The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi have relaunched a regional economic bloc that is seen as a key step in restoring peace and stability in the turbulent central African region. The Great lakes Countries Economic Community, known under its French acronym CEPGL, was created in 1976 to ease trade and free movement of people.
The mayor of Nagasaki was shot dead on Tuesday in an attack which police said was due to an organised crime chief apparently enraged that his car was damaged at a public works construction site. The shooting was rare in a country where handguns are banned. Mayor Iccho Ito (61) was shot twice in the back at point-blank range outside a train station on Tuesday evening.
A Pakistani man whose family says was abducted as part of the United States-led war on terror is in custody in Pakistan after 18 months of secret detention, human rights group Amnesty International said. Khalid Rashid, who vanished after being arrested in South Africa as an illegal alien in 2005, appeared before a federal review board in the Supreme Court building in Islamabad on April 12.
Only a thin barbed wire fence protects Africa’s first nuclear reactor, once Kinshasa’s pride that today sits dormant on an eroding hill in a country wracked by decades of misrule and conflict. Last month international experts again voiced concern about security at the Kinshasa Regional Centre for Nuclear Studies.
Manchester United put the pressure back on Chelsea after easily beating Sheffield United 2-0 on Tuesday in the Premier League. Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick scored a goal each to give United a six-point lead over two-time defending champion Chelsea, which plays at West Ham on Wednesday.
The gunman who massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech university was identified on Tuesday as a student from South Korea and a troubled loner whose behavior had sometimes alarmed those around him. As students and teachers grieved at a tearful memorial service led by President George Bush, police said Cho Seung-Hui (23) had acted alone.
Amid the horror at Virginia Tech were tales of heroism during the rampage, including an older professor — himself a Holocaust survivor — who gave his life to protect his students. Although he was 76, long past the usual retirement age, he was still teaching at Virginia Tech on Monday when chaos erupted in Norris Hall.
Whether it is through the soaring grace of the Eiffel Tower or the breathtaking beauty of Provence, France is hoping to lure tourists by persuading Hollywood to shoot more films there. An unprecedented alliance of French film and local government officials descended on Los Angeles last week to attend the Locations Trade Show, an annual fair that puts potential film sites in the movie industry’s shop window.
A giant freshwater carp nicknamed the "tiger fish" for its great fighting abilities is set to return to the fast-flowing rivers of Indian Kashmir, officials say. Scientists have built a hatchery for breeding the mahseer and hope to restock the waters of Kashmir, known as an "angler’s paradise", although few foreign fishermen venture here now due to a deadly Islamic insurgency.
Macmillan South Africa, one of the leading publishing houses, has announced a groundbreaking empowerment initiative to help the Gauteng education department tackle problems around literacy and the mobilisation of resources. Called READ Empowerment Trust, the initiative is Macmillan’s broad-based BEE structure that is intended to benefit learners and teachers in Gauteng.