The Mail & Guardian‘s Haydee Bangerezako and Kabuika Kamunga speak to Phakiso Mochochoko, senior legal adviser at the International Criminal Court.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faces a tough run-off for a second term in office with a rejuvenated opposition after a string of political scandals have dented his popularity. Lula fell just short for a first round victory, polling 48,6% of the vote, compared to 41,6% of his closest rival Geraldo Alckmin.
The killer who shot dead five girls in a one-room Amish schoolhouse was haunted by guilt over his sexual assault of two young female relatives 20 years ago and dreamed that he would abuse again, it emerged on Tuesday. Suicide notes, cellphone conversations and the debris left behind at the schoolhouse produced a chilling portrait of the man responsible for the deadly shootings, Charles Roberts IV.
Chad’s oil industry, with its output of 160 000 barrels a day, is tiny compared with Venezuela and Russia. But Chad is looking to exert more control over its natural resources. The President, Idriss Déby, recently announced he was kicking United States oil giant Chevron and Malaysian player Petronas — who together own 60% of the consortium running Chad’s -billion pipeline — out of the country for non-payment of taxes, a charge both companies deny.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, said on Wednesday that attempts to form a coalition government with the ruling Hamas movement had failed despite a mounting economic and security crisis. A joint programme agreed between his Fatah movement and Hamas last month had collapsed.
It is a century since Bhambatha kaMancinza, inkosi of the Zondi, ambushed a police patrol at Mpanza north of Greytown in Natal and, with 150 men, headed for the Nkandla forests in Zululand. There, joined by thousands, he defied the colonial government. This was the Bhambatha rebellion or impi yamakhanda, the ”war of the heads”, named after the head or poll tax that sparked it off.
Lesotho’s rocky earth this week coughed up a generous present for the country’s 40th independence celebrations: a 603 carat white diamond. The stone, which was found at the Letseng Diamond Mine, is the 15th largest ever found and has been named the Lesotho Promise.
It’s 2056. After a coup in Saudi Arabia, the new government announces it is cutting off supplies of its dwindling stock of oil to the United States. The White House responds by sending in the troops, but is forced to withdraw after Beijing says it will only continue shoring up the dollar if the military action is called off. The Americans have no choice but to comply. Fanciful? Ludicrous?
With a lingering kiss, and a prime-time declaration of love that brought
rousing applause from the audience, a gay couple stole the show at the Tony
awards in New York last week writes, Gary Younge.
Mark Latham is the former leader of the Australian Labour Party. He once broke a cabbie’s arm in a fight over the fare. The British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott once punched a guy who’d pelted him with an egg. They are both lovely big men. Latham has just written a book in which the key quote is: ”Australian mates and good blokes have been replaced by nervous wrecks, metrosexual knobs and toss bags.”