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{{A South African truck driver recently drowned while swimming in the Zambezi River in Chirundu. Kele Lawrence Maseko (22) went to take a bath with his colleague along the banks of the Zambezi River on Sunday last week.}}

However, his colleague jumped into the water to swim and he remained behind before he later decided to join him. Maseko swam about 15 metres from the river bank before disappearing into the water.

Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident adding that investigations were in progress and the Police Sub-Aqua Unit retrieved the body two days later.

Meanwhile, a Zambian truck driver was crushed to death after his colleague moved the vehicle while he was retrieving the vehicle clearance papers that had fallen under the truck.

On Wednesday last week, Gift Chimedza (31) drove to Chirundu Border Post with his assistant, Robert Chakanetsa (32), where they headed to the Vehicle Inspection Depot.

Chakanetsa was sent to process the inspection papers and on his way back some of the papers were blown by the wind and landed underneath the truck. Chimedza reportedly moved the truck crushing Chakanetsa’s head in the process.

{Herald}

{{Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Sunday promised cash handouts and a rise in wages amid unprecedented protests calling for him to step down.

However, the regime said it would not backtrack on a cut to fuel subsidies that first sparked the deadly unrest.}}

At least 50 people have died in clashes during the past week between thousands of protesters and police, according to international rights groups.

The unrest began in the city of Wad Madani south of the capital Khartoum on September 23, but quickly spread to at least nine districts in Khartoum and seven cities across the country.

In a move aimed at pacifying a frustrated public, the government said it would distribute one-off payments to families in need, boost public sector salaries starting in October and raise the minimum wage in January.

Protests in Khartoum on Sunday were smaller than in previous days, according to reports, but families of victims from previous clashes pledged to continue pressure until Bashir stepped down.

A memorial for a protester slain on Friday gathered around 3,000 people in Khartoum on Sunday, witnesses said.

The fuel austerity measure has been driven by a financial crunch since the secession of oil-producing South Sudan in 2011, which deprived Sudan of three-quarters of its oil revenues.

{{Schools and newspapers closed}}

Still concerned over lingering protests, the Education Ministry said on Sunday that schools will remain shut until October 20. High school students have led many protests in different districts in the capital.

Sudanese authorities have also clamped down on the media. The country’s largest daily newspaper, Al-Intibaha, has been forced to stop printing, according to the paper’s website, after the offices of Gulf-based satellite networks Al-Arabiya and Sky News Arabia were ordered shut.
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Several dailies have come under pressure to depict demonstrators as “saboteurs,” according to reports.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya Sunday, Sudan’s Foreign Minister defended the media blackout, claiming “media make revolutions,” the Associate Press reported.

“If the revolution is created by media, we have to be serious in dealing with it,” he said from New York, where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly.

{wirestory}

{{Malian troops clashed with Tuareg rebels in the northern desert town of Kidal for a second day on Monday, residents said, after the separatists ended a ceasefire with the new government last week.}}

The fighting began late on Sunday afternoon outside a bank in the center of Kidal, with both sides accusing the other of firing first. After calm returned overnight, shooting re-started early on Monday morning.

“The firing began at around 5 o’clock (1 a.m. ET) this morning between the army and the MNLA,” said Mohamed Toure, a trader. “I have not opened my shop today.”

The clashes are the latest in a series of attacks in recent days that threaten to derail peace efforts and complicate France’s plan to reduce its troop presence in the West African country after a military operation to destroy an Islamist enclave.

Colonel Souleymane Maiga, an army spokesman, said the shooting erupted outside the Malian Solidarity Bank (BMS) where fighting raged on Sunday. The MNLA said three of its fighters were wounded in Sunday’s combat.

On Friday, two soldiers had been injured in a grenade attack at the same place, a day after the MNLA suspended its participation in the peace process.

The rebels accuse newly elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of failing to honor a June ceasefire deal.

The agreement had committed Mali to opening talks on greater regional autonomy for the north within two months of a new government taking office.

Keita won an August 11 presidential runoff by a landslide with a pledge to restore Mali’s pride and reunite the impoverished former French colony.

A Kidal resident, who asked not to be identified, said the Tuareg rebels had brought arms and fighters into the town overnight. The combatants were loyal to local chieftain Iyad ag Ghali.

Ag Ghali founded Islamist group Ansar Dine, one of three armed Muslim militant factions which seized control of the northern two-thirds of Mali last year following a military coup in March.

The coup had been triggered by the government’s failure to tackle effectively a Tuareg revolt last year.

His whereabouts has remained unclear since France launched a ground-and-air operation in January that broke the control of the al Qaeda-linked groups over the sparsely populated desert region.

A military official, who also asked not to be identified, confirmed that Iyad Ag Ghali’s forces were entering the town.

Last week, a source close to the political talks had said that Ag Ghali’s men had camped some 40 km (25 miles) from Kidal.

{france24}