It may be a far cry from the millions of blogs active in the West, but Morocco’s blogosphere has taken off as the liveliest free-speech zone in largely conservative Muslim North Africa. The Moroccan "Blogoma", as it is called, is home to at least 30 000 sites.
The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday called on Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel to sack the statistician general, Pali Lehohla. Revelations in morning newspapers that a crucial survey by Statistics South Africa contains serious errors has resulted in a serious crisis of confidence in this institution, according to the party.
A reverend who survived a massacre and was held captive by rebels in Sierra Leone testified on Tuesday in the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor about seeing killings, rapes and mutilations. Taylor is accused of arming, training and controlling the Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday his government was committed to finding the truth behind the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and he vowed to punish her killers. Bhutto, twice Pakistan’s prime minister, was killed in an attack on December 27 as she left an election rally in Rawalpindi.
Concerns have been raised about the reliability of an R600-million state-funded Statistics South Africa survey endorsed by President Thabo Mbeki. The Statistics Council of South Africa said irregularities in the survey made it questionable as to whether the survey could provide a ”scientific basis” for government policy.
Snipers patrolling rooftops, streets and entire city blocks sealed off and thousands of police and soldiers on duty — Israel and the Palestinian Authority are going on full alert for United States President George Bush’s visit. For weeks, Israeli and Palestinian officials have grappled with how to ensure the safety of the leader of the world’s sole superpower.
The African National Congress (ANC) will appoint an ad-hoc committee to draw up a ”detailed factual report” on the arms deal, the party announced in Johannesburg on Tuesday. ”We are not asking for the re-opening of the arms deal. We need to get a detailed formal report … to take informed decisions,” party secretary general Gwede Mantashe told journalists.
Zimbabwe’s state-run power company, Zesa Holdings, says it will step up efforts to revive operations of its three small thermal power stations in light of the diminishing electricity imports from conventional suppliers, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday. Zesa spokesperson Ben Rafemoyo said nearly Z-trillion has been set aside.
New Hampshire goes to the polls on Tuesday for the second key clash of White House hopefuls, with surging Democrat Barack Obama likely to deal a second defeat to former first lady Hillary Clinton. Just five days after his Iowa triumph spun momentum into his White House quest, Obama enjoyed a solid lead in New Hampshire.
The weeding out of apparent corruption in the Gauteng education department was to blame for textbook order delays for the 2008 school year, Gauteng provincial minister of education Angie Motshekga said on Tuesday. ”We had our own internal challenges,” she said at a media briefing in central Johannesburg about the department’s readiness for 2008.