A barrage of mortar bombs hit Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday and several plumes of smoke could be seen rising near buildings housing the Iraqi parliament and government offices. The Green Zone, on the west side of the Tigris, is Baghdad’s most secure area but has been a frequent target for rockets and mortar bombs fired by militants.
An identity document that was never delivered, which was later linked to a woman’s suicide, is under investigation, the Department of Home Affairs said on Wednesday. Bongekile Mkhize, a 24-year-old aspiring nurse, left a note in which she said she could no longer live without an ID book.
Germany threw down the gauntlet to Britain on Wednesday over one of the issues that will dominate a crucial European Union. Addressing one of British Prime Minister’s Tony Blair’s ”red line” subjects, the Germans made clear they want the so-called charter of fundamental rights to be legally enforceable.
”In the name of Allah, lend me your ears!” Anwar Kamal, a political veteran of Pakistan’s tribal areas, stood in a field before his constituents — 300 angry men from the Marwat tribe brandishing assault rifles, shotguns and, in a few cases, red roses pinned behind their ears.
South African government and union negotiators postponed until Friday talks aimed at ending a costly three-week civil servants’ strike to enable labour unions to consult members, officials said. ”We are coming back on Friday. Labour requested more time to get a mandate from their members,” said Lewis Rabkin, spokesperson for the Public Services and Administration ministry.
The Lion King is marking its 10th anniversary with a first run on the continent that inspired its storyline. The tale of Simba the lion, already seen by 35-million people since its Broadway debut in 1997, has been playing to packed houses since it opened in Johannesburg on June 6.
The Proudly South African organisation has been disowned by its sponsor, the Department of Trade and Industry, media reports said on Thursday. It was struggling to survive without government funding or an office in a government department, Parliament heard on Wednesday.
"I’ve added you as a friend on Facebook…" This plaintive introduction to the web’s fastest-growing social phenomenon has been appearing with growing frequency in email inboxes across the world as what started life as a way for American college friends to stay in touch has become one of the internet’s hottest properties.
The Auckland Park top brass are quick to impute sinister motives when anyone suggests that the SABC behaves like a state broadcaster rather than the independent public service institution it is supposed to have become. But they keep on giving us good reasons to do just that.
"Make love not war" may be the enduring slogan of anti-war campaigners, but in 1994 the United States Air Force produced its own variation on the philosophy. What if it could release a chemical that would make an opposing army’s soldiers think more about the physical attributes of their comrades-in-arms than the threat posed by the enemy? Thus the "gay bomb" was born.