Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein launched into a new tirade against his trial on Wednesday and lambasted the interior ministry as the tumultuous process resumed after a three week break. The only defendant in the court, Saddam Hussein was dressed in a crisp black suit and appeared composed as judge Rauf Abdel Rahman reopened his trial on crimes against humanity at the high-security Baghdad courthouse.
The JSE roared to another record high on Wednesday morning, led by resources heavyweights Anglo American and BHP Billiton, which continued to gain ground in London. Dealers expressed surprise at the JSE’s rally, given the rand’s continued strength and the fact that commodity prices had eased from their overnight highs.
An official probe into the helicopter crash that killed former south Sudanese leader John Garang last year concluded the pilot was to blame, a member of the investigation panel said on Wednesday. Siraj al-Din Hamid told reporters in Khartoum that the final report was submitted to Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Tuesday night.
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Jacob Zuma has repeated that he believed the woman who accused him of rape wanted to have sexual intercourse with him. He told the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday that the woman followed him to his bedroom and then sat on his bed, which indicated to him her intentions were to have intercourse.
The Zimbabwe government on Tuesday said it would discuss the case of former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam with Addis Ababa only, rejecting calls by the opposition and civic groups to hand him back to his country for trial. Mengistu, who has lived in exile in Zimbabwe since fleeing an armed rebellion that ended his rule in 1991, is wanted in Ethiopia to stand trial.
France will commit around R2-billion to South Africa for development in infrastructure, productivity and environment and energy, French Minister for Co-operation and Development Brigitte Girardin said on Tuesday. Girardin announced this in Johannesburg after meetings with President Thabo Mbeki and Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Continued decline in Zimbabwe’s tobacco production could bring the tobacco industry "to its knees" if unchecked, a Zimbabwe Parliamentary committee has been told. According to the country’s state-owned <i>The Herald</i> newspaper, the tobacco industry painted a gloomy picture on the state of preparedness ahead of this year’s season because of "numerous challenges" faced.
Nintendo said on Wednesday it would launch its "brain-training" software, a megahit in Japan, in the United States and Europe in hopes of winning customers who do not like video games but worry about aging. The software is billed as checking the ages of players’ brains by quizzing them on maths, reading and other simple tasks.
Filippo Inzaghi refuses to relent — neither to injuries nor a late-game deficit. The striker scored two goals, including an 88th-minute winner, to advance AC Milan to the Champions League semifinals with a 3-1 win over Lyon on Tuesday. In October, Inzaghi returned from a slow-healing left ankle injury, which has required two operations.
Landmines laid in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s five-year civil war have killed almost 1 800 people since the end of the conflict, the United Nations anti-landmine centre in DRC said on Tuesday. The centre’s director, Harouna Ouedraogo, said that landmines kill people every month in the vast African country.