Burkina Faso warned on Monday it would shoot down planes violating its airspace, as neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire denied veiled charges that its planes had committed any violations. ”We want the region to be peaceful and if the planes that overfly our territory, without authorisation, and which haven’t been announced continue, we will shoot them down,” said Burkinabe Foreign Minister Youssouf Ouedraogo.
Kidnapped United States marine Wassef Ali Hassoun has been taken to ”a place of safety” after he pledged not to return to the US military, his captors told al-Jazeera television in a statement on Monday. The Islamic Response Movement, the same group that last week admitted to kidnapping Corporal Hassoun and threatening to behead him, would not say where he was being kept.
The integrity of the Kenyan government of President Mwai Kibaki, elected 18 months ago on an anti-corruption platform, is facing its first real test with investigations being launched into two multimillion-dollar contracts. The investigations by the police anti-corruption unit and a watchdog committee of MPs centre on plans to buy a sophisticated -million passport equipment system from France.
South Africa and United Kingdom-listed SABMiller, one of the world’s largest brewers by volume plans to sell its entire 21% stake in South African retailer Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon) via a private placement beginning on Monday, the group said in a statement.
At last, a column that doesn’t start off by mentioning Zimbabwe in the first sentence. Oh. Oops. (Hmm, they’re saying the problems in Zim are a strictly internal matter. If the world had said that about South Africa, the African National Congress would still be begging on the streets of Lusaka and being laughed at. Kids, can you say "hypocritical double standards"?) But let’s start off this week with a geeky bang …
For Zambia’s urban poor, accessing clean drinking water is a wearisome daily grind that takes up time and saps energy. For thousands of residents in Kaloko, a shanty township on the southern outskirts of Ndola, in the central Copperbelt region, fetching water had meant waking up by 5am, a six kilometre roundtrip to the neighbouring township of Mushili, and a struggle to keep one’s place in the queue at a rowdy communal tap.
Leading alcoholic beverages groups Diageo, Heineken and Namibia Breweries have finally unveiled details surrounding their new South African joint venture company, which will trade under the name of brandhouse. The new company will be a formidable competitor in the local market, boasting sales of about R3-billion annually.
Floating hotels are set to help countries in the West Indies cope with the massive influx of cricket followers expected during the 2007 Cricket World Cup. West Indies will be hosting the ninth edition of the World Cup despite fears that some Caribbean countries’ hard-pressed tourist infrastructure will struggle with the event’s demands.
England sensation Wayne Rooney has been offered a five-year contract at Everton, his club announced on Tuesday. Toffees officials confirmed they have offered the 18-year-old striker the biggest contract in the Premiership club’s history and are awaiting a response from his agent, Paul Stretford.
Six months after Germany’s infamous cannibal Armin Meiwes was jailed for killing and eating another man, one of the country’s most controversial film directors is to make a film of his bizarre life. Rosa von Praunheim’s film is to be entitled Your Heart in My Brain, and is expected to be shot later this year.