S Africa’s ex-president Zuma sent to jail
Reuters :South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma reported back to jail on Friday only to be swiftly released, the government said in the latest twist in the judicial saga over his contempt of court...
International
One killed in Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia
AFP :A Russian strike on a civilian building killed at least one person and wounded 14 in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said. “A fire broke out in a civilian...
Prolonged drought deepens Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis
Reuters :In parched brown hills in north Afghanistan, Abdul Hahad tears stalks of wheat out of the arid earth. In the third year of water shortages and high temperatures, his harvest is barely enough...
US proposes January start for Trump election trial
Reuters :US prosecutors on Thursday asked a federal judge to begin former President Donald Trump’s trial on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden on 2 Jan 2024....
Indonesia capital hit by major pollution spikes: monitor
AFP :Indonesian capital Jakarta has been the world’s most polluted city on four days this week, according to air quality monitor IQAir, as authorities fail to grapple with a spike in toxic smog. Air...
UK to host global energy security summit in early 2024
AFP :Britain will host an international energy security summit next year, the government announced on Thursday, inviting big oil-producing nations and companies but focusing also on net zero. The London Energy Security Conference, set...
Pope warns against ‘indifference’ after migrant shipwreck
AFP :Pope Francis on Thursday expressed his sorrow at news of the latest deadly migrant shipwreck in the Mediterranean, urging people not to become “indifferent” to such increasingly frequent tragedies. Forty-one people including three...
‘Al-Qaeda’ attack kills secessionist commander and three fighters in Yemen
Al Jazeera :A suspected al-Qaeda attack in southern Yemen has killed a military commander and three soldiers from a secessionist group, security officials and a witness said. Commander Abd al-Latif al-Sayyid and the three...
China, Philippines’ dispute over grounded warship heats up
Reuters :China again asked the Philippines to tow away a grounded warship – a World War Two-era vessel now used as a military outpost – from a disputed shoal on Tuesday (8 August), after...
Iraq bans media from using term ‘homosexuality’, says they must use ‘sexual deviance’
Reuters :Iraq’s official media regulator on Tuesday (8 August) ordered all media and social media companies operating in the Arab state not to use the term “homosexuality” and instead to say “sexual deviance,” the...
Pakistan court rejects jailed Imran Khan’s plea to suspend conviction
Reuters :A Pakistani high court on Wednesday turned down an appeal by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan that his conviction on corruption charges be suspended, his lawyer said, suggesting it was unlikely he...
Nine dead, two missing after fire at holiday home for disabled people in France
Reuters :Nine bodies were found in the smouldering ruins of a holiday home housing disabled people that caught fire in the early hours of Wednesday in eastern France, a chief firefighter said. Two more...