France could face its worst period of social unrest for a decade, analysts and commentators warned, as Dominique de Villepin’s centre-right government returns on nThursday from its summer break. With petrol prices soaring, economic growth hesitant, trade unions furious, public confidence in the country and its political leaders at rock-bottom.
A bizarre diplomatic skirmish has broken out after Belarus retaliated against Lithuania’s decision to build a radioactive waste dump close to their shared border by announcing plans to put two giant pig farms in sniffing distance of its neighbour.
People in England and Wales are more likely to commit suicide on a Monday than on any other day of the week, a tendency consistent with data from other countries, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said on Thursday. A review of 34 935 suicides found that about 17% of the deaths occurred on Mondays.
A powerful typhoon was closing in on Japan on Thursday, grounding planes and bringing warnings of torrential rain, landslides and high waves in large areas of the country. Typhoon Mawar, packing winds of up to 144kph near its centre, was approaching Japan’s main island of Honshu at a speed of 15kph.
In a report also harshly critical of weekend polls in Ethiopia’s remote Somali state, the European Union said on Thursday that Ethiopia’s disputed May 15 elections did not meet international standards in several key respects, including post-vote investigations into fraud.
South African retail group Massmart on Thursday reported a 16% increase in headline earnings per share to 341 cents for the year ended June 2005, from 293,1 cents for the corresponding period a year ago. A final dividend of 72 cents per share was declared, making a total dividend of 183 cents from 159 cents a year ago.
A radical Shi’ite cleric called on his followers on Thursday to end clashes with Shi’ite rivals so that stalled talks on a new Constitution can proceed. Clashes continued for a second day after the cleric’s office in Najaf was burned and four of his supporters were killed.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Thursday of wrecking the prospects of peace after soldiers killed five militants and officials unveiled plans to expand the largest West Bank settlement. The shootings were Israel’s first deadly operation since the historic pull-out of settlers from Gaza.
Actor Brock Peters, best known for his heartbreaking performance as the black man falsely accused of rape in the American movie <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i>, died on Tuesday at his home after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 78. Peters was diagnosed with the disease in January and had been receiving chemotherapy treatment.
A senior US military officer on Wednesday predicted that al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq will move to the ”vast ungoverned spaces” of the Horn of Africa once conditions in the country get too tough for them. The warning came from Major General Douglas Lute, director of operations at the US’ central command. ”There will come a time when Zarqawi will face too much resistance in Iraq and will move on,” he predicted.