Saddam Hussein’s effigy was pulled down again in Baghdad’s Firdos Square last weekend. But unlike the made-for-TV event when United States troops first entered the Iraqi capital, the toppling of Hussein on the occupation’s second anniversary was different. 300 000 Iraqis were on hand, and they threw down effigies of US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair as well.
The Peruvian government has come up with an emergency plan to preserve the mountain-top Inca citadel Machu Picchu and the surrounding national park from the ravages of too many tourists and possible landslides. The ,5-million plan is to be studied by Unesco and the World Bank at a three-day meeting in Lima beginning on Saturday.
Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the facilitator of the Burundi peace process, will be going to that country to press the political actors to maintain the already slipping electoral process. Peace efforts were buoyed this week by the oldest Burundian liberation movement, the Forces of National Liberation agreeing to begin negotiations with the interim government and to cease hostilities.
Charlie, a grown male chimpanzee and a star attraction at the Bloemfontein Zoo, has picked up a smoking habit which officials said he learned from watching visitors. ”Baby chimps pick up habits by mimicking adults and we think he started mimicking smokers at his enclosure which probably led to smokers throwing him cigarettes,” zoo spokesperson Daryl Barnes said on Thursday.
Trade union Solidarity’s urgent application to oppose the choice of liquidators of DRDGold’s operations in North West was dismissed in the Pretoria High Court on Friday. Solidarity expressed fears that preference would be given to large commercial creditors instead of workers.
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Rebels demanding the introduction of a medieval script in India’s Manipur state torched a repository of hundreds and thousands of priceless books, police said on Thursday. A group of rebels stormed the federal library in the state capital on Wednesday and set it alight by pouring gasoline on racks of literature, some of it up to two centuries old.
The Vodacom Blue Bulls face a bruising encounter against the @lantic Pumas in this weekend’s Vodacom Cup. The Bulldogs, buoyed by their outstanding performance against the Vodacom Blue Bulls last week, will look to build on their success when they take on the Mighty Elephants in an Eastern Cape derby match.
Fearful of the Marburg virus that has killed 210 people, inhabitants of the northern Angolan city of Uige have given up their traditional greeting of wrapping friends and acquaintances in a hug. Locals welcomed a reporter on Thursday by touching right legs covered by trousers — a new custom devised to help check the spread of the virus.
Sometimes, goes the old joke, I wake up grumpy. At other times, I let him sleep. Grumpy need never wake up anything less than refreshed, thanks to a futuristic alarm clock that monitors sleep patterns and waits for the sleeper to be in the best possible phase before rousing him or her.