Militiamen loyal to Somalia’s Islamic courts raided cinemas, switched off the generators and expelled audiences watching the World Cup, before announcing that showing Western films in public had been banned, officials said on Monday. A day before Islamic Sharia law took effect in Jowhar heavily armed Islamic fighters shut down all public cinema halls until further notice.
Somalia’s dominant Islamist militia on Monday imposed Sharia law in the former warlord stronghold of Jowhar, making good on their vows to bring Islamic theocracy to the shattered Horn of Africa nation. The Joint Islamic Courts militia named three hard-line preachers to chair the Jowhar administration.
The United States Central Intelligence Agency warned the British government in 2003 about one of the suicide bombers who launched attacks in London two years later, according to a new book by a US intelligence specialist. The CIA warned that Mohammed Sidique Khan was that year planning attacks on synagogues on the East Coast of the United States.
World Cup fever is kicking up already-strong demand for flat-panel televisions as consumers desiring a sharper picture of matches are finding lower prices and marketing pitches honed for soccer fans. At a Yamada electronics store in Tokyo, TVs are awash in blue — the Japanese national team’s jersey colour.
The South African Human Rights Commission has found that South Africa has two basic education systems — the dysfunctional and impoverished schools used by the majority of children, and those for the privileged minority comprising well-resourced islands of educational excellence.
Primedia Limited announced on Monday that it had received approval from the competition commission last Wednesday to purchase the remaining 14% of 94.7 Highveld Stereo, which it acquired from Mineworkers’ Investment Company (MIC) in November 2005.
First National Bank (FNB) will pay a total of R154-million to 50 000 ex-Saambou customers who were overcharged interest on their home loans, FNB announced on Monday. Saambou Bank was placed under curatorship in February 2002, when FNB acquired its home loans book.
Former South African president FW de Klerk is now ”communicating pretty freely” with people from his bed in an intensive-care unit, after a lengthy period under sedation, spokesperson Dave Steward of the FW de Klerk Foundation said on Monday.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has made a key contribution to making the African dream a reality and no more will Africa be perceived as a dark continent without any rule of law and development, the ruling African National Congress said on Monday in celebration of his 64th birthday.
The United States could consider new sanctions against North Korea if it goes ahead with plans to launch a long-range missile, US ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer said on Monday. Schieffer said that a test by the communist state would be a ”very, very serious matter” that could be brought before the United Nations Security Council.