Hundreds of people took to the streets in Johannesburg on Wednesday to protest a prolonged energy crisis causing record power cuts in South Africa.. Scheduled blackouts, known as load-shedding, have burdened South Africa for years, with state-owned energy firm Eskom failing to keep pace with demand and maintain its ageing coal power infrastructure.
Tourists revelled in wintry scenes across Japan on Wednesday, as much of the country was blanketed by snow in a cold snap that has killed at least one person and disrupted travel.. Top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said one person had died in the cold snap, while meteorologists warned of blizzards, high waves and traffic snarl-ups due to icy roads.
A retired NATO general leads a billionaire ex-premier going into the Czech presidential run-off that starts Friday, following an election campaign that saw Russia's war in Ukraine take centre stage.. - 'Difficult to figure out' - Since round one earlier this month, the election has been dominated by the war in Ukraine.
Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu was heading home from exile on Wednesday to "write a new chapter" following the president's lifting of a ban on political assembly.. His decision follows President Samia Suluhu Hassan's announcement this month that a ban on political rallies imposed by her hardline predecessor John Magufuli would be lifted, in an overture to the opposition.
Soweto is full of gritty urban landscapes and alleys which evoke its history as one of apartheid's battlegrounds.. "Gold is always here," said Lebele, who said he was deeply attached to the seemingly desolate landscape.
A singing bowl held by a Buddhist monk was struck once for each of seven people shot dead in Half Moon Bay as residents gathered to grieve in a local church late Tuesday.. "I never thought this would happen in this community in a million years," said Kemera Gilbert, a Northern California woman who moved to Half Moon Bay to escape the stresses of life.
When an Asian man sprayed bullets around a dance studio full of Asian revelers in California, it sent shockwaves through the community.. When another Asian man attacked fellow Asian and Hispanic farmworkers in the same state two days later, that shock turned to disbelief.
Japan and South Korea's coast guards were searching Wednesday for eight crew from a cargo ship that sank between the two countries, after 14 others were rescued.. In 2020, a cargo ship with 43 crew and 6,000 cattle on board sank off southwestern Japan after being caught up in a typhoon.
Swiss watches are in high demand these days, but sales of second-hand timepieces are also booming, driven by Generation Z buyers who want luxury goods but are also sustainability-minded.. And furthermore, buying certain Swiss luxury watches new is getting harder, as the booming market means longer waiting lists.
In DR Congo's bustling capital Kinshasa, the faithful are flocking to impromptu market stalls in churchyards to buy t-shirts and wax tissues adorned with the image of Pope Francis, ahead of the pontiff's visit.. Berthe Baleweya, a woman who'd come to Kinshasa's Notre-Dame du Congo cathedral to buy a Francis-themed wax cloth, told AFP that wearing the pope's image would be a "great blessing".
