The National Prosecuting Authority, also known as the Scorpions, says it has no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of South African President Thabo Mbeki in the arms deal. However, the investigative unit has information linking him to a French defence company implicated in irregularities related to the controversial deal. When Mbeki was deputy president in 1998, he allegedly met executives of Thomson-CSF in Paris.
Zimbabwe police have banned opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from addressing a rally in a major town over fears he is mobilising support for anti-government protests. Tsvangirai’s main Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has warned President Robert Mugabe to brace for wave of ”peaceful democratic resistance” against his 26-year rule if he continues to resist political reforms.
Israeli forces pushed through Gaza’s key eastern commercial crossings before dawn on Saturday, killing at least four Palestinians, witnesses and security sources said. Dozens of tanks passed through the Karni and Nahal Oz crossings at the eastern edge of the narrow coastal strip and advanced around one kilometre to neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Gaza City.
It turned out to be the big gamble that paid off as Dick Muir’s decision to field a completely new look Sharks side — he now has two teams of equal strength at his disposal — was vindicated with a 34-16 triumph over the Pumas in their Absa Currie Cup rugby match in Durban on Friday night.
Africa needs a fairer financial deal and more involvement in international economic decision-making, said Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel on Friday. ”Reform is necessary, and in my view, if developing countries had a greater say in the running of these institutions, there would be a greater sense of ownership and legitimacy,” Manuel said in a speech.
A vast chunk of Europe’s most ill-famed mountain threatens to break loose and crash down in the next few days, a geologist monitoring the situation said on Friday. Hans-Rudolf Keusen said 2-million cubic metres of the Eiger in the Bernese Alps, Switzerland — twice the volume of the Empire State Building — was rapidly working its way loose.
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President Jacques Chirac will don his football scarf and head to Berlin on Sunday in the hope that a French World Cup win could boost his flagging popularity ratings. He will also be seeking to restore a sense of community spirit after comments by the far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen that there were too many non-whites in the national team.
Israel is prepared to release Palestinian prisoners in order to free a soldier abducted by militants 12 days ago, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter was quoted as saying on Friday. ”Israel will release prisoners to free kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit,” Dichter told businesses executives in Tel Aviv, as reported by the online news site Ynet.
The embassy of Zimbabwe in South Africa on Friday criticised the media for what it believes are unsubstantiated allegations that former Zimbabwean soldiers are involved in crime. ”In an attempt to seek clarification on the veracity of these claims, the relevant authorities … have expressed shock … at these allegations, which have ho basis in fact,” ambassador Simon Moyo said.
After nearly two decades of ridicule, a Vietnamese father has agreed to change his son’s name from ”Fined Six Thousand and Five Hundred” — the amount he was forced to pay in local currency for ignoring Vietnam’s two-child policy. Angry he was being fined, Mai Xuan Can in 1987 named his son after the amount he was forced to pay.