Soldiers opened fire on protesters in eastern Uzbekistan on Friday and killed at least three after demonstrators stormed a jail to free 23 men accused of Islamic extremism, witnesses said. Protest leader Kabuljon Parpiyev said as many as 50 people may have been killed over the course of the day.
Students who fail perpetually should not be allowed to continue their higher education studies indeterminately, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said on Friday. The minister sought to explain a draft proposal she has submitted to the higher-education sector for consideration.
New talks to set a calendar to begin disarming fighters in Côte d’Ivoire were postponed on Friday as both sides in the protracted crisis huddled to weigh indictments in a World Bank report that judged all preparations ”insufficient”. Much of the fault, according to a World Bank report, lies with the national disarmament commission.
The Waratahs capped their best finish to date to a regular Super 12 season with a 25-20 win over the Blues, but looked to have squandered the chance of a home grand final after failing to score a bonus point on Friday. The Waratahs lacked their usual composure for much of the opening half.
The Canterbury Crusaders secured the crucial position of a potential home final advantage in the Super 12 rugby championship with a 40-20 win over the Wellington Hurricanes on Friday. Before a sell-out crowd of 35 000, the Crusaders led by only 18-13 at half-time.
Failure by the state to protect farmers from land invasions will be ”a recipe for anarchy”, the Constitutional Court found on Friday in a landmark judgement upholding farmers’ property rights. The ruling given by acting Chief Justice Pius Langa for a unanimous court brings to an end five years of legal wrangling.
Listed South African retailer Woolworths on Friday expressed its disappointment at the stance taken by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) — including the South Africa Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union — on the ongoing dispute over locally produced goods versus imports.
Immigration officials have refused to divulge how and when the 62 alleged mercenaries being held in a Zimbabwe prison will return to South Africa. ”They told us we can take our bus and basically f-off,” the group’s lawyer, Alwyn Griebenow, said from Harare on Friday. The men are now being labelled a ”high security risk”.
The court case against vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath is a distraction from the real work of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), its national chairperson Zackie Achmat, said on Friday. Earlier, Rath’s lawyer argued Rath should have a chance to reply to ”vilifying statements” Achmat and the TAC made against him in their papers.
How liberated is the 21st century woman as the abundance of freedom has left her more exhausted now with unlimited responsibilities asks MaQueen Motuba.
<i>Stitched-up</i>
by <b>Stephanie Vermeulen</b>
(Jacana)