A LANDFALL in the ancient Egyptian city of Abydos has unearthed a cemetery of animal mummies that archaeologists hope could give clues to new religious cults in the Ptolemaic period, officials said this week. Eight tiny gold-plated limestone coffins containing what are thought to be mummified rats dating back to 300 B.C. have already been […]
A CHRISTIAN trader in Kano, Nigeria’s most populous northern state, claimed he had been caned 80 times by an Islamic vigilante group because he was found with a bottle of gin. Obi Livinus, 50, showed journalists the weals that resulted from Monday’s caning by Hizbah, a group which monitors the strict adherence to the Islamic […]
TANZANIA’S President Benjamim Mkapa has urged Tanzanians to change their sexual behaviour to curb the spread of Aids in the new year. An estimated 1.75 million people, almost 6% of the country’s population, are infected with HIV, which causes the disease. An estimated 600 000 Tanzanian children had lost one or both parents to Aids […]
TWO Namibian nationals claim that Angolan UNITA rebels abducted and tortured them and seven other villagers, killing three, a human rights organisation said. Daniel Ndeluudila, 54, and Simeon Hamulo, 23, told the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) that they and the other villagers were abducted on December 25 in northeast Namibia and taken across […]
A DEUTSCHE Telekom-led consortium has concluded a $120m deal to buy a 35% stake in Tanzania’s state-owned telephone monopoly and take over management control, a government representative said this week. Detecon, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, along with Dutch group Mobile Systems International Cellular will pay the amount directly to the Tanzania Telecommunication Company in […]
THE death toll on South Africas roads has passed the 700 mark since the start of the holiday season on December 1, says road agency Arrive Alive. Of the 711 people killed, 282 were passengers, 257 were pedestrians and 172 drivers. Eastern Cape has recorded the highest death toll of 125, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with […]
THE African Development Bank will give Mozambique $120m in loans to fight poverty, the Mozambican Planning Ministry has announced. Mozambique, whose devastating, 16-year civil war ended in 1992, had been one of southern Africa’s economic success stories, with an average 10% annual growth. But the floods cut economic growth this year to 3.8%. About $32m […]
THE retail price of petrol will fall by 10 cents per litre on Wednesday, the department of mineral and energy affairs said on Friday. The wholesale price of diesel will fall by 19 cents per litre and that of illuminating paraffin by 22 cents per litre. From that date, 93-octane petrol will cost 362 cents […]
A TEENAGE girl who has just given birth in northern Nigeria now faces 180 lashes on conviction of premarital sex by an Islamic court in Zamfara state. Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, 17, was sentenced to be flogged by a court at Isafe in September, but the punishment was not to be carried out until at least […]
ZIMBABWE security forces have shot and killed a man who tried to force his way into President Robert Mugabe’s residence in the capital on Thursday night. The man who, according to police, appeared drunk or mentally unstable, reportedly demanded access to State House but was denied permission. He then attacked the security officers on duty […]