The spokesperson for Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader was assaulted by security forces as he tried to leave the country on Sunday, a party official said. Nelson Chamisa, aide to Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, was assaulted at Harare International airport as he was leaving for Belgium.
Differences between the United States and other Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries were highlighted on the closing day of an environment ministers’ conference in Potsdam near Berlin that ended on Saturday. While no negotiations were conducted in Potsdam, the delegates prepared the ground for the G8 summit in June.
Hundreds of thousands of revellers throughout Ireland and across the world celebrated St Patrick’s Day on Saturday with colourful parades and other festivities. The feast day of Ireland’s patron saint, when much Guinness and other alcohol is traditionally drunk, showcases the country to give an early kick-start to the country’s tourism season.
Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar joined tens of thousands of people in a march through the Spanish capital to protest against the continuing war in Iraq and to demand the closure of the United States prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Other rallies were held around Spain.
Pet owners were worried on Saturday that the pet food in their cupboard may be deadly after millions of containers of dog and cat food sold at major retailers across North America were recalled. The company that produced the pet food, said it was recalling dog food sold under 48 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands.
At just a hair over 43cm tall, the miniature horse is more inclined to walk under fences than jump them — and her owners have sheltered the mare from ever gaining ”circus sideshow” or ”one-trick-pony” status. As the world’s smallest horse, five-year-old Thumbelina, weighing in at 26kg, has a bigger mission.
Disgraced Japanese dot-com tycoon Takafumi Horie slammed his conviction and harsh sentence for securities fraud on Sunday, insisting he had committed no crimes and that he had more than paid for any mistakes by losing his company. ”I did not intentionally attempt to pad earnings, and there was no false accounting,” he said.
Nigerian troops raided several villages on the outskirts of the country’s main oil-industry centre of Port Harcourt in search of gunmen said to be responsible for a spate of hostage-takings targeting foreign oil workers, a military spokesperson said. Several arrests were made and illegal weapons recovered on Saturday.
South Africa’s Sharks made it six wins out of six and top the table after a 27-14 victory over New Zealand’s Wellington Hurricanes in Durban on Saturday. It wasn’t pretty, but Dick Muir’s charges did the business to remain the only unbeaten side in this year’s Super 14 southern-hemisphere interprovincial competition.
Two people were killed and thousands left homeless when a ruinous cyclone smashed the northern coast of Madagascar this week, authorities said on Saturday. Cyclone Indlala left a trail of devastation in its wake on Thursday, damaging buildings and infrastructure on the Indian Ocean island.