The thunderstorms that pummelled Bangladesh over two days pushed the death toll to 43 on Saturday after rescuers dug out 27 more bodies from under the rubble of flattened homes and uprooted trees, officials said. Thursday’s tropical storms and twisters had wrecked more than 400 villages.
One of France’s best-known philosophers, Jacques Derrida, revered as the founder of the deconstructionist school, has died at the age of 74, his entourage said on Saturday. Derrida, who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, died in a Paris hospital on Friday night.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been accused of turning his back on Asia, kowtowing to the United States and being Australia’s most bland leader. On Saturday, he assured himself a place in history with his fourth straight election victory, which will make him Australia’s second-longest-serving prime minister in December.
The editor of the Financial Mail (FM), Caroline Southey, has resigned with immediate effect, Moneyweb reported on Saturday. Southey will remain editor of the business magazine until a successor is appointed. She will then assume the position of deputy editor.
The most powerful typhoon to barrel into Japan’s Pacific coastline in a decade made landfall on Saturday, unleashing gales and blinding sheets of rain that grounded planes, flooded homes and set off mudslides. Two people were reported dead and five others missing. Ma-on was the record eighth typhoon to hit Japan this year.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=123440">Storms, tornadoes kill 43 in Bangladesh</a>
In a heated debate rematch, Senator John Kerry accused United States President George Bush on Friday night of transforming huge budget surpluses into massive deficits with tax cuts for the rich during wartime. Bush said Kerry would have to raise taxes on middle-class Americans to pay for ,2-trillion in new spending programmes.
The most powerful typhoon to hit eastern Japan in a decade was bearing down on Tokyo and neighbouring regions on Saturday, sparking transport chaos amid warnings of torrential rain, strong winds and landslides. Typhoon Ma-on was due to slam into central or eastern Japan late on Saturday, the Meteorological Agency warned.
The leader of Nigeria’s National Labour Congress said on Friday a renewable nationwide general strike against rising fuel prices will start on Monday and last four days, after talks with authorities collapsed. The news of further unrest in Nigeria could push world oil prices still higher still next week.
Insurgents blew up the Iraqi Red Crescent Society building in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on Friday, the United States military said in a statement. There were no reports of injuries. A US marine patrol saw four insurgents filming the explosion at 4.30pm (1pm GMT), the statement said.
By embarking on an unprecedented tour of the troubled east of his country next week, President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hopes to show that the former Zaire is reunited after five years of war. ”It’s risky. It will be brave of him if he goes,” a regional analyst said in Kinshasa.