Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has won applause from foreign donors for his economic and anti-corruption record. But while Zambia has avoided the kind of strife that has plagued some of its neighbours, that hasn’t made its politics any more predictable. Mwanawasa is now seeking a second term in a September 28 poll whose outcome is far from certain.
Police in the German city of Aachen received an unusual call for help late on Wednesday when a woman telephoned to complain her husband was not fulfilling his sexual obligations. After the couple had been sleeping in separate beds for several months without intimate contact, the 44-year-old woman woke the husband (45) in the middle of the night and demanded he satisfy her needs.
The array of massive black flags with single white stars fluttering in the Caribbean breeze gives the impression of a pirate fleet at full sail. Nothing better symbolises the confrontation between Cuba and the United States than the display on the waterfront of Havana outside the seven-storey building that houses the United States Interests Section.
Emergency services are mopping up after the floods in George, the municipality said on Thursday. Acting George municipal manager Godfrey Louw said damage to infrastructure was estimated at between R11-million and R12-million. Four people died when their vehicle was swept away on Tuesday when a bridge collapsed in Conville and a fifth person was still missing.
Rome’s Catholic, Muslim and Jewish leaders have united to condemn pop star Madonna’s decision to stage a mock-crucifixion when she performs in the Italian capital on Sunday a stone’s throw away from Vatican City. The lapsed-Catholic diva’s latest irreverent performance sees her wearing a fake crown of thorns and descending cross as part of her worldwide Confessions Tour.
Israeli public support for the war on Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon has been so overwhelming it has become hard to tell the doves from the hawks in the Jewish state’s fractious society.
The Nigerian government on Wednesday dismissed three senior officials at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (Luth), where a baby was infected with HIV/Aids. Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo said Luth’s chief medical director, chief medical laboratory scientist and an official in haematology department of the hospital had all been sacked over the incident.
Two musical dinosaurs hit the wall last week — and Top of the Pops wasn’t one of them. Metallica, rock monsters who had hitherto refused to play nicely with the net, finally relented under increasing pressure and stocked iTunes with their back catalogue after years of being the industry’s premier refuseniks.
Nigeria has approved a national building code to stem a spate of building collapses that have claimed dozens of lives in recent months, officials said on Thursday. The code was approved on Wednesday during a Cabinet meeting presided over by President Olusegun Obasanjo, Information Minister Frank Nweke said.
A Malawian court on Wednesday gave a two-year jail sentence to a principal secretary earlier suspended for corruption, making him the most senior bureaucrat to be netted in a sweeping anti-graft drive. High court Judge Richard Chinangwa found Sam Safuli guilty of ”aiding and abetting the theft of public funds”.