Dakar—African governments are nervously
confronting a mounting wave of often deadly
social unrest caused by the soaring cost of food
and fuel. Forty people died during price riots
in Cameroon in February. There also have been
deadly troubles in Ivory Coast and Mauritania
and other violent demonstrations in Senegal and
Burkina Faso—where a nationwide strike against
price rises is to start Tuesday.
Seoul—The conservative party of new South Korean
President Lee Myung-Bak is poised to win
Wednesday’s general election despite a barrage
of threats from North Korea against his
administration, analysts say. The former CEO won
a huge victory over his liberal rival in
December’s presidential poll with his “Economy
First” pledge.
Sydney—Climate change is likely to lead to
higher rates of some infectious and respiratory
diseases as well as more injuries from storms
and bushfires, a report by Australian doctors
warned Sunday. The Doctors for the Environment
Australia report found that over the next
decade, the health of children and the elderly
would be most at risk from rising temperatures.
Mogadishu—A hijacked French luxury cruise yacht
and its 30-member crew on Sunday sailed further
south, headed for the pirates’ Indian Ocean lair
off Puntland, northeast Somalia, a local
official said. “We are getting information that
the pirates are now moving towards southern
coastal area of Garaad where I believe they will
stay,” said Abdullahi Said Aw-Yusuf, local
government official in the area.
Noida, India—The parents of an Indian infant
girl born with two faces say that she is eating
and breathing normally despite having two pairs
of eyes and lips and two noses. The baby, who is
yet to be named, was born to factory worker
Vinod Kumar and his wife Sushma three weeks ago
in northern India and has been drawing a stream
of curious observers and others who consider her
a deity in this deeply religious Hindu-majority
country.
