Chad has closed its consulate in Sudan’s Darfur region more than a week after Sudanese militia crossed from the region and killed at least 36 Chadians before going back to their country, the state radio reported. In April, Chadian officials accused Sudan of recruiting, training and arming 3Â 000 Chadian rebels near their border in an effort to destabilise Chad.
British comedian Ronnie Barker, half of the long-established and much-loved duo The Two Ronnies, has died at the age of 76, his agent said on Tuesday. Barker had a career on the West End stage and in radio before moving into comedy as part of the classic 1960s TV shows The Frost Report and Frost on Sunday.
The South Africa Foundation on Tuesday launched a new report that focuses on 12 specific proposals for ways to lower telecommunications costs and widen access. The report comes a week ahead of the telecommunication-pricing indaba. The second round of the government-hosted two-day colloquium will take place in Gauteng.
The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom has a brand-new, unique feature on its website, Guardian Unlimited, where readers write the travel guides. It started with New York, Rio and Berlin, and now The Guardian is asking for South African readers’ help in sharing the best of Cape Town.
The Australian and World XI teams enter the world of the great unknown over the next fortnight as the ancient sport of cricket makes greater use of technology to get tricky decisions right. The Super Series of three one-dayers and next week’s six-day Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground will be played under the International Cricket Council’s experimental conditions.
Indian defence journal SP’s Land Forces has defended the accuracy of a report that the country’s defence ministry has initiated action to cancel all contracts with Denel. The South African arms maker has denied the report and the Indian high commission in Pretoria has indicated the contracts may just have been suspended.
The United States military launched a major offensive early on Tuesday in a cluster of cities in the Euphrates River valley aimed at insurgents who were using the area as a safe haven and who had killed 20 marines there in August. It was the second US offensive launched against al-Qaeda in Iraq militants in the Anbar region of western Iraq in four days.
Hope faded on Tuesday for 59 police trainees missing after a landslide in south-eastern China as the confirmed death toll from Typhoon Longwang rose to 15 and wild weather pummelled other parts of the country. Longwang landed in Fujian on Sunday after leaving at least one dead in Taiwan. So far, 15 are confirmed dead in China.
Listed hospital group Medi-Clinic on Monday announced a black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction valued at R1,1-billion in which it plans to sell a 15% equity stake to strategic black empowerment partners (with 11%) and participating Medi-Clinic staff (4%), based on a share price of R18,40 per Medi-Clinic share.
Hong Kong’s high-end hotel sector just got more luxurious with a spate of new openings and refurbishments designed to cash in on the Chinese city’s newfound position as a top travel destination. Spurred by a strong economic recovery from almost seven years of decline the city got its first new hotels in 15 years this autumn.