A Boeing 737 belonging to Angola’s state TAAG airline crashed in the northern city of M’banza Congo on Thursday, killing at least six people and badly injuring others, Angola’s Angop news agency said. The airplane was carrying 78 passengers and was en route from Luanda to M’Banza Congo, which is in northern Angola.
African National Congress (ANC) delegates attending the party’s policy conference in Midrand agreed there is still a need for the tripartite alliance, national executive committee member Joel Netshitenzhe said on Thursday. The alliance should be made up of the social movement, trade-union movement and the revolution movement.
Japan’s hot-dog eating champion headed on Thursday to New York to defend his world-famous United States title despite suffering a serious jaw injury. Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi is suffering from jaw arthritis and cannot open his mouth wide enough to even fit in two fingers.
With the small-business tax-amnesty deadline looming, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) will extend its office hours from Thursday, a Sars spokesperson said. From Thursday, Sars branch offices will extend their operational hours until 6pm, Adrian Lackay said. Sars offices will also be open on Saturday.
Floods in eastern Afghanistan triggered by unseasonal downpours have left at least 56 people dead with about 100 plucked to safety overnight with the help of Nato helicopters, officials said on Thursday. In many provinces there was also damage to homes, agricultural land, roads, wells and livestock.
Muggles from all corners of Japan descended on Tokyo on Thursday as Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe swept up the red carpet to the delight of a huge crowd at the premiere of his new film. Japanese ticket winners were the first general viewers in the world to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Most public-service unions on Thursday agreed to sign the government’s final wage offer, ending the longest public-service strike in South African history. Although teachers’ unions, whose members were at the forefront of the strike, did not accept the deal, majority approval means it will be implemented across the whole public service.
Egypt on Thursday finally banned all female circumcision, the widely practised removal of the clitoris that just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl. Officially the practice — which affects both Muslim and Christian women in Egypt — was banned in 1997, but doctors were allowed to operate ”in exceptional cases”.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is exploring the possibility of entering into a coalition with other parties in Parliament. The leader of the official opposition in the National Assembly, Sandra Botha, told the Cape Town Press Club on Thursday that a coalition brings ”more weight” to bear on important issues.
A group opposed to Potchefstroom’s expected name change to Tlokwe has threatened to ”punish” the town’s residents if the mayor doesn’t reverse the name-change procedure within 40 days, a mayoral spokesperson said on Thursday. Meanwhile, another street sign bearing former president Nelson Mandela’s name has been defaced.