At least 30 people have died since interclan fighting broke out on Monday in the town of Beletweyne, south-central Somalia. More than 70 people have been wounded and hundreds more displaced in the violence, now in its fourth day, local sources said on Thursday.
The government has denied asking the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to investigate whether any organised force was behind recent service delivery protests. It said in a statement on Thursday this was confirmed at the Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday.
South African Airways said it is still mystified by the identity and origins of a mutilated body found in the wheel-well of one of its aircraft that flew to New York. It has been reported that parts of the body fell out of the aircraft as the pilot lowered the aircraft’s wheels to land at New York’s John F Kennedy airport on Tuesday.
Nato defence ministers were finalising plans on Thursday for the alliance’s first mission in Africa — helping to fly an extra 5 000 African peacekeepers to the troubled Darfur region of Sudan. They also considered boosting the alliance’s presence in Afghanistan ahead of September parliamentary elections there.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who arrives back in South Africa from a trip to Chile on Thursday, should act decisively on his return and ask embattled Deputy President Jacob Zuma to resign, official opposition leader Tony Leon said on Thursday.
A top-level European Union delegation arrived in Baghdad on Thursday, expressing hope for the EU’s new partnership with Iraq now that divisions over the United States-led invasion of more than two years ago are healed. ”In Europe, the war divided us, but now we are unified to help Iraq,” said Luxembourg’s minister of foreign affairs.
Winter in the northern parts of the country has been very mild, but winter woollies could come in handy from next week, the South African Weather Service said on Thursday. Forecaster Evert Scholtz said average temperatures north of Bloemfontein have been about five degrees Celsius higher for June than normally.
It could perhaps be described as a niche market, but such is the continued fame of United States pop star Madonna that a pair of her black, lacy knickers — guaranteed pre-worn — have sold for £1 000 (R12 400). The underwear was worn by the 46-year-old star in the 1993 film Body of Evidence.
A man who stole two trays of cookies from a bakery in the Cypriot town of Larnaca caused a scare at the nearby airport when he drove on to the runway, forcing aircraft to slam on their brakes, police said on Thursday. The saga began when the man walked out of a bakery on Wednesday with 40 assorted cookies without paying.
English is renowned as the world’s most swiftly evolving language, a process highlighted by the raft of sometimes curious new words — ”chav”, ”Asbo” and ”retrosexual” — featured in the latest edition of the Collins English Dictionary published on Thursday.