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/ 15 January 2008
Nahid Keshavarz says two weeks in an Iranian jail didn’t deter her from helping try to collect one million signatures for a petition urging more women’s rights and, if anything, prison showed the cause was worth fighting for. Keshavarz is one of dozens of women who campaigners say have been detained since 2006 when the drive was launched. Most were released within a few days or weeks.
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/ 14 January 2008
Pity those who think there’s no fun to be had as South Africa enters what could be the Year of the Banana. With the former second-in-charge of the country in the pay of a convicted shyster, the chief of police hanging with criminals instead of arresting them and a long list of other foibles by those tasked with our rule, there could be little to laugh about.
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/ 14 January 2008
German academics believe they have solved the centuries-old mystery behind the identity of the Mona Lisa in Leonardo da Vinci’s famous portrait. Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, has long been seen as the most likely model for the sixteenth-century painting.
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/ 14 January 2008
A defence lawyer for war-crimes suspect and former Liberian president Charles Taylor on Monday attempted to destroy the credibility of a key prosecution witness at his trial, accusing him of ”always hating” the accused. Completing three days of cross-questioning, lawyer Courtenay Griffiths said the witness had a ”personal history” of plotting against Taylor.
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/ 14 January 2008
The United States military said on Monday it had killed 60 militants during a week-long, US-led offensive in northern Iraq against al-Qaeda, a resilient foe that has resisted previous attempts to drive it from the region. The US military, which has declared al-Qaeda the single greatest threat to Iraq’s security, launched the offensive on January 8.
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/ 14 January 2008
Three Department of Home Affairs officials arrested on 39 counts of fraud appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday, the department said. Two senior male immigration officials were arrested on Friday in Mahamaba in Mpumalanga and one female official was arrested in Pretoria.
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/ 14 January 2008
With 24 hours to go before deadline, the Ginwala Commission of Inquiry into suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli has yet to receive the government’s submission on the matter. According to the commission rules and timeframes, Pikoli has until January 31 to make his submission.
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/ 14 January 2008
The Democratic Alliance on Monday asked the Independent Complaints Directorate to investigate the arrest of Gauteng Scorpions boss Gerrie Nel. This came after charges of corruption and defeating the administration of justice against Nel were withdrawn in the Pretoria Regional Court.
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/ 14 January 2008
Lesser flamingos have started breeding on a specially constructed artificial island at the Kamfers Dam, the Northern Cape department of tourism, environment and conservation said on Monday. The birds at Kamfers Dam are of historic significance because it is only the sixth breeding locality in the world for the near-threatened species.