Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has announced that foreign rebel groups operating in the vast country are to be forcibly disarmed. He did not name the groups but the reference was taken to be to bands of Rwandan Hutus who fled after perpetrating the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in their country.
Liberia’s interim president warned on Wednesday against ritual murder aimed at securing political posts through black magic, saying he would sign the death warrant of anyone convicted of the practice. ”Those who think they can easily take the life of another person and go free, are making a big mistake,” said Charles Gyude Bryant.
The Democratic Alliance has again reported Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), saying the latest statements by the minister mean the council can no longer ignore her.
Apple released new software on Tuesday designed to make it easier for users to listen to the increasingly popular, but largely unstructured podcast offerings. Apple, which also announced colour screens for its iPod digital music players, said the new iTunes software comes with a podcast directory that lists more than 3 000 free audio programs.
A pair of Supreme Court rulings this week is stoking fears that the internet is becoming an ever-more centralised platform for entrenched corporate interests — the antithesis of the digital commons envisioned by technophiles and civil libertarians. But others predict that innovation will actually be encouraged by the rulings.
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Thousands of supporters of former deputy president Jacob Zuma and protesters from the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Alliance merged outside the Durban City Hall on Wednesday. Shop owners locked their doors as a precaution and there was a large police contingent keeping watch.
A R2,2-billion water pipeline from the Vaal River to Sasol and Eskom operations near Secunda has to be completed by July 2007, the project’s funders said on Wednesday. Work on the pipeline — that will provide about 160-million cubic metres of water — was to begin later this year.
Pakistan’s highest court delivered a legal victory on Tuesday to a woman who has accused 13 men of orchestrating her gang rape three years ago. The supreme court overturned the acquittals of some of the men and ordered all of them to be rearrested.
Talks aimed at unblocking the peace process in Côte d’Ivoire entered a second day on Wednesday in Pretoria with leaders drafting a document that was to be adopted later in the day. The Pretoria accord ran into a major hurdle this week when rebel forces made clear they would not abide by the June 27 deadline to disarm.
A teenage boy being groomed by China to become the new Tibetan religious leader has been allowed to meet tens of thousands of people in a rare trip, state media said on Wednesday. The visit was the first by the teenager to Sichuan, where the second largest population of Tibetans live, outside of the restive Tibet region.