A deadly strain of bird flu that has killed 27 people across Asia this year has hit Malaysia, the government announced on Thursday. Tests have proved that an outbreak of avian flu among chickens in a village in the north-eastern state of Kelantan, first revealed on Wednesday, was caused by the H5N1 virus.
South African steel producer Iscor on Thursday once again touched a fresh all-time high, this time R47,80 a share, due to the group’s strong results released on Wednesday and the prospect of a possible special dividend of as much as R13 a share, as well as strong prospects.
South African media and entertainment group Johnnic Communications (Johncom) on Thursday announced details of restructuring at the Sowetan and Sunday World. A new editor-in-chief of both publications has been appointed and some retrenchment of staff at the two newspapers will occur.
Two weeks after a police squad raided a group of fetish shrines in the dense jungle of southern Nigeria, dozens of partially decomposed bodies still littered the groves of Okija’s ”evil forest”. Open wooden coffins lay abandoned in the dense undergrowth as spooked cops continued an investigation which has scandalised Nigeria.
Microsoft’s XBox video game system will team up with software maker Electronic Arts to stage an online interactive world cup tournament later this year, the companies announced on Thursday. The project is part of XBox’s sponsorship for soccer’s 2006 World Cup in Germany.
A three-day conference on ageing in Africa opened in the South African commercial hub of Johannesburg on Wednesday. "In parts of Africa, the burden placed on grandparents — especially grandmothers — is overwhelming," said Robert Huber of the United Nations Division for Social Policy and Development.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appeared determined on Thursday to plough on with his Gaza pull-out plan after his party shot down his ambition to bring the opposition Labour party into a new coalition. ”The prime minister will pursue the application of his plan with the same timetable,” a senior official said.
Elmer Bernstein, the versatile, Academy Award-winning composer who scored such movie classics as The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Escape and True Grit, died on Wednesday. He was 82 and had been in failing health for some time.
About -million is needed to fight the swarms of locusts that are marauding through West Africa, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, Jacques Diouf, said on Wednesday. ”Our first request [in early July] was for nine million dollars, but as the funds did not arrive, the scale of the problem now calls for -million,” he said during a visit to the Senegalese capital.
A record number of cows were killed on Tuesday when lightning hit a farm near Herning on Jutland, reports said Thursday. The 31 cows were likely the highest number to date killed by a single lightning bolt in Denmark, TV-Midt-Vest reported, citing a joint information office operated by Danish insurance companies.