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/ 21 December 2007
The annual hajj in Saudi Arabia entered its final day on Friday as the last of almost 2,5-million Muslim pilgrims took part in the ritual ”stoning of Satan”. Eager pilgrims from across the world thronged around the Jamarat Bridge at Mina, east of Mecca, from the early hours to throw pebbles at the three massive pillars representing the devil.
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/ 21 December 2007
European leaders on Friday hailed the expansion of the Schengen passport-free travel zone to nine mostly ex-East Bloc nations as a landmark moment for the continent’s integration. ”This is an historic moment for which we have been waiting for a long time,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
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/ 21 December 2007
Protesters, unfazed by violent clashes with police hours earlier, on Friday vowed to continue their battle against a plan to demolish 218 public housing buildings in New Orleans, a bid that has further highlighted the growing tensions in a city struggling to recover two years after Hurricane Katrina.
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/ 21 December 2007
The European Union’s chief election observer on Friday condemned violence that has marred the lead-up to Kenya’s elections, left at least 70 people dead since July and risks disenfranchising 20 000 people. Alexander Graf Lambsdorff was visiting the epicentre of tribal clashes that have been ongoing for months.
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/ 21 December 2007
Six French aid workers on trial on kidnapping charges in Chad were trying to save children they believed to be Darfur orphans, and therefore are protected by international law from any charges, their lawyers said on Friday moments before the trial began.
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/ 21 December 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) plans to examine further a proposal to set up a media tribunal, the party said on Friday. The notion was discussed and adopted at the ANC national conference this week, said ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama. A task team will now be set up to investigate ”the necessity or otherwise” of a media tribunal.
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/ 21 December 2007
The present South African government will serve out its term, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. He was speaking at his official residence in Pretoria a day after the closing of the African National Congress’s national conference in Polokwane that saw Jacob Zuma toppling him as party president.
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/ 21 December 2007
Water levels in the Pungue, Save and Buzi rivers were rising at alarming levels after intensive rain hit Mozambique’s central provinces and neighbouring Zimbabwe, state media reported on Friday. Extensive portions of soil from fields had been washed away and most parts were flooded.
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/ 21 December 2007
South Africa has now entered a new era of expensive, unreliable electricity, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Friday. The 14,2% increase next year is well in excess of current inflation and justified by Eskom as a way of generating financial capacity for essential expansion, FF+ spokesperson Willie Spies said.
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/ 21 December 2007
An internal forensic audit at the offices of KwaZulu-Natal Premier S’bu Ndebele has revealed that some of his employees were involved in fraud and corruption, the premier’s spokesperson said on Friday. A service-provider employee had been working ”in cahoots with employees” to make illegal and unauthorised payments to the provider.