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/ 29 October 2007
France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned as illegal a bid by a French group to spirit more than 100 children out of Chad on the grounds that they were Darfur orphans in danger of being killed, his office said on Sunday. At least 16 people, nine of them French, have been detained for questioning by authorities in Chad.
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/ 29 October 2007
As Merrill Lynch’s board deliberates the fate of chairperson and chief executive Stan O’Neal, a leading contender for the job on Sunday said he is not aware of being a candidate. Meanwhile, Merrill’s board has reached a broad consensus to remove O’Neal as chairperson and CEO, the New York Times reported on Sunday.
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/ 29 October 2007
Viomak’s velvety voice drifts through the air like a lullaby on a gentle breeze. But her protest songs pack a punch which could mean jail for anyone caught listening to them in her native Zimbabwe. The tunes bluntly demand an end to President Robert Mugabe’s rule and belong to Zimbabwe’s tradition of protest music that her fans say give hope and comfort.
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/ 29 October 2007
Argentine First Lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner rode an economic boom and her husband’s popularity to victory in a presidential election on Sunday to become the country’s first elected woman leader. Fernandez, a glamorous lawyer and centre-left senator, will take over from President Nestor Kirchner in December.
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/ 29 October 2007
A defector who was born and spent 22 years in a North Korean prison camp said on Monday his motive in writing a book is to speak out for the children who grow up behind barbed wire. Shin Dong-Hyuk said that at the age of 14 he was forced to watch the execution of his mother and brother.
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/ 29 October 2007
Our political culture remains decidedly short of real satire; surely it is a test of the robustness of a democracy: if it can’t take the humorous hits, our political leadership is hardly likely to be willing to answer the difficult questions. Jacob Zuma has sued Zapiro, the cartoonist: What does this tell us about his attitude to public accountability?
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/ 29 October 2007
Last week, another armed group in the increasingly volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ignored a government deadline to disarm, increasing to three the number of illegal groups the Congolese army is chasing in that region.
At the same time, a Human Rights Watch report detailed the atrocities that threaten civilians living in this region.
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/ 29 October 2007
About 25 000 of India’s poorest people — tribal peoples, "untouchables" and landless labourers — have stopped traffic for nearly three weeks on the road that links Delhi and Agra, home to the Taj Mahal. Headed by a group of chanting Buddhist monks, the marchers say they aim to shame government into keeping its promise to redistribute land.
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/ 29 October 2007
South Africans are earning more. Much more. Total income has more than doubled in the past seven years. This phenomenal growth is eclipsed only by the growth of the black middle class, which has grown at an even faster rate. The latest Amps figures reflect rocketing growth in spending power, writes Jocelyn Newmarch.
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/ 29 October 2007
Multinational Holcim, based in Switzerland, brought about one of the bigger black economic empowerment (BEE) deals last year by selling its stake in Holcim South Africa down to 8% from 54% for about R7,4-billion. Somehow the factual question of whether BEE had spurred the disinvestment became a political issue.