More than 10-million people in Southern Africa will need humanitarian assistance in the coming year because of poor agricultural production, food agencies said on Thursday. Following a recent crop assessment it was found that Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Swaziland are not able to grow enough food to meet domestic needs.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, facing a political crisis over allegations of vote fraud, said on Thursday she has asked her Cabinet members to step down but will not herself resign. ”I will not resign,” Arroyo said in a nationwide address, 10 days after she apologised to the nation for improperly calling an election official during the May 2004 presidential vote.
A group calling itself the Organisation of al-Qaeda Jihad in Europe, also identified in some reports as the Secret Organisation of al-Qaeda in Europe, claimed Thursday’s attacks in London and threatened similar strikes in Italy, Denmark and other "Crusader" states with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Barclays is looking forward to creating Africa’s ”pre-eminent bank” after the sanctioning of on Thursday of its R33-billion takeover bid for Absa. Judge Mohamed Jajbhay gave the go-ahead for deal on Thursday morning. He first dismissed an application by the human rights group Jubilee SA to postpone the sanctioning of the deal.
President Thabo Mbeki and his government have condemned Thursday’s attacks on London’s transport network. Mbeki said from the Group of Eight summit in Scotland that important issues such as climate change, poverty and underdevelopment, especially in Africa, should not now be put on the back burner.
Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom said on Thursday. A foreign ministry official had said earlier that British police warned the Israeli embassy in London of possible terror attacks minutes before the first explosion.
The world’s most powerful leaders got down to talks at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, on Thursday on aid to Africa and climate change, but the summit was brutally overshadowed by a series of explosions that hit London.
London’s entire underground railway network was closed down on Thursday after a series of explosions that caused a ”large number of casualties” and at least 33 deaths, police said. An explosion ripped through a double-decker bus just minutes after blasts rocked the underground. British Home Secretary Charles Clarke said there had been ”terrible injuries” in the attacks.
Explosions rocked the London subway and a double-decker bus on Thursday, causing at least two deaths, injuring scores of riders and sending victims fleeing from blast sites. British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the explosions a "series of terrorist attacks". A group calling itself "The Secret Organisation of al-Qaeda in Europe" has claimed responsibility for the blasts in a web statement, reports said.
i capital, a leading independent investment and advisory company, announced on Thursday it had concluded a broad-based empowerment (BEE) transaction with Sceptre Holdings and the Disability Empowerment Concerns Trust. The transaction results in these two BEE shareholders acquiring a 25,01% shareholding in i capital.