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.
Thousands of Israeli troops moved into the Gaza settlements overnight for the start of a historic operation to remove the remaining Jewish families from their homes and transfer the territory to Palestinian control. Earlier, police and soldiers confronted hundreds of militant young Jews in the Neve Dekalim, who tried to prevent families from leaving by the midnight deadline.
The JSE is set to start Wednesday’s session in negative territory taking its cue from a weaker close on the United States markets overnight, traders said. By 8.40am, near-dated all share index futures (Alsis) were 53 points weaker at 14 250 after 130 contracts had changed hands, while industrial index futures (Indis) were untraded after finishing at 11 575.
Teacher unions are threatening to declare a dispute, as disagreements with the Department of Education (DoE) over the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) continue. The DoE is being accused by the unions of attempting to act outside of the IQMS collective agreement.
Nineteen of the state-employed educators involved in last year’s Mpumalanga matric cheating scandal were found guilty of misconduct earlier this month. The chairperson of the disciplinary committee, Walter Kutumela, says each was fined R3 000 and issued with a written warning.