The army was called out for rescue operations on Sunday as more than a million people were marooned in north-east India, which has been hit by raging floods, officials said. The latest deaths took to 15 the number of people killed in flood-related accidents in the past week in Assam and adjoining Meghalaya.
South African publishers have placed restrictions on the comic book Tintin in the Congo following complaints of racism in Britain. The illustrated work by Belgian author-cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under a pen name, is the second in a series of 23 tracing the adventures of Tintin and his dog, Snowy.
The Liberian government has lifted a self-imposed moratorium on the mining, sale and export of diamonds that had been in place for six years, officials said on Saturday. Deputy Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy Kpandeh Fayia said that, ”as of Monday, people can start applying for mining, selling and broker licences” for the stones.
Libya on Saturday denounced a decision by Bulgaria’s president to pardon six medics from life jail terms in an Aids case as a ”betrayal” and illegal. ”The detainees should have been detained upon their arrival [in Sofia], and not freed in this celebratory and illegal manner,” Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham said.
The life of Zimbabwe’s paper money has been extended by another year, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Saturday. Zimbabwe’s latest set of bearer cheques was introduced in July last year, when Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono slashed three zeros from the local dollar.
A corruption scandal is rattling Nigeria’s navy after officials revealed that two vice-admirals and eight officers now retired are suspected of having been involved in contraband petrol trafficking in the oil-rich Niger Delta. Contraband petrol represents a huge loss for Africa’s biggest oil-producing country.
President Laurent Gbagbo will on Monday be in Bouake, the headquarters of the former rebel New Forces, for the first time since a 2002 uprising aimed at toppling him divided Côte d’Ivoire in half. It was from Bouake that the northern half of this West African country was controlled by rebels for nearly five years.
People who take the law into their own hands will have to face the consequences, Western Cape minister of community safety Leonard Ramatlakane warned on Saturday. ”The government has proven it will not tolerate lawlessness. There have been a number of arrests related to recent vigilante activity,” he said.
Bekkersdal community leaders were urged by Gauteng housing minister Nomvula Mokonyane on Saturday to support the government’s planned relocation of 14 000 families from the informal settlement. Eighty percent of Bekkersdal residents will be relocated.
The City of Cape Town’s major storms and flooding plan has been stepped up, authorities said on Saturday after a massive cold front brought heavy rain to Cape Town and surrounding areas on Thursday night, followed by a second, weaker cold front on Saturday. Unofficial reports indicated that more than 30Â 000 people may have been affected by the floods.