A life-size chocolate statue of British popstar Elton John was unveiled on Tuesday at London’s famous wax cabinet, Madame Tussauds. The figure, made of 126kgs of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, won immediate approval from Elton’s long-time partner, David Furnish. ”They’ve captured his features and his spirit,” said Furnish.
Bomb attacks in northern Iraq killed at least 30 people and wounded 88 on Tuesday, as the Kurdish autonomous region installed former rebel leader Massoud Barzani as its first president. The deadliest attack killed at least 20 people in a crowd of civil servants outside a bank in the northern oil city of Kirkuk.
Lawmakers in Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, have adopted a new Constitution that maintains a ban on political parties and preserves King Mswati III’s sweeping powers. Mswati (37) ascended to the throne of the mountainous nation at the age of 18, maintaining a ban on political parties that was imposed in 1978.
SABMiller, one of the world’s largest breweries, announced on Tuesday it will invest more than -million in India’s booming beer market over the next five years.
The South African enterprise, listed on the London and Johannesburg stock markets, aims to increase its share of the Indian market from 10% to 25%.
The president was correct in dismissing deputy President Jacob Zuma, Inkatha Freedom Party leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, said at Parliament on Tuesday. He was responding moments after President Thabo Mbeki announced the dismissal of Zuma from his post and from Cabinet in a joint sitting of Parliament in the National Assembly.
Congress of SA Trade Unions’ general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi was ”devastated” by President Thabo Mbeki’s decision to sack Deputy President Jacob Zuma from his duties. ”This is a very, very trying moment for the movement as a whole,” said Vavi.
ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said the ANC reaffirmed that the Deputy President and the entire leadership of the Alliance accepted and supported the decision of the president, negating fears that Mbeki’s decision to sack former deputy president Jacob Zuma had caused rifts within the Alliance.
Former deputy president Jacob Zuma was ”crucified” and tried by the media, the Young Communist League said on Tuesday. The group also said that President Thabo Mbeki’s decision to sack his deputy, infringed Zuma’s constitutional rights.
Tony Leon, the leader of the official opposition Democratic Alliance, hailed President Thabo Mbeki for showing courage and ”upholding principle over politics” in his decision to release Jacob Zuma from his duties as the deputy president. Mbeki made the announcement during a special joint sitting of the two houses of Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
A group of gun owners and gun shop owners are demanding that police grant them firearm licences in a memorandum handed to the office of Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa on Tuesday. The statement read that black gun owners were ”sick and tired of the lies” from Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula.