Investigators converged on Wednesday on the remote Venezuelan hillside where a Colombian jetliner crashed on Tuesday, killing all 152 French tourists and eight Colombian crew on board and leaving wreckage strewn over a wide area. Experts from all three countries are taking part in the investigation.
In a feat that will have statisticians shaking their heads, a French family have twice won a national lottery — using the same numbers each time. The lucky clan, who were not identified, picked up €1,5-million (R11,9-million) in an August 3 lottery using the same selection of numbers they mark down every week.
Did it snow in Cape Town’s city centre on Wednesday? Yes, say office workers. Unlikely, says the South African Weather Service. As the city shivered under a biting north wind and squalls of driving rain, callers to a local radio station reported seeing snowflakes falling in the city centre.
The last Jewish settlers were dragged kicking and screaming out of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday as Israel moved to end 38 years of occupation of the Palestinian territory. Backed by bulldozers, Israeli forces fanned out through the Mediterranean seafront territory.
It is hard to know whether to be appalled or amused by the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) recent about-face on former deputy president Jacob Zuma, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the government says it will await a formal submission from Cosatu on Zuma.
Somali pirates who hijacked a United Nations-chartered food aid ship nearly two months ago have begun unloading its cargo for apparent distribution to residents of their home region of Haradere, witnesses said on Wednesday. The MV Semlow was seized on June 27 en route to Bosasso in Somalia’s north-east Puntland region.
Somalia’s influential parliamentary speaker said on Wednesday he is working to resolve a crisis over the seat of the lawless country’s transitional government and expressed confidence it will not be permanent. Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden said the disagreement is only ”political” and perhaps to be expected.
Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged on Wednesday that he was absent-minded after forgetting to bless the hundreds of pilgrims who attended his weekly audience at his Castel Gandolfo summer residence. He said his mind was already in Cologne, where he is to travel on Thursday.
The Department of Social Development’s anti-corruption campaign prevented R400-million from being stolen this year, Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya said on Wednesday. Skweyiya said to date the department and law enforcement have taken legal action against 109 officials, with more expected to face the same.
When China under Deng Xiaoping began to discard the socialist legacy after Mao’s death in 1976, the economist Xue Muqiao, who has died aged 100, played a leading role in formulating theory for the new era, but never lost touch with everyday life. His essays gave outsiders a clue to the pace of change, and Xue also called for the return of street stalls and snack bars in the capital.