Dilemma X

Russia’s ‘made-in-China’ Proton-M explodes during launch An unmanned rocket carrying Russian satellites veered off course and crashed a few seconds after liftoff early Tuesday, sending a cloud of highly toxic orange fumes toward the Kazakh city of Baikonur only 50 miles away. Pravda The upper stage of DM-03 Proton-M, which was installed on the booster […]

Croatia becomes newest European Union member BBC News Croatia has become the 28th member of the European Union, with crowds joining celebrations in the capital Zagreb. Fireworks lit the sky as membership became effective at midnight (22:00 GMT), with President Ivo Josipovic describing the event as historic. It comes almost two decades after Croatia’s brutal […]

President Barack Obama announces new power initiative for Africa By Julie Pace Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Challenging African youth to seize a “moment of great promise,” President Barack Obama declared Sunday that the future of the young and growing continent still rests in ailing South African leader Nelson Mandela’s vision for equality […]

European Union to open membership talks with Serbia European leaders agree on opening accession talks with Serbia by January, as bloc continues to enlarge to the east. Al Jazeera European Union leaders have agreed to open EU membership talks with Serbia by January as the bloc continued to enlarge to the east. The EU president, […]

South Africa: R56bn (US $5.55 billion) train deal gets the green light By Anna Cox The Star The R56 billion ($5.55 billion US), 10-year project to replace and transform South Africa’s passenger rail industry into a world-class service is going ahead. A recent visit by The Star to Alstom, the company that forms part of […]

China’s Shenzhou-10 astronauts return to Earth BBC News A capsule carrying three Chinese astronauts has landed safely after a 15-day mission in space. The astronauts travelled on the Shenzhou-10 craft to China’s space laboratory, the Tiangong-1. They completed manual docking exercises and astronaut Wang Yaping gave a video lecture to students back on Earth. The […]

ONGC, Oil India to Pay $2.5 Billion for Mozambique Field Stake By Rakteem Katakey Bloomberg Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd. (OINL), India’s biggest state-run explorers, will pay $2.5 billion to buy a stake in a Mozambique natural gas field from Videocon Industries Ltd. (VCLF) The two Indian companies will buy […]

Orania, a town white with fear Sapa-AFP Welcome to Orania, South Africa: a whites-only enclave established in 1991 during the dying years of apartheid. The town in the sparsely populated Karoo region is inhabited only by Afrikaners. These descendants of Dutch-speaking migrants who arrived in South Africa in 1652 with Jan van Riebeeck, now make […]

Sydney’s most expensive hotel room could be at the Star at Pyrmont Lucy Carroll The Sydney Morning Herald SYDNEY- Personal butlers, an infinity pool, a private sauna and massage room – that’s what $25,000 ($23,007 US) A a night will buy you in the Star casino’s proposed luxury villas for high rollers. Five of the […]

Kenya population to hit 73 million by 2030 By Musembi Nzengu The Star The Kenyan population is projected to shoot to shoot to 73 million people by the year 2030, a population expert said yesterday. The National Council for Population and Development deputy director for policy and research Vane Lumumba said yesterday the rapid population […]