The discovery of deadly bird flu in both Israel and the Palestinian territories is pushing the two sides to work together despite plummeting relations as Hamas prepares for government. Israel confirmed on Thursday that the H5N1 strain that is dangerous to humans had been found in poultry in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
A cholera outbreak has killed at least 238 people and infected some 8 923 others in the past three months in southern Sudan, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. Although the outbreak has been contained in two main southern towns, it has spread to other areas, the United Nations said in a statement on Wednesday.
The former Philippine president Joseph Estrada took the stand in his trial for embezzling state funds on Wednesday, insisting he had been framed and had not taken kickbacks while in office. ”These are trumped-up charges, a frame-up,” Estrada (68) said, giving evidence for the first time in four and a half years.
A Florida schoolteacher who admitted sleeping with her 14-year-old pupil will escape punishment after a judge rejected a plea deal that would have given her 10 years of house arrest and probation. The state attorney Richard Ridgway dropped molestation charges against Debra Lafave after a Marion county superior court judge refused to accept a deal that would have removed the need for the boy to give evidence.
For its CeBIT trade show press conference this month, Microsoft said it had scheduled 30 seconds for its Ultra Mobile PC announcement, known as Origami. The company didn’t know that Digital Kitchen had left an old concept video online, nor that bloggers would find it. The result was that the project attracted far more hype than intended — and, naturally, failed to live up to it.
The World Golf Hall of Fame on Thursday unveiled a special exhibit, Gary Player: A Global Journey, that tells the story of the world’s most-travelled athlete and explores the impact he has had on the game and beyond. ”I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but after walking through the exhibit I was deeply moved,” said Player.
Announcing nine members of her executive mayoral committee on Thursday, the Democratic Alliance’s Helen Zille said the DA still had a vacancy for the Independent Democrats, which rejected a revised offer to join the multiparty government of the city of Cape Town.
Johannesburg attorney Julian Bartlett will get back R1,86-million of about R3-million he lost in a confidence trick involving an offshore sale of gold bullion, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday. Bartlett was tricked into paying R3,1-million in 1999 into the trust account of fellow attorneys Hirschowitz and Flionis, who were not part of the scam.
Real Madrid’s three-time World Player of the Year Ronaldo couldn’t hide his relief after finally finding the net following 36 barren days in which the Spanish giants have gone into a downward spiral. Ronaldo’s injury-time goal salvaged a point in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Real Zaragoza, the team which humiliated Real 6-1 in the Spanish Cup last month.
Space tourism has caught the imagination of United States business leaders, some of whom already have plans to serve what they say may be a multibillion-dollar industry in a couple of decades. ”Space tourism will be a significant portion of the overall travel and tourism industry over the next 20 to 25 years,” said Eric Anderson, chief executive of Space Adventures.