Two global rights groups on Wednesday expressed grave concern over the treatment of several Ethiopian prisoners detained for months since violent protests over disputed elections last year. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and London-based Amnesty International decried the conditions in which three detainees are being held.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has suggested that his detractors have lost their nerve, and asked God to calm them, in the latest verbal jab at Damascus over the the conflict in Lebanon. ”I hold my nerve and I am unflappable in the face of provocation. May God calm those who have lost their nerve,” Mubarak said in an interview to be published by the top-selling al-Ahram weekly.
Sudan’s ruling party has rejected as unacceptable a draft United Nations resolution on the deployment of UN peacekeepers to the strife-torn region of Darfur and issued a sharp warning to its sponsors, the United States and Britain. ”The draft resolution is worse than previous ones,” National Congress Party chairperson Ghazi Salah Eldin Atabani was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Juventus have lodged an appeal with a civil court to overturn their relegation for match-fixing despite a threat of extra sanctions from Italy’s football federation, a spokesperson for the club said on Thursday. A soccer tribunal ruling on the match-fixing scandal in July stripped Juve of their last two Italian titles and demoted them to the second division.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein on Thursday dismissed the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) application for an order granting it leave to broadcast live the hearings of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik. To permit live television coverage could inhibit participants in Shaik’s case, SCA President Judge CT Howie said in his judgment.
The JSE edged into the black by 73 points just after midday on Thursday after being down in early trade as traders began to eye value at the lower levels. This small fillip came after profit-taking on mining heavyweights Anglo and BHP Billiton saw the JSE end in the red by 333 points on Wednesday after two days of strong gains.
ABB, the Swiss power and automation technology group, said on Thursday that it had won a $62-million order from the South African utility Eskom to strengthen one of the region’s most important cross-border power transmission systems. Earlier this month, ABB won a $30-million contract from Eskom for equipment to help strengthen power grid reliability.
Trevor Ncube, CEO of Johannesburg-based M&G Media, which publishes the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> and <i>M&G Online</i>, has been elected, for the second time, as president of Print Media South Africa (PMSA) by its incoming board, the association said in a statement released on Thursday.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) had decided to deliberately stage illegal protests because it was tired of the government’s failure to act on HIV/Aids, it said on Thursday. ”We deliberately did not apply for permission to protest and we don’t apologise for that because we are tired of government’s inactivity in the face of the Aids pandemic,” said the TAC’s general secretary Sipho Mthathi.
Santos gained three valuable points when they narrowly beat Bloemfontein Celtic 1-0 in a Premier Soccer League (PSL) match played at the Green Point Stadium on Wednesday night. Celtic played with a lot of fire and were quick in their tackles, but could not make use of the possession they had.