Suspended National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss, Vusi Pikoli, will not ”at this stage” make public his submissions to the Ginwala commission. ”Mr Pikoli remains committed to doing so at the appropriate time,” said Deneys Reitz, attorneys acting on behalf of Pikoli, in a statement on Friday.
Google believes regulators would not bar a potential business deal with Yahoo! because it would be ”non-exclusive” and falls short of an outright merger, a person familiar with Google’s thinking said on Friday. Yahoo! is exploring alternatives to Microsoft’s ,7-billion takeover offer, which the web pioneer has rejected for being too low.
Crowds of Chinese students waving red flags and signs such as ”One World, One Dream, One China” scuffled with pro-Tibet protesters in the latest leg of the Olympic torch relay in Japan on Saturday. Commenting on the turmoil that has bedevilled the global relay, International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge urged the West to stop hectoring China over human rights.
President Robert Mugabe appeared unlikely on Saturday to win back control of Parliament in a partial vote recount after a police crackdown on members of the opposition, which accuses him of stealing the poll. About 13 seats have been recounted so far. Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF must win nine of 10 remaining constituencies to take back control of Parliament.
A judge in New York on Friday cleared three detectives on all charges involved in the killing of Sean Bell, the bridegroom who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a nightclub hours before his wedding. Outside the crowded courtroom, where demonstrators carried signs reading ”50 shots isn’t justice”, there were shouts, tears and anger.
Almost on the stroke of midnight last Sunday, a giant of the liberation struggle — but also a top-class mathematician and a trained traditional healer — drew his last breath. Lieutenant General Andrew Masondo, or ”Comrade Dillinger”, as he was widely known, finally succumbed to long illness.
A man who admitted to taking nine Pretoria News advertising staff hostage on April 25 last year was acquitted on Friday on a charge of attempted murder. Lionel George, of Danville, west of Pretoria, earlier pleaded guilty in the city’s regional court to charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and two rounds of ammunition.
Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled back from confrontation with the government on Friday, asking his followers to continue to observe a shaky ceasefire and not to battle government troops. Sadr said his recent threat of ”open war” was directed only at United States forces, not the Iraqi government.
A bomb ripped through a crowded bus just outside Sri Lanka’s capital on Friday, killing at least 24 passengers and wounding more than 50, police said. The bomb exploded inside a privately owned bus at the Piliyandala bus station, a police spokesperson said, adding that victims were rushed to a nearby hospital.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) will monitor investigations into the cause of the deaths of nearly 80 Eastern Cape babies, the body announced on Friday. Earlier this week, reports emerged that 78 children from the Eastern Cape had died as a result of diarrhoea allegedly caused by contaminated water.