A high-school teacher and a journalist were given jail terms on Tuesday for insulting Mali’s President Amadou Toumani Touré, judicial sources said, in a case that has raised questions over press freedom in that country. Four other journalists charged with defaming the president were given suspended sentences in the case.
A roadside bomb explosion in the Somali capital on Tuesday killed five women and a man and wounded nine other people, witnesses said. The United States, meanwhile, called for the immediate release of opposition leaders arrested by the Somali government.
Gauteng’s development programmes are not only about readiness for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said on Tuesday. ”We must avoid creating the impression that our programmes are driven by the desire to prepare for the 2010 World Cup,” Shilowa said in his budget speech to the provincial legislature.
Kenyan police on Tuesday said they had shot dead at least 25 suspected members of the Mungiki criminal gang since last week, after at least 13 people were killed in a surge of violence blamed on the group. Thursday’s conviction of a former Mungiki leader on weapons charges ended a brief lull in the slaughter.
A fire that destroyed hundreds of hectares of forest in and around the Tsitsikamma National Park in the Eastern Cape has finally been brought under control, South African National Parks (SANParks) said on Tuesday. A SANParks spokesperson said he was not sure about the extent of the damage caused by the raging fire.
No decision has been made yet on whether to prosecute two apartheid-era police bosses for the alleged poisoning of Reverend Frank Chikane, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Tuesday. The NPA it was still deliberating the matter with the legal teams of former minister of law and order Adriaan Vlok and ex-police chief Johann van der Merwe.
Severe cold is to hit large parts of the country later on Tuesday and Wednesday, the South African Weather Service has warned. It said temperatures would drop as low as minus nine degrees Celsius in places such as Sutherland in the Northern Cape. The town was blanketed in snow on Monday.
Botswana, better known for its dazzling diamonds and abundant wildlife, is looking to draw in investors by showcasing its vast reserves of coal in a region facing a growing energy crisis. Delegates meet in the capital, Gaborone, this week for a government-organised conference designed to illustrate the sector’s potential.
At least 48 people have been killed in rainstorms in southern and eastern China over the last five days, with 37 succumbing to lightning strikes, state media reported on Tuesday. Twelve people remain missing following the storms, which drenched areas, including the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Xinhua news agency said.
The White Stripes get their hands dirty on their latest release, writes Lloyd Gedye