The Zimbabwe government says it acted in the public interest when it launched a controversial urban clean-up campaign in May that was later condemned by the United Nations, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.
To witness Africa’s unrelenting hunger, look no further than into the fever-bright eyes of 17 severely malnourished infants languishing in a West African hospital. Worse than normal food crises raging in parts of Mali and elsewhere in Africa this year have focused new attention on the politics and geography of hunger across the world’s poorest continent.
The American Beverage Association recommended that soda and other sweetened beverages be pulled from vending machines at elementary schools across the United States, saying the industry needs to help fight the increasing rate of childhood obesity.
Pension Funds Adjudicator Vuyani Ngalwane wants the government to put an end to the deduction of undisclosed costs from retirement annuities, Business Day reported on Wednesday. It said he had asked Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to declare such actions an ”undesirable business practice”.
The number of dead Iraqi civilians counted at the Baghdad morgue hit 1Â 100 in July, the highest toll in recent history, a British newspaper reported on Wednesday, blaming the daily violence. The Independent said the figure was just 700 short of the total number of United States soldiers killed in Iraq since April 2003.
Frankfort in the Free State was calm on Wednesday morning, but police remained on the alert for more service delivery protests. Police spokesperson Superintendent Motarafi Ntepe said a heavy police presence was maintained in Frankfort and Namahadi where demonstrations turned violent this week.
Microsoft said on Tuesday it was probing a ”malicious worm” that appears to be targetting users of its Windows 2000 operating system. ”Microsoft is actively investigating new reports of a malicious worm identified as ‘Worm_Rbot.CEQ’,” the software giant said in a statement.
Revelations in Zimbabwe about spy shenanigans in the privately owned press there revive distant memories of South African equivalents — and point to what’s needed for the future. An article in the Zimbabwe Independent last week disclosed that the country’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) seems to have secretly taken control of three papers.
George Bush has never had a reputation as a bookworm, but for a man derided by his critics as an intellectual lightweight the United States president’s holiday reading list packs a punch. As well as brush cutting, mountain biking and fishing, the president will also be tucking into Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky during his five-week summer sojourn on his Texas ranch.
An unidentified man struggled at the controls of a Cypriot airliner for 23 minutes in a desperate attempt to prevent the plane from crashing, Greek defence ministry officials said on Tuesday. At 12.05pm, after circling the Greek skies, the plane slammed into a mountain outside Athens, killing all 121 people, mostly Greek Cypriots, on board.