A round-up of today's other stories in brief
At least 65 die in Namibia floods
WINDHOEK – Heavy flooding in Namibia has killed at least 65 people and displaced 60,000, damaging crops and infrastructure in the southwest African state, a UN report said yesterday.
“Sustained high water tables over the past three years mean that it may take months for the floodwater to subside completely,” noted the report by the office of the UN resident disaster co-ordinator.
About 228,500 had been affected by the floods that cut roads in the north and forced the government to fly in aid, it added.
Government officials said the cost of the damage was expected to be in the millions of dollars. – (Reuters)
Israel hit by rocket attack from Gaza
JERUSALEM– Two rockets were fired into Israel by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip yesterday, police said, ending a lull in cross-border violence since an informal ceasefire took effect earlier in the week.
Israel often responds with air strikes in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli spokesman said two rockets were fired in the direction of the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Ashekelon but neither caused injuries. Violence flared last week after Hamas militants fired an anti-tank rocket across the border at an Israeli school bus, critically wounding an Israeli teenager. Israel retaliated, killing 19 Palestinians. – (Reuters)
Baker eats humble pie over Nazi cake
VIENNA – An Austrian baker, under investigation for icing cakes with Nazi symbols, has apologised to the head of a Holocaust awareness group for causing offence.
The cake-maker met the head of the Austria Mauthausen Committee, which has called for the bakery to be banned.
“I called him because from media reports I got the impression that he knew what he had done was wrong and that he was sorry for it,” said head of the committee Willy Mernyi.
Austrian law bans the use of Nazi symbols. The baker said he was making what a customer wanted.