Barack Obama, the only black United States Senator, criticised South African leaders on Monday for their slow response to HIV/Aids, saying they were wrong to contrast ”African science and Western science”. Aids activists say Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is creating confusion by pushing traditional medicines and a recipe of garlic, beetroot, lemon and African potatoes to combat HIV/Aids.
Italy has offered to lead a United Nations force for Lebanon, but a week after a truce calmed Israel’s war with Hezbollah guerrillas, few other countries with proven military capacity have made substantial commitments. European Union countries are meeting on Wednesday to discuss concerns about clear rules of engagement for the force.
Macabre SMSs among a group of a dozen Dutch girls egging each other on to commit suicide have provided a new twist to the well-documented dangers of modern, instant-communication technology for the young. The revelation has provoked a flood of soul-searching in The Netherlands.
”I have argued recently that Israel’s attack on Lebanon was premeditated: Hizbullah’s capture of two soldiers gave Israel’s government the excuse to launch an assault it had been planning since 2004. Both George W Bush and Tony Blair knew that it would happen and gave it their approval,” writes George Monbiot.
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Tensions between Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha and its general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi ran so high that mediators were called in to settle their conflict. At its heart is a fight for the political direction of the federation, which has been drawn four square into the succession battle. Recently, communist leader Blade Nzimande was pulled into the fray.
African communities close to Mapungubwe in Limpopo are demanding the return and reburial of hundreds of human skeletons — including those of 12 former rulers — removed from the famous archaeological site to the University of Pretoria. Mapungubwe mountain was the centre of an African empire the size of Swaziland, encompassing about 200 settlements, between 600AD and 1300AD.
Heavy arms fire on Monday targeted the residence of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, a candidate in the country’s presidential election, diplomatic sources said. Bemba and foreign ambassadors of an international committee accompanying the transition to democracy, known by its French acronym of CIAT, were in the building when the attack began.
Rescuers in Burkina Faso called off a search on Monday after a flooded mine shaft collapsed, leaving dozens of illegal gold panners feared dead buried beneath tons of waterlogged dirt, local residents said. The official toll from Thursday’s accident in Poura district was three dead and 10 reported missing but residents said 46 were still believed to be underground.
Diarrhoea has killed 150 people and infected nearly 12Â 000 in flood-ravaged Ethiopia, the United Nations said on Monday, as aid agencies and governments struggled to deliver food and supplies to tens of thousands left homeless. Flash floods that began swamping villages and towns earlier this month have already killed about 900 people.