Almost 20-million people have been displaced or stranded and more than 250 killed by flooding across India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Hundreds of kilometres of land stretching from the Gangetic plains to the Bangladeshi delta are under water after rivers burst their banks.
Iran’s reformist former president, Mohammad Khatami, has suffered a blow to his political standing by being pictured apparently shaking hands with women in breach of Islamic convention. The image triggered outrage among fundamentalists after being posted on conservative websites and YouTube.
Nasa on Saturday is to launch space probe Phoenix on a nine-month journey to Mars’ arctic region, where it will dig through ice for clues to past or present microbial life on the red planet. The Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled for blast-off from Cape Canaveral on August 4, with a first attempt at 9.36am GMT.
The son of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was one of a gang of men jailed for stabbing a teenager to death near a London underground station, a British judge revealed on Friday. Faisal Wangita (25) was one of 13 men convicted over the killing of Mahir Osman in January 2006. Osman was stabbed more than 20 times in a feud between rival gangs.
Darfur’s fractious rebel groups gathered in Tanzania on Friday for talks aimed at hammering out a united front following United Nations approval of a beefed-up peacekeeping mission in the Sudanese region. Sponsored by the African Union and UN, the meeting in the town of Arusha will seek to define a common stance among the rebels.
The tens of thousands of Zimbabwean refugees streaming south are a threat to South Africa’s stability, says Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Their numbers had increased from 4Â 000 a month in 2004 to 20Â 000 a month, he said in his weekly newsletter on Friday.
Taxpayers will be able to file their tax returns online by Monday, the South African Revenue Service said on Friday. Commissioner Pravin Gordhan told reporters in Johannesburg that the new electronic filing system would enable taxpayers to have their assessments done easier and faster.
Somali children are at risk from unexploded ordnance around the capital, Mogadishu, where daily fighting has forced 27Â 000 people to flee since June, United Nations agencies said on Friday. Bombing and gun battles in the capital prevent families from working or buying food, the United Nations refugee agency said.
South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni told MPs on Friday that there can be no question of linking the Zimbabwean dollar to the rand. He said to the portfolio committee on finance that the matter has not been considered by the Reserve Bank, nor by the Zimbabwean Reserve Bank, nor has it been raised by the Zimbabwean Finance Ministry.
Afrikaans music pioneers NuL, Riku Latti and Thys Nywerheid invaded Jo’burg last week. Lloyd Gedye was there for the ride.