Ethiopian children are facing a new threat after two years of drought because recent rainfall has increased the risk of lethal disease, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said on Friday. Damien Personnaz, a Unicef spokesperson, said that rain in parts of the Oromia region had raised the spectre of diarrhea and malaria.
South Africa’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia was at the scene of the Bahrain ferry disaster on Friday and was working with a team to verify how many South Africans were involved, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. Four Murray & Roberts staff were confirmed to have drowned when the ferry capsized during a pleasure cruise on Thursday night, the company said in Johannesburg.
The retail price of petrol will go up between 21 cents a litre (c/l) and 24c/l on Wednesday, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. The latest changes bring the retail price of a litre of 95-octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng to R5,73 a litre and to R5,50 a litre at the coast.
The Malawi government is seeking details about a fire that left 12 dead, mostly migrant workers from Malawi, in the inner city of Johannesburg early on Wednesday, said a senior official. Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Relations Davis Katsonga confirmed that seven of the dead were Malawi nationals.
New South Wales Waratahs fullback Peter Hewat scored a try among 21 points on Friday as the Waratahs beat South Africa’s Cheetahs 26-3 to consolidate their lead in the Super 14. Hewat kept a perfect kicking record for the second match in a row, landing two conversions and four penalties to take his individual points tally for the season to 132.
The Scorpions have been given permission to confiscate a farm in Mpumalanga where the drug tik-tik, or ice, was manufactured, the National Prosecution Authority said on Friday. Spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said the Pretoria High Court gave the order on Thursday.
Cape Judge President John Hlophe has denied a claim that he received a R10Â 000-a-month retainer from a company involved in a lawsuit against a fellow judge. The allegation is contained in an article to be published in the investigative magazine noseweek. However, Hlophe said briefly on Friday: ”I’m not on any retainer.”
Cape Town’s city manager, Wallace Mgoqi, has been asked by the Democratic Alliance-led administration not to come to work until question marks over his contract have been resolved, mayoral spokesperson Robert Macdonald said on Friday. The contract was renewed by then mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo, whose African National Congress lost the city to an alliance of the DA and smaller parties.
Microsoft said at the start of a final day of hearings with European Union (EU) regulators on Friday that it was more optimistic about its antitrust battle and still hoped to stave off fines of â,¬2-million (,4-million) a day. The hearing is the company’s last chance to defend itself before the EU decides whether to levy the fines.
Iran’s paramilitary revolutionary guards (IRGC) said on Friday that a new missile was successfully tested during a naval manoeuvre, the news network Khabar reported. The IRCG air-force commander, General Hossein Salami, told Khabar that the new missile was among ”Iran’s new missile generation” and more modern than the previous Iranian missile types.