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Jacob Zuma has acknowledged that he is running out of money, media reports said on Tuesday. Zuma said he was unemployed and struggling to pay his legal representatives. Zuma has one junior and two senior advocates appearing for him in his corruption trial — the same legal team that handled his rape trial.
An international drive for a ceasefire in Lebanon halted on Monday amid sharp differences at the United Nations Security Council, Israel’s rejection of any truce in the near future and a Hezbollah warning that it would oppose the deployment of a multinational security force.
The state of Africa, says Charlayne Hunter-Gault in her most recent book, <i>New News Out of Africa</i>, is in many ways shaped by the public’s image of the continent — and the image of Africa is in the hands of the media. Besieged by clichéd headlines bearing news of the "four Ds" — death, destruction, disease and despair — Africa needs fresh, "new news" reporting.
A feast for the eyes awaits any hiker or biker who struggles up the steep grade to reach a mountain peak in the tiny village of Peklo, Czech Republic. Peklo is home to one of the scores of scenic overlooks that dot the mountain and cliff-tops throughout the Jizerske Hory mountain range, about 150km north of Prague.
Labour unions embroiled in a wage dispute with mining company Kumba will continue strike action until their demands are met, the unions said on Tuesday. The workers are demanding a 9% wage increase for higher earners and 10,5% for lower earners. Kumba has countered with an offer of 7% for higher earners and 8% for lower earners.
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South Africa welcomes a European Union proposal to boost diplomatic ties but a closer relationship with the EU must benefit Africa, a senior official said on Monday. The EU’s European Commission has urged the 25-country bloc to upgrade links with Pretoria to a ”strategic partnership”, putting relations on the same footing as those between the EU and the United States, Japan, Russia, India and China.
A bomb in a police car killed at least eight Afghans on Monday as Nato forces took control of security in southern Afghanistan to begin one of the biggest ground operations in the alliance’s history. The blast occurred in the eastern city of Jalalabad, far from the transfer-of-command ceremony on a base outside the southern city of Kandahar.
International officials on Monday hailed Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) landmark elections at the weekend as an example to Africa and called on presidential candidates to accept the results. ”This has made the DRC an example for African elections,” former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano said.
Israel’s attack on Qana in Lebanon on Sunday, which killed 52 people, more than half of them children, was ”humanity gone mad”, South African Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Monday. Meanwhile, Israel has rejected mounting international pressure to end its 20-day-old war against Hezbollah guerrillas.