SA must decide whether to pull out or stay in the Central African Republic, writes Peter Fabricius.

Obama urges US to honour ‘shared vision of prosperity’

PARIS: A lobster thrown live into boiling water may suffer for many seconds, said a scientist who argued yesterday that crustaceans can likely feel pain.

TOKYO/SEATTLE: Airlines scrambled yesterday to rearrange flights as Europe, Japan, Qatar and India joined the US in grounding Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner passenger jets while battery-related problems are investigated.

Algeria raided a remote Sahara gas plant yesterday in an attempt to free dozens of foreign hostages held by militants with ties to Mali’s rebel Islamists, UK and Japanese diplomats said. The militants claimed strafing by Algerian helicopters killed 35 hostages and 15 kidnappers.

]]> 1.1454113 Fri, 18 Jan 2013 09:00:00 +0200 http://www.iol.co.za/french-soldiers-set-to-face-islamists-1.1453321

BAMAKO: French troops would be in direct combat against Islamist fighters in Mali “ within hours”, the country’s army chief, Admiral Edouard Guillaud, said yesterday as France’s ground forces pushed north towards rebel-held territory in the six-day-old offensive.

Lausanne, Switzerland: Cycling could be dumped from the Olympic programme if Lance Armstrong implicated the sport’s governing body of covering up a widespread doping scheme, International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound said yesterday.

LONDON: Two people were killed after a helicopter hit a crane at a building site in central London and plunged to the ground in a ball of flames yesterday, the police said.

BOSTON: New research from Harvard University’s School of Public Health and the non-profit Legacy Foundation found that graphic warnings on cigarette packets may help smokers who are trying to quit.

STOCKHOLM: Swedish officials said a cleaner stole an empty commuter train from a train depot and drove it to a suburb of Stockholm, where it derailed and slammed into an apartment building.