A senior Chinese general has warned that his country could destroy hundreds of American cities with nuclear weapons if the two nations clashed over Taiwan. General Zhu Chenghu said he was expressing a private opinion, but his inflammatory comments will fuel growing concerns in Washington about the rise of China.
The five-month Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire was in tatters last night after Israel responded to missile attacks from Gaza with airstrikes that killed six Hamas militants. The strikes came after dozens of missiles were fired from Gaza at Israeli targets, leaving one 22-year-old woman dead.
A depleted, derided Bafana Bafana may already have exceeded all expectations in the Concacaf Gold Cup, but how the magical carpet ride is ultimately judged could depend on the outcome of Sunday’s ”Round About Midnight” (SA time) quarter-final against Panama at Houston’s ultra-modern Reliant Stadium.
President Thabo Mbeki has promised support for church relief efforts for people displaced under Zimbabwe’s so-called urban clean-up campaign. He made the undertaking during a meeting with representatives of the South African Council of Churches in Pretoria on Friday afternoon, church leaders said.
A fact-finding mission by South African clergy on Zimbabwe’s demolitions campaign was ”sponsored by Britain and part of a plot to unseat President Robert Mugabe’s government”, The Herald said on Friday. Meanwhile, Mugabe’s former spin doctor Jonathan Moyo is working on a book about his time in the government.
Kenya has launched a massive security operation in the northern region, where a massacre and reprisal attacks have left at least 77 people dead this week, officials said on Friday, as the Red Cross appealed for humanitarian aid for displaced people.
Senegal’s former prime minister was on Friday being questioned by police over claims he overspent hundreds of millions of rands on a road project in his stronghold of Thies. Idrissa Seck’s supporters clashed with police in the streets around his home and police headquarters in the capital, Dakar.
Just seven out of 162 train passengers hospitalised after two trains collided in Soweto on Wednesday night are waiting to be discharged, Metrorail said on Friday. ”We are encouraged by the improvement in the condition of the injured train passengers,” spokesperson Thandi Mlangeni said.
The Springbok rugby team joined former president Nelson Mandela to see off the 46664 vehicle.
Uncertainty over the position of Western Cape public works minister Mcebisi Skwatsha continued on Friday, the day he was supposed to — according to his premier — quit the post. Provincial African National Congress chairperson James Ngculu said on Friday that as far as he is aware, Skwatsha is still a provincial minister.