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Three U.N. observers and a translator wounded in south Lebanon, peacekeeping mission says

BEIRUT — A blast injured several United Nations technical observers outside a southern Lebanese border town on Saturday, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the area said — an incident two security sources told Reuters was the result of an Israeli strike.

The Israeli military’s spokesman, Avichay Adraee, denied that Israeli forces hit a vehicle belonging to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, near the town of Rmeish.

When asked to clarify whether its forces had hit any non-U.N. vehicles, the IDF told NBC News, “We did not strike in the area.”

In a statement, UNIFIL said that three military observers from the U.N. technical observer mission, UNTSO, and one Lebanese language assistant on a foot patrol along the Blue Line were injured “when an explosion occurred near their location.”

“They have now been evacuated for medical treatment,” the statement added. UNIFIL said it was now investigating the origin of the explosion, and has so far not attributed the strike to Israel.

UNTSO, which monitors the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel is unarmed. UNIFIL is an armed peacekeeping mission.

“All actors have a responsibility under international humanitarian law to ensure protection to non-combatants, including peacekeepers, journalists, medical personnel, and civilians,” UNIFIL said. “We repeat our call for all actors to cease the current heavy exchanges of fire before more people are unnecessarily hurt.”

Israel has been trading fire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon for nearly six months, in parallel with its war with Hamas in Gaza.

Hostilities between Israel and Lebanon have been escalating in recent days. Wednesday became the deadliest day in more than five months of fighting along the border, after a series of Israeli airstrikes killed 16 people in Lebanon, and a barrage of Hezbollah rockets killed one Israeli man.

Israel’s shelling of Lebanon has killed nearly 270 Hezbollah fighters, but has also killed around 50 civilians — including children, medics and journalists — and hit both UNIFIL and the Lebanese army.

In November, UNIFIL said one of its patrols was hit by Israeli gunfire in southern Lebanon, without leaving casualties.

UNIFIL last month said that the Israeli military violated international law by firing on a group of clearly identifiable journalists, killing a Reuters journalist. Israel denies targeting the reporters.

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South Wales military complex to be used to house Afghan escapees

A military complex will be used to house people who worked with the UK government in Afghanistan, but fled after the Taliban seized power.

East Camp in St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan, will house 50 people by the end of March with more arriving in April, the Ministry of Defence said.

The site can host a maximum of 180 people.

Those arriving are eligible under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) programme.

The scheme is for those who worked for or with the UK government in Afghanistan in “exposed or meaningful” roles.

It is aimed at those who could face retribution by the Taliban, which re-took power in Afghanistan in August 2021, due to their association with international forces.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to those brave Afghans who risked their lives working alongside our forces in support of the UK mission,” the MoD said.

Those eligible will be housed at East Camp for six weeks “before moving to more settled accommodation”, a spokesman added.

The MoD said it was working with the Welsh government and Vale of Glamorgan council to ensure the project was managed “with everybody in mind”, especially those who live locally.

In 2023, plans to house Ukrainian refugees at nearby Llantwit Major drew demonstrations from a far-right group.

The Welsh government said the programme was the responsibility of the MoD, which it said it was “working constructively with” to ensure those relocated to Wales from Afghanistan were “able to integrate effectively”.

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South Korea’s birth rate is so low, one company offers staff a $75,000 incentive to have children

Seoul — South Korea’s overall birth rate hit a record low of 0.72 in 2023, and with that figure projected to fall even further in 2024, some Korean businesses have started offering remarkably generous incentives to convince their workers to become parents.

“The declining fertility rate leads to a decline in the workforce and purchasing power and slowing economic growth, which in turn directly affects the sustainability of corporate management, meaning companies need to actively address the issue,” Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) president Chul Chung said recently at a Korean-Japanese business seminar dedicated to the topic.

Jin Sung Yoo, a senior research fellow at KERI, said the main reason for South Korea’s worryingly low birth rate was the “effect on career progression” associated with having children.

Many solutions were discussed at the seminar, and some eye-opening incentives have been announced in recent weeks.

The Lotte Group, a massive cross-industry conglomerate, said it had found success through “various in-house family-friendly policies.” The company said the existing program had helped push the internal birth rate among employees up to 2.05 during 2022, no small feat when the national average was 0.81.

Ok-keun Cho, head of corporate culture at the Lotte Group, said starting this year, the company would also be offering employees with three or more children a 7-9 seat family vehicle, free of charge.

The most generous parenthood incentive, however, is likely the one for workers at the construction and housing group Booyoung, which has been offering employees a $75,000 bonus for each new child they parent.

So far, the company says 66 employees have taken advantage — at a cost to Booyoung of about $5 million.

Company chairman Lee Joong Keun said he sees it as an investment in the nation’s future, warning that if the birth rate continues to fall, “Korea will face a crisis of national existence 20 years from now, including a decline in the economically productive population and a shortage of defense personnel to ensure national security and maintain order.”

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Under South Korea’s rules, $75,000 is the largest handout a parent can receive without having to pay additional tax on the month. But Booyoung’s boss said he wanted to go even further, announcing that he would work to help provide employees who become the parent of a third child with “housing with no tax burden on tenants and no maintenance responsibilities.”

The construction company chief said he was hoping to get the South Korean government to agree to provide the land necessary for his plans.

Meanwhile, city officials have said that Seoul’s local government plans to invest more than $1.3 billion during 2024 in the Birth Encouragement Project, an upgrade to an existing incentive policy.

The project has been largely focused on helping South Korean’s maintain their careers around family planning, but it’s been expanded to make more people eligible for the benefits, and those benefits now include infertility treatment and more childcare services.

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Burned bodies of Easter pilgrims still lie inside a bus that crashed off a bridge in South Africa

MMAMATLAKALA, South Africa (AP) — Emergency workers in South Africa were searching Friday for the bodies of victims after a bus carrying pilgrims to an Easter gathering plunged off a bridge and caught fire. An 8-year-old child was the only survivor of the crash that killed at least 45.

Hours after the Thursday afternoon crash, smoke seeped from the mangled, burned wreck underneath the concrete bridge. Authorities said it appeared that the driver lost control and the bus ploughed into the barriers along the side of the bridge and then over the edge. The driver was among the dead.

The crash happened in a mountainous region near the town of Mokopane, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the South African capital, Pretoria.

The Limpopo provincial government said the bus, which was carrying pilgrims from Botswana, veered off the Mmamatlakala bridge and plunged 50 meters (164 feet) into a ravine.

It said many bodies were burned beyond recognition and trapped inside the vehicle, while other victims had been thrown from the bus.

“We were at the scene,” said local resident Simone Mayema, who said he was one of the first to arrive. “We tried to help (but) there was nothing we could do because there was flames.”

Forensic investigators worked through the wreckage early Friday, but while some bodies had been recovered, others were believed to be still inside what was left of the bus, which was almost crushed flat.

There was no new information on the status of the child who somehow survived the horrific crash. Officials at the hospital where the child was taken declined to give an update. Government officials were expected to hold a press conference later Friday.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the victims appeared to be all from Botswana and had been on their way to the town of Moria in Limpopo for a popular Easter weekend pilgrimage that attracts hundreds of thousands of worshippers from South Africa and neighboring countries who follow the Zion Christian Church.

Ramaphosa had phoned Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi to offer his condolences and said the South African government would do all it can to help, according to a statement from Ramaphosa’s office.

Provincial authorities said the bus had a Botswana license plate.

South African Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga was in Limpopo province for a road safety campaign and changed her plans in order to visit the crash scene on Thursday after hearing the “devastating news,” the national Department of Transport said. Chikunga said there was an investigation underway into the cause of the crash and offered her condolences to the families of the victims.

The South African government often warns motorists to be cautious during the Easter holidays, which is a particularly busy and dangerous time for road travel as millions of South Africans travel from cities back to their rural family homes or make religious trips.

Foreigners also make long road journeys back to their neighboring home countries as Easter Friday and Easter Monday are both national holidays, giving people four days off.

More than 200 people died in road crashes during the Easter weekend last year. Just a day before this crash, the South African government called on people to be extra careful on Thursday and Friday because of the expected high volumes traveling by road, including around Moria.

The Zion Christian Church has its headquarters in Moria and this year is the first time its Easter pilgrimage has been set to go ahead since the COVID-19 pandemic. The pilgrimage is renowned as the church’s faithful pour into the small town from across the southern African region.

The worshippers gather near where a giant star — the church’s emblem — and the words “Zion City Moria” are painted in white on a hillside.

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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

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Car of South Africa’s ex-president hit by drunk driver

South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has been involved in a car crash but was unhurt.

A drunk driver collided with his “official armoured state vehicle” on Thursday evening, police have said.

But a leading member of his uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party alleged that he had been targeted.

He has been suspended by the governing African National Congress (ANC) and is campaigning for the MK ahead of May’s general election.

Mr Zuma was in the car, along with his official protection team, when it was hit on a road in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal at about 18:40 local time (16:40 GMT) on Thursday.

“No-one was injured, including members of the Presidential Protection Services. The former president was evacuated and taken to his residence,” a brief police statement said.

A 51-year-old man has been arrested for “drunken driving as well as… reckless and negligent driving”.

The MK’s party’s head of elections, Musa Mkhize, has told public broadcaster SABC that he thought the crash was deliberate rather than an accident.

“Unfortunately, we have been waiting for it to happen. The president was warned that before the day of the elections, he would be lying in the hospital. Thanks to the Presidential Protection Unit members who managed to keep the president safe,” he is quoted by News24 as saying.

Mr Zuma, 81, served as president from 2009 until 2018, when he had to step down because of corruption allegations, which he denies. As a former president, he is entitled to have an official protection team.

The crash happened on the same day that the country’s electoral commission said that Mr Zuma was barred from running as a candidate in the 29 May general election. It is believed that his 15-month jail sentence given in 2021 for contempt of court constitutionally excludes him.

Some opinion polls have suggested that the ANC’s share of the vote could fall below 50% for the first time in 30 years.

The MK, which was only recently formed, could dent some of its support, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal where Mr Zuma is very influential.

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8-year-old is the only survivor after bus plunges off cliff in South Africa, killing 45 people

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A bus carrying worshippers headed to an Easter festival plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames in South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 45 people, authorities said.

The only survivor of the crash was an 8-year-old child, who was receiving medical attention, according to authorities in the northern province of Limpopo.

The Limpopo provincial government said the bus veered off the Mmamatlakala bridge and plunged 164 feet into a ravine before busting into flames.

Search operations were ongoing, the provincial government said, but many bodies were burned beyond recognition and still trapped inside the vehicle.

Authorities said they believe the bus was traveling from the neighboring country of Botswana to the town of Moria, which hosts a popular Easter pilgrimage.

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Bus in South Africa plunges off bridge and catches fire, killing 45 people

A bus in South Africa plunged off a bridge and fell more than 150 feet Thursday, killing 45 people, officials said. Only one passenger, an 8-year-old girl, survived the crash.

The bus was traveling from Botswana to an annual Easter festival at a church in Moria, in South Africa’s northern province of Limpopo.

The driver of the bus reportedly lost control while driving over the bridge, colliding with barriers before falling about 50 meters onto a rocky surface, Limpopo’s Department of Transport and Community Safety said.

Rescue workers at the scene of the bus crash Mamatlakala, South Africa, on March 28, 2024.

Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety

Rescue operations continued late Thursday. Some bodies were burned beyond recognition, while others were trapped inside the vehicle’s debris, the department said.

A department spokesperson told CBS News that the 8-year-old survivor is a girl. She was being treated at a nearby hospital, though the department did not provide further details about her condition.

Rescue workers told local media that the bus was pulling a trailer, adding additional weight to the vehicle as it crossed the bridge.

“I am sending my heartfelt condolences to the families affected by the tragic bus crash near Mamatlakala,” Sindisiwe Chikunga, South Africa’s Minister of Transport, said at the crash scene. “We continue to urge responsible driving at all times with heightened alertness as more people are on our roads this Easter weekend.”

—Sarah Carter contributed reporting.

S. Dev

S. Dev is a news editor for CBSNews.com.

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A bus plunges off a bridge in South Africa, killing 45 people. 8-year-old child is only survivor

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A bus carrying worshippers headed to an Easter festival plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames in South Africa Thursday, killing at least 45 people, authorities said.

The only survivor of the crash was an 8-year-old child, who was receiving medical attention, according to authorities in the northern province of Limpopo.

The Limpopo provincial government said the bus veered off the Mmamatlakala bridge and plunged 50 meters (164 feet) into a ravine before busting into flames.

Search operations were ongoing, the provincial government said, but many bodies were burned beyond recognition and still trapped inside the vehicle.

Authorities said they believe the bus was traveling from the neighboring country of Botswana to the town of Moria, which hosts a popular Easter pilgrimage.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

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South Africa’s Main Opposition Leader Resists Coalition With ANC

(Bloomberg) — South Africa’s main opposition party will resist forming a coalition with the ruling African National Congress in order to govern the country should it need to.

South Africa Has Many of World’s Worst Air Pollution Sites, Study Says

(Bloomberg) — South Africa is home to many of the world’s worst emission sites for toxic nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide and most of those are operated by the nation’s state power utility, according to Greenpeace.