The Khartoum government and the United Nations were at loggerheads on Tuesday over Darfur after a top UN envoy accused Khartoum of trying to cover-up ongoing violence in the troubled region of western Sudan. The authorities prevented chief humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland from visiting Darfur.
The United Nations’ top official on bird flu urged China on Tuesday to share its experience with other countries on how to tackle the disease. Speaking at the end of his third visit to China as UN coordinator for avian influenza, David Nabarro said he had tried to persuade Chinese officials that the knowledge and experience they gained fighting bird flu could help the rest of the world.
As clouds gather over British Prime Minister Tony Blair with feverish speculation on when he will hand over power, he joins a motley group of Western leaders whose terms in office are ending much less auspiciously than they started. Like United States President George Bush, Blair suffers from a perception that he has become a lame duck.
The combined value of black economic empowerment (BEE) merger-and-acquisition deals was R6,3-billion higher in 2005 than in 2004, a review by Ernst and Young showed on Tuesday. Although the number of transactions dropped from 243 in 2004 to 238 in 2005, the total value increased from R49,9-billion to R56,2-billion, the company said in a media release.
A devastating spell by Mohammad Asif left Sri Lanka reeling on 73-8 in their second innings of the second cricket Test as the Pakistani seam bowler grabbed his first 10-wicket haul in a Test match. Coming in to bowl while his team were 109 runs behind in the second innings, Asif bowled Upul Tharanga (12), Kumar Sangakkara (16) and Thilan Samaraweera (4).
Silvio Berlusconi on Monday night electrified the final stages of Italy’s general election with a pledge to abolish council tax and appoint women as ministers if returned to office. The prime minister cunningly waited till the closing seconds of his final TV duel with Romano Prodi, leader of the opposition, to make his surprise populist tax pledge.
General Motors (GM) and Ford saw sales fall again last month despite some popular new models, while Toyota reported a 7% increase over last March. Automakers reported monthly sales figures on Monday. GM’s sales were down nearly 15% for the year.
Longstanding rivalry between Rwanda and Uganda took a new twist on Monday after Ugandan security forces photographed and arrested a Rwandan diplomat naked in bed with the wife of a Ugandan businessman. The incident involves John Ngarambe, the first secretary at Rwanda’s embassy in Kampala, who was detained along with the woman late on Saturday at an upscale hotel near Lake Victoria.
Israeli aircraft on Tuesday fired three missiles into the presidential compound of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, wounding two people and leaving deep craters in the ground. The Israeli air strike came in response to homemade Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel, though it was not immediately clear why Abbas’s compound was targeted.
In 2005 there were nearly three times as many private security officials as sworn police officials in South Africa, the South African Institute of Race Relations says in its annual South Africa Survey. The number of private security officials increased by 150% since 1997 during a period that saw the number of sworn police officials decrease by 2,2%, the survey, released on Tuesday, showed.