Swaziland’s home-based caregivers are too few and too poorly paid to cope with the growing numbers of bedridden Aids patients, but in the absence of adequate health facilities and trained professionals, they are seen as the immediate answer to a national emergency.
More than 5Â 000 internally displaced persons and returnees were left homeless when a fire gutted their camp in Somalia’s north-eastern port town of Bossaso late on Tuesday. Witnesses said the fire broke out at about 7.30pm local time at the Boqolka Buush camp and spread quickly because of strong winds.
Fernando Alonso heads back to his native Spain this weekend determined to win the Spanish Grand Prix for the first time and extend his lead in the drivers’ world championship. Alonso (24) leads the race for this year’s drivers’ crown after winning twice and finishing on the podium in every one of the five races so far.
Cellular network operator Vodacom connected its 20-millionth subscriber in South Africa on Wednesday. "We have reached this important milestone within 12 years, June 1 1994 being the date that Vodacom and MTN commercially launched their networks," said Alan Knott-Craig, CEO of the Vodacom Group.
The South African Police Service will have to establish if Dirk Prinsloo — accused of sex crimes — is in the Russian Federation as suspected before Interpol can help in the search, police said on Wednesday. Prinsloo allegedly jumped bail and stayed on in Russia instead of returning for his trial in the Pretoria High Court.
Three people were killed and at least six injured when tornadoes moved through north Texas, a county official said on Wednesday. At least one tornado touched down late on Tuesday near Anna, about 60km north of Dallas. Tornadoes were also reported in the Texas Panhandle town of Childress and in south-eastern Oklahoma.
Fierce fighting in the Somali capital subsided on Wednesday after dozens were killed in 72 hours of pitched battles between Islamic militiamen and gunmen loyal to a United States-backed warlord alliance. At least 40 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded in clashes that began on Sunday.
A white Zimbabwean security expert who has been in custody for two months on conspiracy charges has finally had a trial date set for the end of June, reports said on Wednesday. President Robert Mugabe’s government maintains that Michael Hitschmann was at the heart of a terrorist plot that could have seen the Zimbabwean leader assassinated.
A Cambodian couple who mummified their deceased premature baby to keep at home as a lucky charm had broken no laws and were merely adhering to ancient superstitions, police said on Wednesday. Cambodians believe that the mummified bodies of children and some primates born prematurely have powerful magical powers.
Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren is an habitually cautious man, but in the past few weeks even he has allowed himself to muse on whether his side’s progress to the Uefa Cup final might be their destiny. Twenty years after the club went into administration, Boro have come from three goals down to win both the quarterfinal and the semifinal.