In February, the Bush administration introduced tax incentives encouraging Americans to replace their house windows with ones that comply with conductance and solar heat gain standards. United States local authorities that are plagued by power shortages have gone further, legislating energy-efficient building regulations.
Appearing before Parliament last month, Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi suggested that the time had come to close down the Independent Complaints Directorate, a watchdog agency set up in the first blush of democracy, when notions like civilian oversight of the police were in fashion.
The notorious ”death buses” taking Peruvians and tourists up the Andean nation’s snaky mountain roads have killed 68 people in road accidents so far this year. Travelling in Peru, whose Inca ruins attract tourists from around the world, has become the road version of Russian roulette as many buses are built out of old truck chassis.
Mittal Steel this week played down suggestions that it could keep a minority stake in bid target Arcelor if its hostile â,¬24-billion takeover bid fails, claiming it was confident its offer would win shareholder backing and see off Arcelor’s plans to merge with Russia’s Severstal.
Seven years ago Australian Prime Minister John Howard was fêted for the way in which his government helped the people of East Timor — located only 700km from Australia’s north-west coast –gain their independence from Indonesia, which had occupied the island since 1975.
The Mozambican public prosecutor’s office has reportedly charged businessman Nyimpine Chissano, oldest son of former president Joaquim Chissano, with the murder in November 2000 of the country’s top investigative journalist, Carlos Cardoso.
Waking in a cold sweat. Could this be a measure of the impact of the Apartheid Grand Corruption Report released this week? At the very least the majority of South Africans would wish sleepless nights for corrupt politicians and business people who live off the spoils of ill-gotten gains.
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Fighting between Chadian army forces and suspected Sudanese-backed rebels in eastern Chad left 32 people dead and more than 50 wounded, authorities said on Monday. The toll included 10 government soldiers killed and 17 others wounded, while ”the mercenaries in Khartoum’s pay left on the battlefield 22 dead and 37 wounded”, a statement from President Idriss Déby Itno’s office said.
Muttiah Muralitharan took eight wickets, including all of England’s top seven, as Sri Lanka won the third and final Test by 134 runs at Trent Bridge on Monday to level the series at 1-1 with more than a day to spare. The 34-year-old offspinner, in what could be his final Test in England, finished with figures of 8-70, including a spell of 8-26 in 105 balls.