ANC leaders seek ouster of African head
CAPETOWN, South Africa — In recent weeks, South African President Jacob Zuma’s government has suffered a series of stinging rebukes.
The ANC ordered his administration to reverse the reappointment of the head of the state electricity utility, who’s been implicated alongside the president in a graft probe. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, the nation’s biggest labor group, barred Mr. Zuma from speaking at its rallies. And a group of 101 ANC veterans and anti-apartheid activists issued a renewed plea to the NEC to hold a conference to discuss calls for the president to step down.
The South African Council of Churches said it collated testimony showing that a powerful elite centered around Mr. Zuma has been systematically siphoning off state assets.
Ex-PM injured in blast
ATHENS, Greece — Former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was injured after a letter bomb exploded inside his car in central Athens on Thursday in an attack that also left two Bank of Greece employees wounded.
Authorities said all three were conscious and hospitalized in stable condition.
Police were on alert to determine whether any other parcel bombs might have been sent out, and were checking postal and courier services.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Greek politicians have been targeted in the past by militant far-left and anarchist groups.
Mr. Papademos is an economist and a former vice president of the European Central Bank.
Atlantic hurricane season
MIAMI— Warm ocean waters could fuel an above normal Atlantic hurricane season, while storm-suppressing El Nino conditions are expected to be scarce, U.S. government forecasters said Thursday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast calls for 11 to17 named storms, with fiveto nine hurricanes. Twoto four hurricanes are expected to be “major” with sustained winds of at least111 mph.
Forecasters expect warmer-than-average waters across the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, weaker-than-average wind shear and a weak or nonexistent El Nino, said Ben Friedman, acting NOAA administrator. The Atlantic season is offto an early start with the brief appearance of a rare pres ea son tropical storm, Arlene, in April.
Also in the world ...
Three menwere executed in Gaza on Thursday, days after being found guilty of assassinating a top memberof the militant group Hamas — a crime the group accuses Israel of ordering.... Bahrain and Egypt on Thursday apparently joined Saudi Arabia andthe United Arab Emirates in blocking access to websites run by the pan-Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera, part of a growing regional dispute with Qatar after an alleged hack of its state-run-news agency. ... A military court in South Korea sentenced an army captain to six months in prison Wednesday for having sex with other service men, igniting an outcry against what rights groups called a homophobic “witch hunt” in the country’s military.