Israel struck Beirut airport and blockaded Lebanese ports on Thursday, intensifying reprisals that have killed 53 civilians since Lebanese Hezbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight a day earlier. Hezbollah retaliated for Israeli ”massacres” by firing at least 70 rockets at Nahariya in northern Israel. A civilian was killed and at least 42 were wounded, Israeli medics said.
Whether or not there was enough water for the Roodefontein development should not have held up his department’s decision on its approval, former Western Cape environment provincial minister David Malatsi said on Thursday. He was testifying in the Bellville Regional Court, where he and former premier Peter Marais face corruption charges.
Deputy Minister of Defence Mluleki George will attend the 90th commemoration of the Battle of Delville Wood in France on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. During the ceremony — which commemorates the South Africans who perished in World War I — a new South African coat of arms will be unveiled at the South African memorial on the site.
Nelson Mandela and former United States president Bill Clinton teamed up on Thursday to raise funds for African children with heart problems.
Two-thirds of the cargo has been removed from the grounded Safmarine Agulhas and the rest will be steam-cleaned before being taken ashore, the National Port Authority (NPA) said on Thursday. NPA East London spokesperson Terry Taylor said 475 containers have been offloaded.
The name of the man to take the South African senior soccer team to the 2010 World Cup will remain a secret for a few more weeks, as he does not exist. South African Football Association CEO Raymond Hack on Thursday admitted that they are yet to receive recommendations from the technical committee led by Sturu Pasiya.
Peace talks aimed at bringing a final end to Burundi’s 13-year civil war hung in limbo on Thursday with the government and rebels still at odds over basic issues, officials said. The stalled negotiations had been set to resume on Thursday in Tanzania’s commercial capital of Dar es Salaam after a one-week suspension called by South African mediators.
The Zimbabwean student accused of trying to hijack a South African Airways (SAA) domestic flight last month was denied bail in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. Tinashe Rioga (21) had failed to prove the exceptional circumstances necessary for bail to be granted, Magistrate Suzette Marais ruled.
The circumcision death toll in the Eastern Cape has reached 19 with news on Thursday of the death of another would-be initiate, the provincial health department said. An official said the 18-year-old youth died after being circumcised at an illegal initiation school in the Libode area of Transkei.
South Africa’s banking system remained stable during 2005 and banks in general were sound and continued to benefit from South Africa’s economic health, the bank supervision department of the South African Reserve Bank said in its annual report released on Thursday.