His hands were bleeding and his eyes filled with tears as, four years ago, he slammed a sledgehammer into the tiled plinth that held a 20ft bronze statue of Saddam Hussein. Then Kadhim al-Jubouri spoke of his joy at being the leader of the crowd that toppled the statue in Baghdad’s Firdous Square. Now, he is filled with nothing but regret.
A black box emitting a high-pitched pulsing sound designed to deter loitering teenagers is being used in thousands of sites around Britain just a year after its launch, prompting warnings from civil liberties campaigners that it is a ”sonic weapon” that could be illegal.
With horror, we have looked at Zimbabwe and seen the whiplashes of a panicking regime. But now what? Now what, after the welts are healing and the worst of the blood has been staunched? Examination will show us that to chronicle this as the work of a desperate regime is inaccurate.
In the history of human folly, the purple haze of embarrassment must surely flush over us as we consider the crimes that have been committed against our fellow human beings in the name of what was presented as a noble cause at the time: the civilising mission of colonialism and the extermination of native populations.
Egyptian security forces broke up an opposition protest in Cairo on Sunday, on the eve of a referendum on constitutional changes which opponents fear will strengthen the ruling party’s grip on power. The government says the amendments are necessary to avert sectarianism and terrorism.
More than 100 people were killed in two days of heavy fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) capital Kinshasa, hospital officials said on Sunday, as diplomats expressed fears for the country’s fledgling democracy. Government forces restored order to Kinshasa late on Friday after routing fighters loyal to defeated presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba.
Steven Gerrard has admitted that England did not deserve to beat Israel and acknowledged that he and his teammates are now underdogs in the fight to reach the Euro 2008 finals. A goalless draw in Tel Aviv on Saturday night resulted in Steve McClaren’s squad falling further behind Croatia and Russia in Group E.
The Scorpions are investigating payments of millions allegedly made by fraud convict Schabir Shaik into overseas bank accounts of former transport minister Mac Maharaj, Rapport newspaper reported on Sunday. The payments, made between 1996 and 2000, were allegedly connected to the awarding of tenders during Maharaj’s tenure.
Mauritanians voted on Sunday in a presidential run-off between a former technocrat and a veteran opposition leader, the last stage of returning civilian rule to the Islamic state bordering the Sahara. The vote follows an inconclusive first round poll two weeks ago and seals a democratic handover by the army junta.
Iran rejected a repeated demand by the United Nations Security Council to suspend uranium enrichment work after the 15-nation body imposed arms and financial sanctions on Tehran. At the same time major powers, who drafted the resolution, immediately offered new talks on Saturday and renewed their offer of an economic and technological incentive package.