Iraq’s leaders vowed to unveil a draft Constitution on Monday after marathon talks edged the country’s ethnic and religious rivals towards a potentially historic compromise. A special sitting of the Parliament has been called in the capital on Monday evening to review the text, hours before a midnight deadline for approval.
Guarded optimism prevailed in the capital of Indonesia’s Aceh province after the signing on Monday of a peace pact that Acehenese hope will end nearly three decades of war and suffering. Thousands of people jostled for a glimpse of televisions beaming the signing ceremony in the Finnish capital, Helsinki.
Israel began its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip on Monday, but while some settlers were resigned to their fate, the mood in other settlements was defiant, prompting tense stand-offs with security forces. As the evacuation started, the Israeli Cabinet voted 16-4 to approve the second stage of the pull-out.
With 63 more deaths in and around the western Indian city of Mumbai, the death toll due to leptospirosis and other water-borne diseases brought on by floods has climbed to 233, a local news agency report said on Monday. A senior health official told the PTI news agency that there are signs of the outbreak abating.
Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota has justified the expenditure of R10-billion on the new A400 military transport aircraft, saying the Hercules C-130 aircraft currently in use is heading towards the end of its operational life. He said the air force has spent about R870-million on the avionics and major servicing of the air frames.
The oil price, which has hit record levels in the past few days, is unlikely to lead to an immediate increase in the interest rate, an Absa economist said on Monday. John Loos said a stable interest-rate policy could steer South Africa well clear of the recessionary conditions that the world’s large economies might experience.
United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa suspended six members of Parliament and provincial legislatures because they questioned him about a local government election pact he had apparently entered into with the African National Congress, according to his deputy.
President Thabo Mbeki has staked his leadership on a Programme of Action — a 53-page scorecard of social pledges to be fulfilled by 2009. Every two months the presidential policy unit, headed by Joel Netshitenzhe, updates the programme on the government website as a goad for ministers and checklist for the public.
The United States and 11 African nations on Monday formally opened a regional emergency response center in Nairobi, Kenya, to improve East and Central Africa’s capacity to deal with natural disasters and terrorist attacks. It is part of a US-funded series of symposia aimed at helping African countries better respond to crises.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has lauded the production of the first anti-retroviral drugs used to battle Aids to be produced by an indigenous firm in the country, his office said on Monday. Obasanjo said during the presentation of the Aids drug by a local drug firm that he is encouraged by the achievement of the company.