A heatwave that smashed all-time high temperature records in western Canada and the US Northwest has left a rising death toll in its wake as officials brace for more sizzling weather and the threat of wildfires.

Turkey officially withdrew on Thursday from an international treaty to prevent violence against women, enacting a decision that drew condemnation from many Turks and Western allies when President Tayyip Erdogan announced it in March.

The European Commission said on Wednesday it would propose legislation to phase out caged farming of animals, after a citizens' petition calling for the ban gathered more than one million signatures.

Former public protector Thuli Madonsela has welcomed former president Jacob Zuma's arrest.

President Vladimir Putin told Russians on Wednesday that the time would come when he would name his possible successor in the Kremlin, but said the choice would ultimately lie with voters.

The Hawaiian police officers who shot dead former SA rugby player Lindani Myeni in Honolulu in April will not be criminally charged for his murder.

Twitter Inc's website was back up late on Wednesday after being down for multiple users, according to outage monitoring website Downdetector.

A Nigerian politician was killed by bandits while on the road between two northern cities, one of his colleagues said on Wednesday, while a state governor's convoy came under fire in a separate incident that left three police officers injured.

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a recently-enacted Florida law that was meant to authorise the state to penalise social media companies when they ban political candidates, with the judge saying the law likely violated free speech rights.

Six more bodies have been found in the shattered ruins of a Miami-area condominium tower over the past 24 hours, officials said on Wednesday, bringing the confirmed death toll to 18 nearly a week after the building collapsed.

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the creation of a new Democratic-majority select committee to probe the January 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, after Senate Republicans in May blocked an independent commission.

Jewish settlers have agreed to quit an outpost that has become a flashpoint for clashes with Palestinians who also claim the land, officials said, under a deal aimed at addressing an awkward political test for the new Israeli government.

Online registration for people aged 50 years and older wanting to get the Covid-19 vaccine starts on Thursday.

Burkina Faso's president Roch Kabore has taken over the role of defence minister in a cabinet reshuffle aimed at stopping a wave of jihadist attacks that has plagued the West Africa country in recent years, according to a presidential decree on Wedne...

"It was not an easy time being in ICU for so long. I am one of the lucky ones. Doctors still can’t believe I made it," said Sarawat Ajam.

A 25-year-old woman who allegedly murdered her baby and initially lied to police, alleging the child had been kidnapped, is set to return to the Ga-rankuwa magistrate’s court

The initiative comes days after the WHO announced setting up a technology transfer hub in SA to give companies from poor and middle-income countries on the continent the know-how and licences to produce Covid-19 vaccines.

Employees can refuse the vaccine on constitutional grounds. But employers can make vaccination mandatory to provide a safe workplace.

The department of water and sanitation says SA needs R120bln in the next 10 years to ensure that water security is guaranteed.

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Researchers have found that being a smoker, being hypertensive, diabetic and having a cardiovascular disease were more likely to lead to death than an increasing body mass index (BMI).

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Acting health minister Mmamoloko Kubayi on Wednesday defended the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority leadership against ongoing attacks.

Three men convicted of murder relating to the torching of a bus that was transporting Modikwa Platinum Mine workers in 2018, killing six of them, have each been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Gauteng recorded 11,160 new cases in the past 24 hours, while the Western Cape recorded more than 2,000 new infections and three provinces saw more than 1,000 cases.

Pennsylvania's highest court on Wednesday overturned Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction and ordered that he be released from prison immediately.

"We estimate they stole well over R1m before we were able to shut them down,” Gabler Medical said.

Auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke said the improvements required to prevent accountability failures in municipalities, or to deal with them appropriately when they do occur, do not exist.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) said on Wednesday it is providing support to a “survivor” who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a fellow student leader.