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/ 17 January 2008
Deepening divisions within Nato over its military operations in Afghanistan emerged on Wednesday after Robert Gates, the United States Defence Secretary, said America’s allies did not know how to fight insurgencies. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato’s Secretary General, rejected the criticism.
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/ 17 January 2008
Morocco, Senegal and South Africa completed their African Cup of Nations preparations with 2-1 victories in friendly matches on Wednesday. South Africa needed a late goal from striker Sibusiso Zuma to squeeze past Botswana in Durban but captain Aaron Mokoena was carried off on a stretcher after a bad tackle.
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/ 17 January 2008
South African President Thabo Mbeki travels to Zimbabwe on Thursday to meet officials of the ruling Zanu-PF and main opposition parties after reports that a deal to end a political crisis was imminent. Mbeki has been mediating talks between Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s government and the Movement for Democratic Change for nearly a year.
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/ 17 January 2008
Power cuts are set to continue on Thursday, the Tshwane municipality said. ”Once again, load-shedding is due to Eskom generation constraints,” said municipal spokesperson Console Tleane. He said there was a slim chance that load-shedding would not be as ”intense” on Friday.
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/ 17 January 2008
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is expected to hike interest rates by a further 50 basis points at the end of January, Absa’s economic research unit said on Wednesday. This was in spite of retail trade sales data released earlier by Statistics South Africa showing that consumer spending continued to buckle.
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/ 17 January 2008
Sri Lanka’s military said on Thursday most of the 27 people killed in a bus ambush were shot by rebels as the passengers tried to flee rather than in the blast that struck the vehicle. Wednesday’s attack came as a six-year truce between the state and rebels formally ended.
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/ 17 January 2008
The diplomatic stand-off with Russia entered a dangerous new phase on Wednesday as British officials denounced ”a pattern of intimidation” by Russia’s security services against British Council staff. The Foreign Office complained of unacceptable behaviour, after Russians working at British Council offices were called in for questioning by the FSB.
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/ 17 January 2008
President Thabo Mbeki’s disingenuous handling of the charges against police commissioner Jackie Selebi provides a perfect illustration of why ordinary ANC members no longer want him as their leader. He does not talk straight and consistently fails to take South Africa into his confidence. In his management of a slew of controversies in the past nine years he has forfeited the nation’s trust, too.
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/ 17 January 2008
Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke will answer his critics in the African National Congress and its Youth League in a statement to be issued on Thursday. The ANC’s National Working Committee has accused Moseneke of showing disdain for delegates to its National Conference in December last year in remarks made at his recent 60th birthday party.
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/ 17 January 2008
It was one of Europe’s grimmest maritime oil spills, suffocating hundreds of kilometres of France’s Atlantic coastline with a tide of toxic heavy fuel and killing or injuring 300 000 sea birds. On Wednesday a Paris court held that the oil giant Total was responsible for the 1999 sinking of the oil tanker Erika.