The Independent Democrats (ID) in Cape Town have vowed to abstain in any vote that would hand control of the city council to the African National Congress, the Cape Argus reported on Thursday. Its website quoted ID caucus leader Simon Grindrod as saying: ”We have told the ANC: ‘Don’t count on us’.”
A five-cent slot machine in Atlantic City disgorged a -million windfall for an 84-year-old United States grandmother who promptly received four marriage proposals, according to reports on Thursday. Josephine Crawford had lost in the machine and was down to the last of her modest stake-money when she hit the jackpot on Tuesday evening at Harrah’s casino in the New Jersey gambling hotspot.
A series of strikes are to hit the country next month in protest against the World Trade Organisation’s Non-Agricultural Market Access (Nama) proposals, Cosatu said on Thursday. Spokesperson Patrick Craven said the Congress of South African Trade Unions is planning strikes in different sectors in May.
Police fired rubber bullets at 600 striking security guards at the Kaalfontein station between Pretoria and Johannesburg on Thursday morning. ”These people were on a train to go to the illegal security march in Johannesburg, but they started harassing and intimidating other passengers, so police fired rubber bullets at them,” said North Rand policing-area spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman.
Plettenberg Bay’s Bitou council has asked for advice from lawyers on how it should deal with the allegations against its municipal manager and its former mayor, speaker Lawrence Luiters said on Thursday. A report by the special investigating unit recommends criminal and disciplinary action against the two men.
Curfew and shoot-on-sight orders have been extended on the Nepalese capital to Friday morning, state television announced. ”The curfew has been extended until 3am on Friday,” said an onscreen strap-line announcement. The royal government had imposed the measure on Kathmandu from 2am Thursday until 8pm to thwart a mass demonstration.
At least six people were killed and dozens wounded when grenades exploded in towns in eastern and western Ethiopia, the latest in a string of mystery blasts in the country, police said on Thursday. Grenades were detonated at two bars and a church in the remote eastern town of Jijiga on Saturday evening.
A shop in Portugal plans to start selling ice cream in flavours such as shrimp, cod, tuna and grilled sardines when it opens next month, Lusa news agency reported on Thursday. The store will offer 60 exotic flavours alongside traditional options such as chocolate and vanilla, its owner told the agency.
The death toll from a boat accident in Ghana earlier this month was considerably lower than initial estimates suggested, officials said on Thursday as they launched an investigation into the accident. Initial reports said about 120 of the 150 people believed to have been on the boat had drowned, but on Thursday police downgraded the numbers to no more than 30.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was in Paris for a medical examination on Thursday, five months after undergoing stomach surgery in the French capital, French and Algerian officials said. Algerian officials said 69-year-old Bouteflika, who was operated on for a bleeding stomach ulcer at a Paris military hospital last November, was in the country for a routine consultation.