The government has once again dashed Khutsong residents’ hopes that the controversial legislation on cross-border municipalities will be reversed, leading them to vent their frustrations on newly elected councillors. Violence resurfaced in Khutsong recently after the inauguration of the mayor and the new council.
Jacob Zuma’s lawyers will do well to satisfy the judge that they were justified in not calling Zuma’s attorney, Michael Hulley, to the witness stand, when they deliver their closing arguments in the Zuma rape trial next week. In its closing submissions the prosecution asked Judge Willem van der Merwe to infer that Zuma’s defence case would have been damaged had Hulley taken the stand.
The Oil for Food programme may become a focus of the Donen Commission of Inquiry, which starts public hearings on May 8.
General Pervez Musharraf, facing a surge of anti-American sentiment, on Thursday warned that covert Untied States air strikes against al-Qaeda inside Pakistan were an infringement of national sovereignty. Admitting that his popularity was waning, the Pakistani president insisted he was ”not a poodle” of United States President George Bush.
West Indies and Zimbabwe enter their seven-match limited-overs international series that begins on Saturday and Sunday at the Antigua Recreation Ground with plenty to prove to themselves and the rest of the world. West Indies are eighth on the official ICC limited-overs international rankings and will be looking to transform their fortunes.
Fears were growing over the stability of Chechnya on Thursday after it emerged that security forces loyal to the Prime Minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, had fought a gun battle with the bodyguards of the pro-Russian President, Alu Alkhanov. Two men were reportedly killed in the clash at the presidential administration, sparking fears of a broader power struggle.
Chicago is not famous for being squeamish about food. Its slaughterhouses once turned it into the meat production capital of the world, earning the nickname Porkopolis. But that was then. On Friday, Chicago has taken a lead in humane food production. The city council voted this week to ban the production and sale of foie gras, the first US city to do so.
Silvio Berlusconi’s hopes of grabbing back power will on Friday night be laid on the hunched shoulders of an 87-year-old politician who until a few years ago was battling charges of murder and mafia involvement. Giulio Andreotti will on Thursday attempt to scotch the centre-left’s plans to form a government with the razor-thin majority it won in this month’s general election.
The Simon Wiesenthal centre on Thursday called on Germany to ban the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, from attending the World Cup, describing his possible presence at the tournament as ”mind-boggling”. Allowing him in would be tantamount to endorsing the 1936 Olympic games hosted by Hitler, the centre said.
A national embargo has been placed on the issuing of routine passports as no new passport blanks are available for processing, media reports said on Friday. A former senior Department of Home Affairs official said the handful of new passports still held by the department have now been reserved for ”emergency cases”.