AM Rosenthal, a brilliant, demanding editor who lifted The New York Times from economic doldrums in the 1970s and moulded it into a journalistic juggernaut known for distinguished reporting of national and world affairs, died on Wednesday at age 84.
China on Thursday blasted the Libyan government for holding talks with Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and letting him visit the country. "Regardless of China’s persuasion and strong opposition, Libya insisted on allowing Chen Shui-bian to stop over," said Chinese foreign-ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao.
A boy accused of killing the cousin of United States R&B singer Ashanti Douglas in a car accident last month was granted bail at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, a court official said on Thursday. The 17-year-old minor was remanded into the care of his parents as part of the conditions of bail on Wednesday.
Eight KwaZulu-Natal road-traffic inspectorate officials were scheduled to appear in court on corruption charges on Thursday, media reports said. After eight months of investigation and observing the allegedly corrupt officials, police descended on the men while they were in a meeting at work.
Two more security guards have been seriously assaulted in an incident linked to the security-industry strike, police said on Thursday. West Rand police spokesperson Captain Joseph Mogoai said the pair were accosted by a gang of 10 people, thought to be striking security guards.
An Egyptian suspected of involvement in the triple suicide bombings that killed 20 people in the Sinai peninsula last month surrendered to the security forces, police officials said on Thursday. The suspect, 25-year-old Khalil al-Menei from the northern Sinai town of al-Arish, was on a list of people wanted in connection with a string of terrorist attacks in the Sinai.
At least eight people were killed in violence in Iraq on Thursday amid a continued power vacuum as prime minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki missed a personal deadline to present his new Cabinet. Though the constitutional deadline for the new Cabinet is not until May 21, al-Maliki had pledged to have the government ready by Wednesday.
Zimbabwe civic society will next week commemorate Operation Murambatsvina, the government’s controversial urban-renewal exercise last year under which armed police and soldiers demolished townships and city backyard cottages, leaving close to a million people homeless.
The South African Trade Activity Index declined to 52 in April from 56 in March, reflecting a pull-back in trade conditions which was attributed to the number of trading days lost in April because of public holidays. However, the figure is still higher than the 50 recorded in February, the 47 recorded in January and December’s figure of 49.
John Thys still has not figured out how much his company has paid Google for bogus sales referrals caused by ”click-fraud” — a sham aimed at a perceived weakness in the internet search leader’s advertising network. But Thys says he has uncovered enough of it to conclude that Google is trying to shortchange his company and thousands of other advertisers.