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/ 22 October 2007
An international campaign to stop the beating of children has urged South African MPs not to bow to pressure against a Bill that bans spanking. Hitting children was ”plainly unconstitutional”, the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children said on Monday.
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/ 22 October 2007
The funeral of slain reggae singer Lucky Dube will be a private affair, family spokesperson Arnold Mabunda said on Monday. ”The family requested that the funeral be a private matter due to Lucky’s beliefs and the church’s request. ”They have requested that it not be turned into a circus, so media will not be allowed,” he said.
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/ 22 October 2007
Iraqi Kurdish rebels said on Monday they were ready to lay down their arms if Turkey stopped targeting the rebels and abandoned plans for an incursion into Iraq, according to a rebel website. ”We are ready for a ceasefire if the Turkish army stops attacking our positions, drops plans for an incursion and resorts to peace,” said a statement.
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/ 22 October 2007
The Department of Health is recalling a second consignment of defective condoms, this time from Kohrs Medical, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in Pretoria on Monday. ”At least five batches belonging to Kohrs Medical were sampled and failed an air-burst test,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.
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/ 22 October 2007
Murder accused Fred van der Vyver and his girlfriend, Inge Lotz, were deeply in love at the time she died, the young man told the Cape High Court on Monday. On the morning of her death on March 16 2005, they parted with hugs and kisses as he left to attend a class at the University of Stellenbosch, he said. ”I was very much in love with her,” he said.
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/ 22 October 2007
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Monday that Kurdish rebels would announce a unilateral ceasefire later in the day amid Turkish threats to launch an incursion against them in northern Iraq. ”The PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] has decided to declare a ceasefire from their side tonight,” Talabani told reporters at Sulaimaniyah Airport in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region.
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/ 22 October 2007
Microsoft ended three years of resistance on Monday and finally agreed to comply with a landmark 2004 antitrust decision by the European Commission. The defeated software giant announced it would not appeal against a decisive European Union court ruling two months ago that backed the commission.
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/ 22 October 2007
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki dissolved Parliament on Monday, starting the countdown to what could be the closest election in East Africa’s biggest economy. ”I hereby dissolve the ninth Parliament of the Republic of Kenya,” Kibaki said in a televised speech.
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/ 22 October 2007
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Rodrigo Rato, warned on Monday there are risks of an "abrupt fall" in the dollar, linked to a loss of confidence in dollar assets. "There are risks that an abrupt fall in the dollar could either be triggered by, or itself trigger, a loss of confidence in dollar assets," Rato told the IMF board of governors.
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/ 22 October 2007
Former Mozambique president Joachim Chissano won a new -million prize for African leadership on Monday and was hailed as ”a powerful voice for Africa on the international stage”. Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan chaired the committee that selected the inaugural award by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.