One may wind up as the first woman to lead the United States Senate. Another is relatively young and could run again for president. The third may simply resume his role as a congressional maverick and retire in two years. These are among the options that await the losers in the three-way race for the White House.
A Zimbabwean national was among two foreigners who have been burned to death during an attack by a mob in a slum area close to the Pretoria, police said on Tuesday. The Zimbabwean was repeatedly assaulted before his attackers set fire to his shack in the Brazzaville settlement in Atteridgeville and then threw him inside, police spokesperson Patricia Simelane said.
Nearly three months after the worst massacre of Kenya’s post-election violence, children’s shoes and charred clothes remain in the ashes of a rural church where about 30 people were burned to death. Wreaths of dried-out flowers lie where a mob set fire to the Assemblies of God building with 100 or so terrified villagers cowering inside.
Johannesburg’s metro police have deployed 34 officers to help police by-laws in Johannesburg’s parks, cemeteries and open spaces, City Parks said on Tuesday. They will work with 30 park wardens already policing the areas, as well as community policing forums and the South African Police Service.
Russian president-elect Dmitry Medvedev maintained pressure on Nato on Tuesday not to grant membership to Ukraine and Georgia, saying a week before an alliance summit that it would undermine European security. Ukraine and Georgia are lobbying Nato to grant them a Membership Action Plan, which is seen as the first step towards joining the alliance.
About a million people have suffered the effects of floods, cyclones and heavy rains across Southern Africa in the last year, the United Nations said in a statement issued on Tuesday. ”In total, local authorities estimate that 987 516 Southern Africans have been affected adversely by rains, floods and cyclones since October last year.
President Robert Mugabe says an opposition win in Saturday’s tightly contested polls would be ”the greatest curse” for Zimbabwe. Mugabe, who is battling for his political survival, called on opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters to ”come home” to his ruling Zanu-PF, the government-mouthpiece Herald reported on Tuesday.
The JSE remained firm by midday on Tuesday as overnight gains in the United States triggered good buying interest among global equities. By noon, the JSE’s broader all-share index was up 2,22%. Banks gained 3,1% and financials lifted 3,06%.
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Attitudes towards Jacob Zuma becoming president of South Africa appear to have shifted slightly in his favour, a survey of 2Â 000 people indicates. People were asked in February to agree or disagree with the statement: ”If Jacob Zuma becomes president in 2009, it will bring disaster to South Africa”, TNS Research Surveys said on Tuesday.
China has criticised human rights demonstrators who disrupted the Greek torch-lighting ceremony for the Beijing Olympics as being ”disgraceful”. Just before the torch was lit on Monday inside the archaeological site that played host to the Olympics in ancient Greece, three demonstrators managed to break a tight police cordon.