A New York Times journalist was jailed for up to four months for contempt on Wednesday after she refused to reveal the source in an investigation into the leak of an undercover CIA officer’s name. Judith Miller was sent to a Washington DC jail for a term that will last until October, unless she relents and reveals her source.
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Kidnappers of Egypt’s top diplomat in Iraq have threatened to kill him because Egypt has allied with ”Jews and Christians,” according to a statement posted on Wednesday on an al-Qaeda-linked website. Meanwhile, a senior aide to radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr visited Bahrain’s diplomatic mission on Wednesday.
South Africa has to move on from its apartheid history and forge ahead with democracy despite the pain it often causes, Johannesburg High Court Judge Mohamed Jajbhay said on Wednesday. He was addressing human rights activists opposing the Absa takeover bid by Barclays Bank.
A former senior intelligence officer has quit Zimbabwe’s ruling party over the demolitions campaign that has left hundreds of thousands homeless, saying the governing clique is ”punishing the people” for no reason. Meanwhile, police have denied reports of four deaths during the demolition of a township.
Shareholders have given the thumbs-up for a R7,2-billion black economic empowerment deal (BEE) that will see 12,75% of Old Mutual plc’s South African operations going to black investors and staff. "We are pleased that shareholders have shown their strong support for our BEE ownership proposals," said chief executive Jim Sutcliffe.
A <i>Citizen</i> lead story entitled "Documentary claims Zuma was plot victim" has elicited a range of animated responses from the media industry. The piece refers to "an explosive TV documentary alleging former deputy president Jacob Zuma is the victim of a trial by media orchestrated by people within the African National Congress".
The expected decision by Group of Eight (G8) leaders to erase some of the debt Africans owe world lenders will free money to build schools and hospitals — but its impact may not be as dramatic as it first appears. Few African countries — even those paying interest — are expected to make good on the principal.
The government should declare a ”state of emergency” in the Stilfontein area as thousands of miners and their families are going hungry, the trade union Solidarity said on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, thousands of unhappy miners from two liquidated mines in Stilfontein in the North West and their families blocked the N12 near the town.
The Malagasy tourism industry is patiently awaiting an expected boom in visitors to the Indian Ocean island nation driven by the animated box-office hit Madagascar. Though tourist arrivals have yet to register any significant jump from the film that was released in May, officials said prospects are bright.