Small teams of special operations troops will be stationed at United States embassies to gather intelligence and assist in counter-terrorism operations, moving into a domain traditionally occupied by the CIA. Analysts said Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had been pushing for an expanded role for the military since the September 11 attacks.
The political crisis over the management of six United States ports by a Dubai-owned company worsened on Wednesday when a Republican-dominated committee in the House of Representatives voted to block the deal. The move deepens the fissures between the White House and Republicans facing midterm election battles.
Acting Premier Ehud Olmert, the frontrunner for the March 28 elections in Israel, has fleshed out a key election promise in vowing to set Israel’s permanent borders within four years if his Kadima party wins. Olmert made the comments in an interview with the Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Savings of between 13% and 15% on medicines are on the cards if the draft regulations for pharmacies’ dispensing fees announced on Thursday are approved. Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang announced the draft dispensing fees, which would be on a sliding scale.
A two-seater light aircraft made an emergency landing on the N12 highway between Lenasia and Westonaria in Gauteng, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Thursday. ”We know at the moment that the pilot had engine failure on approach for landing on runway 13 at Baragwanath airfield,” said a CAA accident investigator.
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An African National Congress (ANC) court docked six months pay from two men who had sex with Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser — not because the court found she had been raped, but because she was a child. The Johannesburg High Court heard on Thursday that one of the men still denies he had sex with her when she was a teenager.
The anti-drugs programme at Melbourne’s Commonwealth Games will be the toughest ever, with almost one in four athletes facing dope tests over the next fortnight, organisers said on Thursday. ”This is the most comprehensive programme we have ever had in place,” Games chief executive Mike Hooper said.
Asia’s newest and poorest nation East Timor faces a tough task lifting itself out of poverty despite social and political gains and rich unexploited oil and gas reserves, a United Nations report said on Thursday. The report painted a bleak picture of conditions in the nation of one million people, where the economy has been shrinking and development indicators only slightly improving.
Nigerian separatist guerrillas who are holding three Western hostages said on Thursday that they had fought off an attack by the military in a fierce gun battle on the Niger Delta creeks. Military spokespersons could not initially confirm or deny there had been a clash, but a boat captain operating in the area confirmed he had seen injured troops.
The JSE was in positive territory just before noon on Thursday, having bounced following the previous two days’ sharp sell-off. However, dealers questioned whether the bourse’s recovery was sustainable, saying there was still a lot of negative sentiment in the market.