Nine rescue teams were fighting an underground fire at Simmer and Jack Mines’ (Simmers) Buffelsfontein mine in the North West province on Thursday in a race against time to reach nine missing miners, the company said. Simmers CEO Gordon Miller said the rescue teams were close to where they thought the men might be.
United States and British forces freed three Christian peace activists — a Briton and two Canadians — without firing a shot early on Thursday, ending a four-month hostage drama in which an American among the group was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street earlier this month. Meanwhile, at least 53 Iraqis died in violence.
As Nigeria’s attempt to determine its actual population entered a third day on Thursday, abduction of census officials, abandonment by enumerators, shortages of materials and violence have continued to dog the exercise. Regarded as the most populous country in Africa, Nigeria has never succeeded in determining its actual population.
The man who will coach Bafana Bafana at the 2010 Fifa World Cup will only be announced after this year’s World Cup in Germany. An interim coach will be announced in April to guide the national team to the Cosafa Cup, according to South African Football Association (Safa) president Molefi Oliphant.
Steve Vaught’s quest to shed the dozens of kilograms of fat he was lugging around began with a single step, as did his one-man expedition to cross the United States on foot. Vaught, who began his trek last April in Oceanside, California, has so far covered more than 3 700km — the last leg to New York with freezing Midwestern winds snapping at his back.
Security-guard employers were reporting little absenteeism in Johannesburg and the East and West Rand on Thursday, the first day of a two-day security-industry strike in six provinces. In the Cape and Pretoria, however, some companies experienced 80% absenteeism, and cases of intimidation were reported.
MTN, Africa’s largest cellphone company, said on Thursday it would launch a second network in Iran in August, reaching 31-million subscribers by 2015. ”August is when we are expected to launch. We are hopeful that we will meet that date,” MTN group chief executive officer Phuthuma Nhleko told a news conference.
Egypt has pledged to lift emergency laws that grant security organs sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects without recourse to the courts, the press reported on Thursday. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif declared the government’s intention to abrogate the laws in a speech to parliament late on Wednesday.
Eritrea has ordered three foreign non-governmental aid groups to suspend their activities despite hunger threatening two-thirds of the population of the Horn of Africa nation. The Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare said they had not ”met the requirements laid down for an operational permit” in letters seen by Agence France-Presse on Thursday.
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.