Flash floods and rains in Sudan have killed 59 people and damaged 35 000 homes, Awad Widatallah Hussein, spokesperson for the government’s emergency response committee, said on Thursday. Officials described the floods as the worst in memory.
United States-led troops, backed by air power, killed more than 50 insurgents in a battle in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand, the US military said on Thursday. There were no casualties among coalition troops in the 12-hour battle with Taliban militants, which finished early on Thursday, it said in a statement.
Libya accused Bulgaria on Thursday of violating an agreement between the two countries when it pardoned six medical workers convicted of intentionally infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV. Libya’s formal protest came a day after the HIV victims’ families condemned Bulgaria’s ”recklessness”.
Hundreds of thousands of Britons hit by the worst flooding in 60 years faced further misery on Thursday as forecasters predicted more rain in the areas most badly affected. Two people were found dead in a cellar in the west of England, raising to at least eight the number of people to have died as a result of record rainfall.
Rain driven by strong wind lashed the Cape Peninsula on Thursday, flooding more informal settlements on the Cape Flats. Cape Town disaster management spokesperson Johan Minnie said that on Thursday afternoon the city was providing shelter, food and blankets to about 1 200 people.
The African Union on Thursday urged Darfur’s disparate rebel factions to attend an upcoming meeting in Tanzania to find a common position and prepare for peace talks with Sudan’s government. ”The meeting will enable all the groups involved in the Darfur crisis to draw up a common position,” the AU’s special envoy for Darfur said.
Several alternative medicines that have been banned in other countries have easily found their way into the South African market, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday. Briefing the media in Cape Town, DA spokesperson on health Mike Waters said the South African government was doing nothing to stop these dangerous products from being sold to people.
The state opposed bail for the alleged hijacker of Judy Sexwale during his appearance in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. Mbuso Simelana (27) of Thembisa was arrested on Monday in connection with the hijacking of Judy, wife of presidential hopeful Tokyo Sexwale.
South African shopkeepers are benefiting from a flood of people crossing the border to stock up on goods no longer available in crisis-hit Zimbabwe, but there could be trouble in store on the inflation front. ”We’ve seen a huge escalation in the number of Zimbabweans,” said Pieter Koekemoer, manager of a shop on the Zimbabwe-South Africa border town of Musina.
South African miners working for De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond company, have voted to go on indefinite strike from next week in a dispute over pay, their union said on Thursday. National Union of Mineworkers chief negotiator Peter Bailey said the vote to strike from next Tuesday was taken on Wednesday night after talks with De Beers reached an impasse.