It is one of the world’s most baffling puzzles, the bane of professional cryptologists and amateur sleuths who have spent 15 years trying to solve it. But the race to find the secrets of Kryptos, a sculpture inside a courtyard at the CIA’s heavily guarded headquarters in Langley, Virginia, may be reaching a climax.
Eighteen of the world’s poorest countries will have their debts to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund wiped out as part of a -billion package agreed on Saturday by the G7 leading economies. The deal, brokered by the British Chancellor Gordon Brown, will save countries such as Mozambique and Ethiopia a total of -billion in debt payments over the next 10 years.
Uganda’s Constitutional Court on Friday rejected an appeal by death-row inmates to outlaw capital punishment, but ruled that laws requiring the imposition of the sentence are illegal and must be rewritten. More than 400 death-row inmates brought their unprecedented appeal to the Constitutional Court in January.
President Thabo Mbeki has assured incoming Chief Justice Pius Langa and his deputy, Judge Dikgang Moseneke, of the African National Congress’s commitment to judicial independence. ”We will, in word and deed, respect their right and duty to carry out their tasks as part of an independent judiciary,” he said on Friday.
A spam e-mail that claims Michael Jackson has made a suicide attempt masks a ”Trojan horse” virus that infects computers, a British-headquartered software security firm said on Friday. The e-mail says Jackson made a ”suicidal aattempt” (sic) and invites the recipient to click on a link to see a supposed suicide note.
The United States trade deficit rose by a modest 6,3% to -billion in April, despite record sales of exports, including civilian aircraft, the government said on Friday. Wall Street was expecting the shortfall to widen to -billion, compared with a revised ,6-billion in March.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is to broaden an internal probe to include staff members leaking ”incorrect information” to the media on the fate of Deputy President Jacob Zuma. The NPA denied a Mail & Guardian report that it was preparing to charge Zuma following the fraud and corruption conviction of Schabir Shaik.
The United States on Friday expressed its ”unequivocal” support for embattled Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and said there appears to be no real danger of a coup despite rumours. Arroyo has placed military and police forces on full alert as rumours swirl of a plot against her, fuelled by allegations she rigged last year’s election.
A millionaire British businessman, Friedhelm Eronat, was named on Thursday night as the purchaser of oil rights in the Darfur region of Sudan, where the regime is accused of war crimes and where millions of tribespeople are alleged to have been forced to flee, amid mass rapes or murders.
Burundi’s lone remaining Hutu rebel group on Friday accused the government of repeatedly violating a tentative truce signed last month, amid counter-accusations from Bujumbura. ”Burundi government troops have been repeatedly attacking us since May 17,” said National Liberation Forces spokesperson Pasteur Habimana.