Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi says there is not a ”shred of evidence” to support the contention he gave instructions to members of his party to commit ”murder and destruction” in KwaZulu-Natal during the late 1980s. Responding to a Sunday Times column, he said on Friday he could not ignore certain ”serious charges” made against him.
The Zimbabwean embassy in South Africa on Friday denied a looming ban on food imports into Zimbabwe, but said permits will be required to import bulk foodstuffs for resale. ”There are no new regulations coming into effect on August 1 pertaining to this subject as has been pronounced by various media. It’s business as usual,” said ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo.
Trade union Solidarity on Friday accepted a wage offer from employers in the chemical industry after the employer increased its offer from 7,5% to 8%. Solidarity spokesperson Marius Croucamp said his union, along with the South African Chemical Workers’ Union, accepted the 8% wage increase.
A suspected suicide bombing killed at least 11 people and wounded 43 others on Friday at a hotel near Islamabad’s Red Mosque, after religious students occupied the mosque and demanded the return of its pro-Taliban cleric. The blast occurred soon after police had fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters occupying the mosque.
A mummified infant discovered wrapped in a newspaper older than 80 years in the ceiling of a Toronto home was likely stillborn and displayed no obvious signs of foul play, authorities said. The mummified remains were wrapped in a copy of the long defunct Mail and Empire newspaper dated September 15 1925.
Massive forest fires continued to rage out of control across Greece on Friday, burning through forests and entire towns in dozens of areas across the country. Hundreds of firefighters, soldiers and volunteers were still tackling more than 100 fires, 15 of which were still burning out of control in various areas of the country.
French judges placed former prime minister Dominique de Villepin under formal investigation on Friday for his role in an alleged plot to smear Nicolas Sarkozy and damage his chances of winning the presidency. Villepin went to the offices of judges Jean-Marie d’Huy and Henri Pons on Friday morning to answer questions.
After five years of soaring shares and an economic upswing lasting nearly as long, fear is now spreading its way through Wall Street. Investors are worried that the debacle on the American real-estate and construction market will have serious effects on more than just the mortgage market.
A 33-year-old man who stabbed a Pretoria prosecutor 14 times in her office while stealing her cellphone was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in the Pretoria High Court on Friday. Sipho Mnisi grabbed prosecutor Marisa Booyse’s cellphone in her office at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court in September last year and, when she tried to stop him, he attacked and stabbed.
Britain’s royals were visiting the scene of the United Kingdom’s worst floods in 60 years on Friday as emergency teams battled to cope with the crisis one week after it struck. The floods, the second set to hit Britain within a month, have claimed at least two lives, and the total number of properties swamped could reach 15 000.