Thousands of panicking residents in Indonesia’s Aceh fled for high ground on Monday after a powerful earthquake provoked fears of a new tsunami catastrophe. The underwater earthquake, measuring more than eight on the Richter scale, left at least two people dead, and warnings of a possible tsunami were issued.
An earthquake off Indonesia measuring more than eight on the Richter scale triggered tsunami alerts around the Indian Ocean on Monday, causing panic three months after giant waves killed hundreds of thousands in the region. A United States-run tsunami alert centre urged the evacuation of coastal zones.
The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) is considering going on strike if its talks with the government on the rand’s overvaluation fail. In a statement calling on the government to declare a state of emergency regarding the country’s job losses, Cosatu says it is pursuing permission to strike against clothing retailers.
The Treatment Action Campaign’s chairperson, Zackie Achmat, was recovering well after suffering a heart attack just before the start of the Easter weekend. Achmat suffered the heart attack last Thursday and will be taking a month’s rest, after working hard ”without a break under high stress”.
Oxford, the heaviest crew in Boat Race history, won the 151st edition of the event on the River Thames on Sunday. The crews were neck-and-neck for the first mile or so before the Dark Blues pulled away for a convincing win over Cambridge. It was the third win in four years for Oxford.
There was a long, expectant silence after the microphone was rolled into place so Pope John Paul could bless the crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square. But the seven Latin words required proved too many and the ailing pontiff eventually resigned himself to making the sign of the cross with an unsteady hand.
Former England cricketer Phil Edmonds is hoping to recreate the stock market excitement that has surrounded his oil exploration company White Nile by bringing a new company to the London stock market. The flotation will be a company with rights to a 3-billion ton iron and titanium deposit in South Africa.
Another young woman died on Sunday of the Ebola-like Marburg virus in Angola, officials said, as the death toll in the deadly outbreak rose to almost equal the most serious outbreak ever recorded. About 121 people died since the haemorrhagic virus first broke out in the northern town of Uige in October.
Ariel Sharon has headed off a political crisis that threatened to bring down his government and delay the removal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip by winning the support for his budget. The deal removes the last major legislative obstacle to the closing of all settlements in Gaza and the northern West Bank.
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Zimbabwe’s new electoral court has reversed one of its very first judgements allowing a jailed opposition lawmaker to run in elections in his constituency that were to have been held at the end of April, state media reported on Sunday.