Readers write in about the Freemasons, and the new mayor of London.
Alleged ties to freemasonry and other conflicts have caused red faces in the Democratic Alliance ahead of municipal elections.
The DA is evading to address the issue of whether secret Freemasonry membership can mix with transparent candidate list procedures.
Thousands gathered on Friday around charred destruction from a deadly pipeline explosion as Nigerian firefighters doused flames triggered by the blast that had burnt for more than a day. Local officials put the death toll at 15, disputing the Nigerian Red Cross’s claim that about 100 people were killed.
The masks kept the dust from the firefighters’ faces, but did nothing to conceal the reek of death. On a mound at the heart of the town’s middle school, they were frantically digging out bodies. Sometimes they scooped at the debris with bare hands; sometimes, they summoned a winch to lift out large chunks of masonry.
Rescuers on Sunday pushed on with efforts to find more survivors from the rubble of the Angolan police headquarters that collapsed in the capital. The disaster is feared to have claimed seven lives. The national police commissioner said he was optimistic that more people would be found alive.
Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders may soon erase the most potent symbol of the island’s division, by reopening a bullet-pocked crossing between the two sides closed for nearly half a century. Hopes of ending decades of estrangement were revived after last month’s election of Cyprus President Demetris Christofias.
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/ 15 January 2008
At least three people were killed in an explosion that damaged a United States diplomatic car in Beirut on Tuesday and wounded a US passenger, security sources said. The sources said a total of 16 people were wounded in the explosion, which occurred in a Christian neighbourhood of Beirut. They said no US personnel were killed.