A 20-strong alliance of opposition parties denounced on Friday what they called the slow rate of preparations for staging Angola’s first elections since the end of the civil war four years ago. President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, in power since 1979, has pledged to stage the historic ballot before the end of next year.
A multimillion-rand scam has been uncovered in which expired food products have been sold from the shelves of major supermarkets, Dispatch Online reported on Friday. The scheme has been run for years by an East London food distributor, operating out of a back-street warehouse in Quigney, East London.
The authorities in Zimbabwe have closed nearly 70 hotels and restaurants in the last week for operating without licences or being used for illicit sex, a minister said on Friday. ”We ordered the closure of these restaurants and some of these small hotels that were being turned into brothels since they were not registered,” Environment Minister Francis Nhema said.
Childhood allergies are on the rise around the world, including in many developing countries where asthma, eczema and hay fever are emerging as important public health problems, scientists said on Friday. Asthma, in particular, is responsible for millions of children missing school, ending up in hospital or even dying.
The top United States general in the Middle East praised a major security clampdown in Baghdad on Thursday and said Iraq was far from civil war. On a day when three car bombs and two roadside bombs killed four people and wounded 24 in the capital, General John Abizaid told reporters: ”I think there has been great progress on the security front in Baghdad recently.”
Japanese lawmaker Shinzo Abe, widely expected to become the country’s next prime minister, said on Friday the military should have a greater role in global security and should increase cooperation with United States forces. Abe called for a permanent law allowing Japanese forces to take part in international cooperation missions overseas.
Archaeologists from a television team will celebrate the 80th birthday of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth by digging up the manicured lawns and gardens at three of her palaces to trace their history. At Windsor Castle they hope to unearth Edward III’s Round Table building which they believe lies under the Queen’s ceremonial lawn.
Lebanon should cling to the United Nations Security Council to avoid being sucked into the orbit of any outside power as it emerges from Israel’s devastating war with Hezbollah guerrillas, former President Amin Gemayel said. ”Lebanon is a battlefield for others,” said the 63-year-old Maronite Christian leader — who should know.
The Zimbabwean army plans to go on a massive recruitment drive next year because veterans of the 1970s war of independence are due to retire from active service, reports said this week. Veterans of the guerrilla war that eventually ousted the white minority government have comprised the highest-ranking officers in the army, state television reported late on Thursday.
Ethiopia on Friday appealed for at least -million to help thousands of people displaced by fatal floods that have ravaged the Horn of Africa nation since the beginning of this month amid fears of more floods. As emergency workers struggled against poor weather, federal authorities said the funding would help alleviate suffering in the flooded regions.