Israel on Wednesday launched its first major attacks in the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over the territory, killing at least four Palestinian fighters. Israel carried out air strikes against rocket launch sites in northern Gaza after militants fired at least one makeshift rocket into southern Israel. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for firing the rocket.
Desertification is the ”terrible twin evil” of climate change, Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Rejoice Mabudafhasi said in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday. ”Desertification is a significant problem for South Africa, threatening not only our ecological integrity, but the well-being of our people,” she said.
More than a dozen gunmen attacked two police bases in Mogadishu early on Wednesday with rocket-propelled grenades, sparking fire fights that killed at least two people, witnesses and police said. The attacks came just hours after a land mine exploded on Tuesday night.
Investment opportunities for South African business abound in the under-developed mountain kingdom of Lesotho, the South African-Lesotho business forum heard on Wednesday. Lesotho Prime Minister Phakalitha Mosisili told the forum the challenge was to see the opportunities available and ”make good use of them while they last”.
The new Green Point Stadium will be built in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. ”No other host city has had to go through as many processes as Cape Town, and no other stadium site in the country is as complex legally, politically, geologically, and financially,” she said at the launch of the 2010 host-city logo.
Six foreign medics sentenced to death for infecting Libyan children with Aids launched their final appeal on Wednesday after more than eight years behind bars for a crime they say they did not commit. As the hearing opened, relatives of the victims rallied outside the Tripoli courtroom, holding up pictures of their infected children.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation has not arranged to meet the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to discuss the rights to televise local soccer matches, both parties said on Wednesday. ”We’ve received nothing official from them, so I can’t comment,” said PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza.
Three suspects will appear in court on Thursday in connection with the murder of Cape Town theatre personality Taliep Petersen, police said. Superintendent Billy Jones said a third suspect was arrested on Tuesday afternoon after hours of being held for questioning. The suspect is a 34-year-old man from the Athlone area of Cape Town.
Former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira believes the London club must splash out on some big name players if they want to prevent Thierry Henry from being lured to a major club in Europe. Henry has been consistently linked with a move to Barcelona, despite insisting he wants to remain at the Emirates Stadium.
It features FC Barcelona — one of the most powerful and charismatic teams on the planet — in one of the most talked about club soccer matches played in South Africa in years. But lingering misgivings surround Wednesday night’s highly anticipated showpiece at Loftus, revolving mainly around how Mamelodi Sundowns will fare against daunting opposition.