Haley Stevens was getting ready for school when the 14-year-old’s morning routine was shattered by the sounds of trees and wood-frame houses being torn from their foundation. The next thing she knew, her family was rushing out the door as a massive landslide bore down on her neighbourhood of hillside homes.
Prominent anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir was assassinated on Thursday when his car blew up in a residential sector of mostly Christian east Beirut in an attack that drew widespread condemnation. Lebanese opposition figures blamed the blast on the government and its political masters in Syria.
Thousands of people rallied on Thursday in the Niger capital to demand the distribution of free rations to stave off a food crisis that already threatens about three million people. The vast desert state’s food supply travails have been compounded by years of drought and last year’s invasion of desert locusts.
Médécins sans Frontières (MSF) has expressed deep concern about overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions for thousands of Rwandan Hutus who have fled into Burundi fearing persecution at home. ”As each day passes, the situation is growing more precarious for these refugees,” MSF said.
Zimbabwe said Thursday it didn’t ask for and doesn’t need the food aid the United Nations has promised, insisting it can provide for its own people amid a mounting humanitarian crisis rooted in politics. The minister of social welfare said Zimbabwe has bought 1,2 tonnes of corn from South Africa.
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Schabir Shaik left the Durban High Court on Thursday following his conviction on two counts of corruption and one of fraud relating to alleged irregular financial dealings with Deputy President Jacob Zuma. A spokesperson for Zuma said the deputy president will study the judgement before commenting.
It is inevitable that poor countries will compete for donor aid, Tanzania’s President Benjamin Mkapa told delegates at the World Economic Forum’s Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town on Thursday. Steve Booysen, chief executive of Absa, said business has been slow to take advantage of the changing political landscape in Africa.
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Durban businessman Schabir Shaik was convicted in the Durban High Court on Thursday on two counts of corruption and one of fraud relating to alleged irregular financial dealings with Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
The JSE Securities Exchange moved to an all-time high on Thursday despite the steady rand, which has moved off its worst levels in a year. Resources remained the star performers. The all share index rose to a fresh high of 13,965.10 shortly after midday.
Visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki pushed on Wednesday for more United States economic aid to Africa and logistical support for African peacekeepers in Darfur in a meeting with US President George Bush. The United States has offered aircraft to transport African Union peacekeepers to Darfur, and has approached Nato for help as well.