British police evacuated 20 000 people from the centre of Britain’s second-biggest city, Birmingham, and carried out a controlled explosion on a bus on Saturday evening after receiving intelligence on an unspecified threat. Police say the incident was probably not connected to the London bomb attacks.
At least 33 people have been killed in a series of explosions that ripped through London’s transport system on Thurday morning, and more fatalities are expected to be announced as the situation develops. Russell Smith of the London ambulance service confirmed the deaths in a coordinated series of attacks on tube trains and a bus that left many more people wounded and plunged the capital.
At least 37 people were killed and about 700 injured after four bombs ripped through London’s underground network and tore the roof off a bus during Thursday-morning rush hour. Leaders from around the world have expressed shock and anger.
President Thabo Mbeki and his government have condemned Thursday’s attacks on London’s transport network. Mbeki said from the Group of Eight summit in Scotland that important issues such as climate change, poverty and underdevelopment, especially in Africa, should not now be put on the back burner.
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The president was correct in dismissing deputy President Jacob Zuma, Inkatha Freedom Party leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, said at Parliament on Tuesday. He was responding moments after President Thabo Mbeki announced the dismissal of Zuma from his post and from Cabinet in a joint sitting of Parliament in the National Assembly.
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President Thabo Mbeki’s sacking on Tuesday of his deputy, Jacob Zuma, has been widely lauded but also criticised, while Zuma himself has accepted his fate.
Deputy Chief Justice Pius Langa expressed his impatience with the speed of transformation of the judiciary during his interview for the post of chief justice in Cape Town on Monday. Quizzed by fellow judges on the Judicial Service Commission and the minister and deputy minister of justice, Langa dismissed reports that he was a transformation ”gradualist”.
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/ 30 December 2004
Tsunami survivors slammed government officials and singled out the South African ambassador in Thailand on radio and the press for their handling of the tsunami crisis. A Pretoria newspaper quoted survivors accusing South African officials in Thailand of incompetence.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177242">SA rallies to aid of Tsunami victims</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177241">Tsunami toll nears 120 000</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177234">SA relief workers to fly out</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-Africa&ao=177235">30 000 Somalis in need of Aid</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177229">SA tsunami survivors return</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177200">South Africans still missing</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177227">Aid arrives in tsunami disaster zones</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177203">Calls for UN to lead relief effort</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177202">The true horror emerges</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/content/l3_fl2.asp?cg=tsunami%20disaster&o=194303">Tsunami disaster special report</a>
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/ 24 September 2004
Three staffers at the <i>Mail & Guardian’s</i> sister publication, the <i>Zimbabwe Independent</i>, were arrested at their Harare offices by two police officers from the criminal investigation department. They were charged under Section 80 of the controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.