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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is ordering airlines to turn over the names of passengers who have recently been in any of eight southern African countries where the COVID-19 Omicron variant is known to be spreading. The CDC issued the directive to airlines late Tuesday, according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the order. It requires all airlines to collect and turn over names and contact information for all travelers who have been to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa or Zimbabwe in the past 14 days. The letter from the CDC cited “the...

In South Africa, about 150 km west of port Maputo, Mozambique, a giant stone city has been discovered. It became possible to determine the age of the site by measuring the erosion rate of the dolerite. The 1500 square kilometre metropolis was believed to have been built between 160,000 and 200,000 years ago!

Along with locations in North and South America, Greenland, Western Europe, and the Middle East, we can now add southern Africa to the list of places where scientists have uncovered evidence of a calamitous event that happened 12,800 years ago. This evidence of a 12,800-year-old platinum spike in Africa is the first to be found on the continent, and it’s yet further evidence in support of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis. According to this theory, either a comet or asteroid struck Earth during the Pleistocene, triggering an impact winter that saw temperatures plummet around the globe. The associated loss of...

Harare admits land reform has failed as the deadline passes for the last white farmers to leave their land. Zimbabwe's bakeries have shut and supermarkets have warned there will be no bread for the foreseeable future as the government admitted that wheat production had collapsed following the seizure of white-owned farms. The agricultural ministry announcement that the wheat harvest is only about a third of what is required, and that imports are held up by lack of hard currency, came as a deadline passed today for the last white farmers to leave their land or face prosecution for trespass. The...

Archbishop Ncube said starvation stalked Zimbabwe A prominent Roman Catholic archbishop in Zimbabwe has called for mass street protests to force President Robert Mugabe from power.The Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, told a news conference in Harare that he was willing to stand in front of "blazing guns" if necessary. Scores of opposition activists have been arrested since police broke up a banned rally on 11 March in Harare. There is increasing discontent over the country's deepening economic crisis. Archbishop Ncube said that if Zimbabweans took to the streets in their thousands to demand that President Mugabe step down,...

Mr Mugabe has rejected criticism of the violence from Western nations Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has threatened to expel Western diplomats whom he accuses of supporting the political opposition. The veteran leader said diplomats who wanted to represent their countries had to "behave properly" or they would be thrown out. His government has faced criticism after opposition activists who tried to stage a rally in Harare were beaten. But the authorities say opposition protesters caused the violence. Earlier in the day, the bruised and bandaged opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, left hospital in a wheelchair. He says he was beaten...

Mr Mugabe said the violence had been started by the MDC Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe has said Western critics of his rule can "go hang", in response to accusations of mistreatment of opposition leaders.Mr Mugabe said the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had triggered violence which led to arrests and alleged beatings of its leaders. Western countries are considering extending sanctions against Zimbabwean officials in response to the violence. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is still in hospital. When they criticise the government when it tries to prevent violence and punish perpetrators of that violence we take the position...

Cut and bruised, Morgan Tsvangirai could barely walk Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says the beating he received at the hands of police should be an "inspiration" for the struggle.Mr Tsvangirai was speaking from hospital as he received blood transfusions for internal bleeding and treatment for a fractured skull. He and 49 opposition activists were arrested at a rally on Sunday. Zimbabwe's information minister said the injuries had been inflicted when Mr Tsvangirai and others attacked police. Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the BBC that police confiscated "killer" weapons from the activists, adding that four policemen were in hospital as a...

Famine and starvation is crippling southern African countries north of the Limpopo and the situation is set to worsen as Spoornet - which supplies them with food - reduces the number of trains which transport grain. With the government's privatisation of parastatals, including Transnet whose subsidiaries include Spoornet, the number of trains is expected to be cut drastically to save the cost of maintaining the ageing fleet. World Food Programme (WFP) deputy executive director Jean-Jacques Graisse said: "We see this as a crisis of enormous proportions. The situation worsens with each day." The reports, based on recent WFP missions to...

President Thabo Mbeki has again avoided criticising the policies of President Robert Mugabe's government over the growing food crisis in Zimbabwe. Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday, Mbeki said South Africa was considering increasing its donations of food to the United Nations World Food Programme to relieve the regional drought. The drought is threatening up to 13 million people in southern Africa - five million of them in Zimbabwe where the government's land seizure policies have been blamed for exacerbating shortages. Asked about the cause of food shortages in the region, Mbeki said: "I don't know. I...

Wednesday, 29 May, 2002, 15:03 GMT 16:03 UK Millions at risk in southern AfricaBasic food supplies have been destroyed by droughtAt least 10 million people face starvation in four southern African countries unless the international community acts swiftly, UN aid agencies have warned. We have to get the message out to donors - a famine can be averted if they act quickly WFP regional director Judith Lewis A report jointly compiled by the UN World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation - one of the most comprehensive to date of the crisis - said that famine in Malawi,...