Zimbabwe Judge President Paddington Garwe has defended the performance of the country’s judiciary, rejecting charges that it lacks independence and is subservient to President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party. Garwe challenged critics of the bench to come out in the open and point out their specific grievances to judicial authorities.
Insurgents exploded a suicide car bomb and launched two mortar shells at Iraq’s interior ministry during National Police Day celebrations on Monday, killing 29 people and injuring 18, officials said. The United States ambassador and Iraq’s interior and defence ministers were in attendance but were far from the attacks.
United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Monday both he and the international community are ”losing patience” with Iran’s lack of transparency about its controversial nuclear programme. Tehran announced on Monday it is on the verge of resuming nuclear fuel research.
A political novice and former switchboard operator was named on Monday as the Independent Democrats’ mayoral candidate for Cape Town. Simon Grindrod (35) was elected unanimously by the party’s 105 candidates in the metropole. In his first foray into politics, he will contest the municipal elections against seasoned politicians.
A Malawian opposition lawmaker said on Monday he has written to Parliament to withdraw a motion to impeach President Bingu wa Mutharika. ”Impeachment is not in the interests of Malawians … it has not been wholly accepted by Malawians,” Maxwell Milanzi, an MP of the former ruling United Democratic Front, said in a letter.
Oil prices rose on Monday, hovering above a barrel, and natural-gas futures dropped amid a mild start to winter in the United States. Gasoline prices also eased, but analysts suggested that relatively mild US temperatures would keep demand high and stocks tight.
Australian motorcyclist Andy Caldecott has been killed in a crash during the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally, organisers said on Monday. KTM rider Caldecott, who won the third stage of the rally from Nador to Er Rachidia in Morocco last Monday, fell 250km into the 599km stage between Nouakchott and Kiffa, Mauritania.
United States Vice-President Dick Cheney was expected to be released from hospital on Monday after being taken in for treatment overnight suffering shortness of breath, his office said. Cheney was retaining fluid in connection with medication he was taking for a foot problem, a spokesperson said.
Houses and businesses in Standerton, Mpumalanga, could be in danger of floods if the current water inflow into the Grootdraai Dam near the town continues, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Monday. Spokesperson Walter van der Westhuizen said the dam was 114% full on Monday afternoon.
Online retail in South Africa grew by 20% in 2005, down from the 25% growth rate of 2004, as the industry finds itself lagging due to the high cost of broadband internet access in South Africa. The total spent on online retail goods in South Africa in 2005 was R514-million, up from R428-million in 2004.