President Robert Mugabe’s government will soon withdraw financial support for black-owned commercial farms resettled under Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform policy. The move follows charges by central bank governor Gideon Gono that the reforms had caused chronic food shortages in the one-time food exporter.
Conservationists may take legal action if environmental laws are broken in the building of 2010 Soccer World Cup stadiums, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Monday. Should the groups go forward with their legal action, the construction of the stadiums could face further delays.
In the ruined ballroom of the Bokor Palace Hotel it is easy to imagine, amid the shattered floor tiles and mouldy walls, the clink of champagne flutes and lively chatter of a night out in this tiny colonial hill station. A symbol of both the excesses of Cambodia’s golden age and the apocalypse that followed, the long abandoned hotel and casino is now only haunted by curious tourists.
When Albert ”Chinky” Facchiano was born in 1910, Al Capone was just another young thug in short trousers. Almost a century later, Scarface and the other legendary gangsters of his ilk are long gone — dead of old age, whacked in mob hits or simply vanished into witness protection programmes.
Trade between Zimbabwe and China is expected to surge to half a billion US dollars by next year, Beijing’s ambassador to Harare was reported as saying on Monday. The Asian giant has already emerged as the largest single importer of Zimbabwe’s key export crop, tobacco.
The number of Gauteng schoolgirls who fell pregnant in 2006 was double that of the previous year, the Star newspaper reported on Monday. The newspaper said 2Â 336 schoolgirls were pregnant last year — up from 2004 when 1Â 373, and 2005 when 1Â 169 schoolgirls were reported pregnant.
International concerns about China’s growing military power and a spiralling global arms race intensified on Sunday when Beijing announced its biggest defence budget increase for more than 10 years. Weeks after China stunned the world by test-firing its first anti-satellite missile, the government said it will increase spending by 17,8% this year.
A major spice manufacturer on Sunday said it was taking allegations of product contamination seriously but that the presence of an illegal banned chemical was ”highly unlikely”. ”We are very surprised at the results of this test. Unilever has not had a single incident of Sudan contamination from March 2005 to date,” said spokesperson Christine Broadhurst.
British special forces have flown to the remote area of Ethiopia where five Britons were kidnapped, defence sources said on Sunday. An SAS troop trained in hostage rescue is on standby in Britain and two soldiers from the elite unit, described as being in a "liaison" role, are already on the ground.
It appears the department of communications’ grand plan for Sentech to become a key player in the broadband market is not going to come to fruition any time soon. Once again, Sentech has been overlooked in the budget, and it will not be receiving the capital investment it requires from government to institute its wireless broadband rollout.