Al Gore has made his sharpest attack yet on the George Bush presidency, describing the current US administration as ”a renegade band of right-wing extremists”. The former vice-president has launched into the political fray more explicitly than he has previously done during his campaigning on the threat of global warming.
The United States said on Tuesday it has sent combat-troop reinforcements into Iraq, dashing hopes of a substantial withdrawal, as American commanders scrambled to contain a wave of violence and help the new Iraqi government assert control. About 1 500 soldiers were deployed in Anbar province.
An alleged member of an international fraud syndicate, believed to have been involved in defrauding local and foreign Standard Bank customers, is to appear in court on Thursday. The man was arrested after a joint investigation by the bank and the National Prosecuting Authority’s Scorpions unit into internet banking fraud.
The Cecelia Makiwane hospital in East London was again the scene of anger and protest on Tuesday, following the death of four babies at the hospital last week, media reports said. About 200 members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) protested outside the hospital and, like the families, they want answers.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday he still plans to visit Zimbabwe, contradicting a government spokesperson who said his invitation was no longer valid. Annan has been planning for a year to visit Zimbabwe to see the outcome of a slum-clearance operation that has left about 700Â 000 people homeless.
Zimbabwe’s central bank will issue a new Z$100 000 banknote after inflation topped 1 000% last month, one of the world’s highest rates, a state daily reported on Wednesday. The new banknote, worth US98c, will go into circulation on Thursday and will hold tender until December, the <i>Herald</i> newspaper said. Zimbabwe started introducing bearer cheques with a temporary validity three years ago.
Andy Roddick, the fifth seed, was knocked out of the French Open on Tuesday when he retired from his first-round match with Spain’s Alberto Martin. The American was trailing 6-4, 7-5, 1-0 when he called it quits. Roddick was always destined to struggle having picked up an ankle injury at the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf last week.
The removal of people from the Thamboville informal settlement near Benoni on Johannesburg’s East Rand turned violent when residents clashed with police on Tuesday. Ekurhuleni metro police spokesperson Superintendent Vusi Mabanga said the relocation of residents to Albert Luthuli Park informal settlement, also in Benoni, was supposed to start at 6am.
A Jordanian court on Tuesday sentenced to prison two newspaper editors for ”attacking religious sentiment” by reprinting cartoons deemed offensive to Prophet Muhammad, their lawyer said. Jihad Momani, former editor of the weekly Shihane tabloid, and Hisham al-Khalidi, editor-in-chief of the tabloid Al-Mehwar, ”were each sentenced to two months in prison”, attorney Mohammed Kteishat told Agence France-Presse.
Outgoing Treasury Secretary John Snow was seen as a loyal but uninspired cheerleader for a roaring United States economy that has been one of the few bright spots for US President George Bush in his second term. Snow’s impending departure has been one of Washington’s worst-kept secrets.