Former Liberian president Charles Taylor’s interim defence lawyer is in Sierra Leone to challenge attempts to move the warlord’s trial to The Hague, sources close to Taylor said on Tuesday. Karim Khan filed an urgent application to the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone to ask that no decision be made on the trial venue until the defence is allowed to comment on the issue.
In just under 30 months, Chad has become a typical oil-producing, African country, with allegations of rampant corruption, an ongoing fight with the World Bank and a burgeoning rebellion along the eastern border while the population remains dirt poor. Chad was praised by many as having a model oil programme when the Central African country began exporting oil in October 2003.
Two Eastern Cape traditional kings have damaged the brand-new luxury German cars the provincial government gave them last month, Dispatch Online reported on Tuesday. The vehicles belonged to King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo of AbaThembu BakaDalindyebo and King Zwelonke Sigcawu of AmaGcaleka.
The South African rand is no longer at the mercy of hot money flowing in and out of the country at the whim of short-term investors, Business Report said on Tuesday. It said global investors had started taking a long-term view of the country’s prospects.
The love for soccer of the 43 people killed in a stampede at Ellis Park Stadium five years ago would always be remembered, Orlando Pirates chairperson Irvin Khoza told their families on Tuesday. They had given true meaning to the word support, added Kaizer Chiefs head Kaizer Motaung.
Oil prices breached $69 a barrel in Asian trading on Tuesday on concerns of a possible United States military strike against Iran, dealers said. At 12.43pm New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for May delivery was at $69,01 a barrel, up 27 cents from its close of $68,74 in the United States on Monday.
The fees of general medical practitioners in Zimbabwe have risen by 100%, Harare’s The Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday. Its website said medical-aid societies were also allowed to increase member contributions by between 70% and 90%. Specialist physician fees had been doubled.
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A man implicated in an attempted rape by the woman who has accused Jacob Zuma of raping her told the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday he was surprised she could not remember him. Sandile Sithole (38) said he was also surprised that the complainant had denied ever making the attempted rape allegation against him.
<i>The Teacher</i>, the monthly newspaper distributed to schools and educators by M&G Media, publisher of the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>, turns 10 years old this month. "Happy birthday to a newspaper that is dedicated to servicing the most important people in our society: the architects of tomorrow’s generation," said <i>M&G</i> editor Ferial Haffajee. "Long may <i>The Teacher</i> continue to educate and shine its torch."
Chinese writer Li Jianping will go on trial for subversion on Wednesday for posting political essays on the internet, a rights group said. An intermediate court in Shandong province will hear Li’s case after charges against him were upgraded from "suspicion of defamation" to "inciting subversion of the state," the China Rights Defenders said in a statement.