vavi told a press briefing in Johannesburg that the African National Congress-led alliance continues to marginalise some of its members.
A 53-year-old man climbing a fruit tree in a village in northern Malaysia had a narrow escape when he was shot and wounded by a friend who mistook him for a monkey, a report said on Tuesday. The man was putting protective coverings on jackfruits in an orchard owned by his friend.
A 29-year-old blockman from Meyers Park, Pretoria, was referred for mental observation by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court for a second time on Wednesday. Daniel Petrus van der Walt was arrested after he had allegedly confessed that he killed 20-year-old Marlene Mauer with a hammer.
A rat that bumbled into one of Cambodia’s largest power plants was blamed for blacking out the entire capital, Phnom Penh, and much of surrounding Kandal province over the weekend, a power official said on Tuesday. Millions were cast into darkness on Sunday night.
A handful of Mentos candy dropped in a Diet Coke bottle produces an explosive soda geyser — and a multitude of internet videos of giddy people trying the experiment in backyards and bathtubs. Hundreds of videos have sprung up of people slipping Mentos into soda bottles and watching the Coke fountain jet about 2m high.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday that 100 people have died of suspected pneumonic plague in eastern Congo. Preliminary results from diagnostic tests have confirmed pneumonic plague, WHO said in a statement. Suspected cases of bubonic plague have also been reported, but the total number is not yet known, WHO said.
”Oh Lord, I’m burning.” These were the last words of 21-year-old Pollsmoor prisoner Marilyn Syfers as flames engulfed her cell on the evening of April 4 this year. They are recorded in an affidavit from a fellow inmate, which forms part of the documentation of the official inquiry into the incident. Some details of the tragedy have already been made public.
The top United States envoy to South Korea warned on Wednesday that Washington and its allies would "respond appropriately" if North Korea test-fired a missile capable of reaching the US. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said Washington was monitoring preparations for a long-range missile test that have reportedly been underway for more than a month.