Johannesburg - Several thousands in South Africa on Thursday took

Johannesburg/Harare  - A Zimbabwe court Wednesday adjourned to Thursday a case in which six members of the main opposition party and a freelance journalist accused of terrorism, banditry and insurgency were appealing against being placed on remand.

Alec Muchadehama, lawyer for the seven spent Wednesday arguing in court that his clients must not be remanded as they had been kidnapped and tortured. They could face the death penalty if convicted.

Johannesburg  - The death toll in a storm that struck South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province over the weekend has risen to 18, according to the South African news agency Sapa, citing government officials.

Officials called the storm monstrous. Its victims included five people - including a family of four - killed by lightning. Another four people were washed away in a car in Durban's Kwa-Mashu area.

Other dead included a person washed away in Inchanga, three dead in Umzimkhulu, three more in Richmond and one each in Pietermaritzburg and Dalton.

Johannesburg  - A storm which struck KwaZulu-Natal province killed at least six people, including a family of four, the South African agency Sapa reported Sunday, citing government officials.

Social Development Minister Meshack Hadebe said of the storm's devastation: "It is huge. At least 10 areas have been devastated and more than 2,000 families were affected."

He confirmed that a family of four had died in Ndwedwe. Another person was killed in the Dalton area and another in Vryheid.

Premier Sbu Ndebele told Sapa the damage was extensive and that he, together with Hadebe would be visiting the affected areas.

Johannesburg - Helen Suzman, the South African anti- apartheid campaigner who died on Thursday at the age of 91, will be buried on Sunday, her daughter Frances Jowell said, according to the South African Press Agency SAPA.

Jowell said that Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein would lead the funeral service at the West Park cemetery in Johannesburg.

"A public memorial will be held in a few weeks' time," Jowell said.

According to Jowell, Suzman had died peacefully in her Johannesburg home.

Johannesburg/Harare - The International Federation of the Red Cross announced Wednesday that it has deployed seven so-called emergency response units
(ERUs) in the past week throughout Zimbabwe in response to the ongoing cholera crisis there.

The seven units include three basic health care units, two mass sanitation units, and two water supply units from Red Cross societies around the world.