Michael Jackson is physically shattered but ”emotionally resolute” and confident of acquittal as he awaits a jury verdict in his child sexual-molestation case, long-time confidant Reverend Jesse Jackson said in a television interview on Monday. The United States minister said he met with the pop star at a hospital overnight on Sunday.
Chadians turned out early on Monday to cast ballots in a referendum on whether to scrap presidential term limits, a move that would allow President Idriss Deby to run for an unprecedented third term as leader of Africa’s newest oil producer. A loose grouping of about 30 opposition parties urged supporters to boycott the referendum.
African Union-mediated peace talks on the crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region are set to open in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on Friday, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo’s spokesperson said on Monday. Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court in The Hague said it will launch a war-crimes probe into atrocities committed in Darfur.
The chairperson of the African Union has rejected the group’s appointment of a mediator for crisis-hit Togo, saying he wasn’t properly consulted, officials said on Monday. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who currently holds the rotating AU chairmanship, has led West African efforts to resolve the Togo crisis.
Former dictator Saddam Hussein will stand trial for a range of charges — from gassing thousands of Kurds to executing political and religious leaders, according to a list of the cases against him obtained from the special tribunal on Monday. Meanwhile, violence by insurgents opposed to Iraq’s new government continues.
Police in Germany said on Monday they stopped a vehicle on suspicion that it was being driven by a human skeleton — only to find out that no traffic laws were violated. The life-sized durable plastic skeleton — wearing only a pair of sunglasses over the eyeball sockets — was sitting in the left front seat.
Britain announced on Monday that it is shelving plans for a referendum on the European Union Constitution until its fate becomes clearer, driving another stake into the heart of the beleaguered treaty. The move was announced by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in a statement to Parliament on Monday.
Oscar winning Hollywood star Russell Crowe was arrested in New York on Monday and charged with assault after allegedly hurling a telephone at a hotel employee, a police spokesperson said. Police were called to the swanky Mercer Hotel in SoHo, downtown Manhattan at around 4.20am.
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor’s assurances to whistle-blowers are hollow if her department cannot take the minor administrative steps needed to protect them, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday. A teacher from the Kamhola school in Barberton — one of the schools implicated in the cheating — was dismissed last week.
With the red, white and green tricolour of the Iranian flag draped around her shoulders, Niloofar Ardalan appeared to be in her element as she cheered on the national football team as it battled to reach next year’s World Cup. As the daughter of a former international goalkeeper, football is in her blood.