The Iraqi government said on Tuesday that a Filipino hostage threatened with beheading, as well as two Bulgarian truck drivers held by militants are still alive. The United Nations has also appointed a new representative to the country after France reinstated diplomatic ties after a hiatus of 13 years.
Israel’s opposition leader Shimon Peres says that his Labour party will decide on Tuesday whether to accept an offer by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to join a new broad-based coalition government. Peres said that his party will ”decide yes or no” after meeting for a first round of talks with Sharon on Monday.
British druid Merlin Michael Williams appeared in court on Tuesday charged with carrying a ceremonial sword while browsing through the aisles of a hardware store in Portsmouth. Williams maintains that the sword is used only for casting spells and other ritualistic purposes.
Two incidents involving criminals masquerading as police officers have been reported from Limpopo and the North West. In Limpopo, four men robbed a bottle store while ostensibly searching for forged banknotes, while police in North West are searching for another group of ”armed and dangerous” impostors.
Japan’s oldest man has died in hospital at the age of 109 years. Minsho Ozawa, a former Buddhist priest in the central city of Yamanashi, passed away on Monday after being hospitalised with pneumonia. He leaves behind 47 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Botswana’s national anti-retroviral programme for HIV and Aids patients is beginning to take effect, according to Botswana’s Health Ministry. A statement issued in Johannesburg on behalf of the ministry on Tuesday said this is reflected in median baseline CD4 counts increasing from 50 to 84 since the inception of the programme.
The appointment of a Ndebele to the highest clerical position in Zimbabwe is not politically driven, says the Vatican’s diplomatic envoy to the country. Robert Ndlovu’s appointment as the archbishop of Harare has drawn criticism from those who feel that the new archbishop should be a member of the Shona ethnic group.
A small crowd followed sheriffs through Protea Glen in Soweto on Tuesday afternoon protesting against the eviction of residents from their houses. There were sporadic scuffles and at one house the crowd threw stones, a Sapa photographer reported.
‘Don’t disturb housing process’
A burst of meteors over Finnish coastal waters early on Tuesday prompted hundreds of Finns to mistakenly report the natural phenomenon as emergency flares from distressed vessels, officials said. A caller described the phenomenon as a red fireball moving swiftly through the night sky, spewing sparks and leaving a trail of vapor.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says that the HIV/Aids pandemic has cost South Africa more than -billion (R420-billion) in the decade from 1992 to 2002. The ILO said that the loss was mainly due to deaths, absenteeism and lower productivity brought about by the ravaging disease.