Mikhail Khodorkovsky, jailed owner of embattled oil giant Yukos, on Wednesday asked shareholders to remove Viktor Gerashchenko, recently appointed in an attempt to end the firm’s ongoing feud with the state. Gerashchenko’s efforts to end the deadlock in negotiations with Moscow have been largely ineffectual.
The Freedom Front Plus has called for a national debate on the future of affirmative action in South Africa. The party says that studies carried out in other parts of the world show that quotas based along racial lines do not work, and that an alternative must be sought and implemented.
The African National Congress has added its voice to pleas for the return of Leigh Matthews, abducted last week and held to ransom. ”The nation must reject this with the contempt it deserves. The trauma and anguish that Leigh’s parents are going through is unwarranted and unnecessary,” the ruling party said in a statement on Wednesday.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday his coalition has averted a full-blown government crisis and vowed to remain in power until the next general election. Berlusconi was speaking in the Senate after holding days of emergency talks with his centre-right allies.
President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday that the increasing levels of tax compliance amongst South Africans gives government more resources to improve the lives of the poor. The South African Revenue Services received 1,9-million tax returns after last week’s deadline.
Gideon Nieuwoudt’s amnesty hearing was adjourned on Wednesday because convicted murderer Eugene de Kock was too tired to testify, SABC radio news reported. The former Vlakplaas commander had driven from Pretoria by road, leader of evidence Mokotedi Mpshe told the Port Elizabeth High Court.
Britain on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on corruption in Kenya, saying that ”a gigantic looting spree” is hampering development and placing risks on continued donor support. Corruption allegedly accounts for ”about 8%” of the East African country’s gross domestic product.
The Zimbabwean embassy in South Africa has denied that the country has banned the colour red and the Aids ribbon. The Star newspaper reported on Tuesday that Zimbabwe’s state television had directed that the colour red — and so the Aids ribbon — not be shown because it is the symbol of the opposition in the country.
Overflowing rivers have swamped villages in South Asia, leaving millions of residents stranded in their flooded homes and 272 people dead in the annual monsoon rains, officials and news reports said. More rain is forecast over the next few days in Bangladesh and India’s northeast.
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi blamed ”criminals” for Wednesday’s car bombing near the Baghdad compound housing his government and said it may have been revenge for a police operation that netted hundreds of suspected criminals. ”We will bring these criminals to justice,” he said after the attack, which killed at least 10 people.