Buildings in the Maputo city centre shook on Thursday afternoon as Mozambique’s national armoury went up in smoke for the second time since 1985, Vista News reported. Windows were shattered at the University of Eduardo Mondlane’s students’ canteen on Paul S Kankhomba Avenue.
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Jacob Zuma’s advocate was rebuked by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday for submitting an unexpected and lengthy written argument in the state’s tussle to obtain documents from Mauritius. The documents include the 2000 diary of Alain Thetard — the former chief executive of Thales International’s South African subsidiary, Thint.
A top Zimbabwean Roman Catholic cleric said on Thursday he was ready to face bullets in anti-government street protests to help restore the rule of law in President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Pius Ncube, archbishop of the southern Bulawayo diocese, told a news conference that Zimbabweans must take to the streets over rights abuses by Mugabe’s government.
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Pakistan’s World Cup players were being questioned on Thursday as the investigation into the death of Bob Woolmer became embroiled in a fevered round of speculation and denial. The questioning comes on the same day that two Jamaican newspapers claimed that 58-year-old Woolmer, who died on Sunday, had been strangled.
South African fixed-line operator Telkom has bought 75% of Nigeria’s Multi-links for -million to expand further outside its home base, the firm said on Thursday. Multi-links provides fixed, mobile, data, long-distance and international telecommunications services throughout Nigeria.
A R370-million asset-seizure order — one of the largest ever — against a tobacco mogul and his co-accused was confirmed in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday. Judge Willie van der Merwe confirmed a provisional restraining order against the assets of tobacco millionaire Hendrik Delport and his 12 co-accused.
Fifteen unidentified bodies, badly decomposed and with only shreds of clothing, have been found at a mortuary in Umzimkulu, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Thursday. Superintendent Zandra Hechter said the grisly find was made by two officials of the health department on Monday.
A Paris court on Thursday acquitted the editor of a satirical French weekly sued by two Muslim groups for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, in a case seen as a test for freedom of expression. Applause broke out in the courtroom at the announcement of the verdict.
Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown was released from custody on Thursday after his R1-million bail was unexpectedly paid on his behalf. His advocate Klaus von Lieres handed the cheque to Scorpions prosecutors moments after a Cape Town magistrate ruled that property belonging to a third party was acceptable as surety for bail.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday ratcheted up the pressure on Sudan to halt the bloodshed in Darfur by calling for tough new United Nations sanctions. In a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country currently holds the rotating European Union presidency, Blair said that "enough is enough".