THREE children were killed when a bomb dating from the 1954-1962 Algerian war of independence exploded in Ouled Hezaz, near the countrys eastern border with Tunisia. The two sisters and their brother found the bomb on Friday on the so-called “Challe et Morice” line – an electrified borderline which French troops densely planted with land […]
SIX Algerian religious students were killed and one injured in an attack by Islamic militants in the village of El Hnenfa west of Algiers, security services said on Sunday. Witnesses said the six, aged from 24 to 32, had been shot at a monastery where they were studying the Koran and theology just outside the […]
TRADE and Industry Minister Alec Erwin has censured Khaya Ngqula, chief executive of the Industrial Development Corporation, and cut his bonuses in half at the weekend, the Business Day newspaper reported on Monday. The report said Erwin’s move followed the IDC board’s failure to agree on whether or not to fire Ngqula for receiving irregular […]
AN Egyptian child lived for nearly two years with half a ballpoint pen stuck in his brain after it entered through an eye, the Egyptian press reported this week. Ibrahim Farahat, now 10, fell down two years ago, and a ballpoint pen went into his eye, causing him to faint for a minute, his mother […]
THE government of Congo-Brazzaville has banned shark fishing off its Atlantic coast to prevent depletion of stocks caused by massive demand in Asia for shark fins. Shark fishing in the area took off in 1998, said Augustin Kegui, speaking for Ghanaian fishermen in Pointe-Noire. “You can catch four to five sharks a day,” Kegui said, […]
A TOTAL of 354 Sierra Leonean rebels and 255 fighters from a state backed militia had handed-over their weapons by the third day of a disarmament pact in the war-ravaged north of the country, a UN representative said. Rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) disarmed at several collection points over the past few days […]
ELEVEN African First Ladies held their own summit in Rwanda’s capital Kigali Sunday as part of the fight against Aids which includes 25 million sufferers in Africa. The three-day gathering ending on Tuesday would come up with a plan of action against Aids in Africa by 11 wives of presidents of sub-Saharan Africa, said the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cairo | Monday AN insurance agency specialising in providing political risk insurance to traders doing business in conflict-ridden Africa will be launched on August 31 this year in Uganda, the head of a regional group said on Sunday. Secretary General Erastus Mwencha of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) said […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday ALLAN Boesak, the jailed anti-apartheid leader and cleric, walked out of the Goodwood prison at 6am this morning, after serving a third of his three-year sentence for fraud and theft. Boesak, a flamboyant former leader of the African National Congress in the Western Cape province, was in 1999 convicted […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bloemfontein | Monday A THREE-day hearing is expected to start in London on Monday to determine a final date and processes to be followed for a lawsuit by about 5_000 South Africans suffering from asbestos-related diseases against British mining company Cape plc. According to the claimants’ South African-based lawyer, Richard Spoor, the hearing […]