Michael Tsai points to a large map on the wall of his office in Taiwan’s national defence ministry. It is dotted with red symbols representing dozens of Chinese missile, air and naval bases within easy shooting range of the capital and other major Taiwanese cities. Whatever Beijing may say about its peaceful intentions, Tsai suggests, this map illustrates the reality of the military threat that lurks 160km to the west.
France has recommended that the United Nations extend the mandate of international peacekeepers in Côte d’Ivoire, by one month, until it becomes clear whether a peace summit in Pretoria on Sunday achieves a breakthrough in slow-moving negotiations to end the West African country’s civil war. The current mandate expires on April 4, hours after the Pretoria summit is scheduled to take place.
More than a kilometre below the choppy Gulf of Mexico waters lies a vast, untapped source of energy. Locked in mysterious crystals, the sediment beneath the seabed holds enough natural gas to fuel the United States’s energy-guzzling society for decades, or to bring about sufficient climate change to melt the planet’s glaciers and cause catastrophic flooding, depending on whom you talk to.
South African President and peace-broker Thabo Mbeki resumed a second day of make-or-break talks on Monday with Côte d’Ivoire leaders to try to end a civil conflict that has split the country since 2002, his spokesperson said. The talks resumed at 10am and are set to continue through the day.
Nigeria’s former chief of police Tafa Balogun arrived in handcuffs on Monday to face multi-million-dollar corruption charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja. Balogun was detained for questioning on Monday last week, two months after he was forced to resign by President Olusegun Obasanjo amid fraud allegations.
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Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir vowed on Saturday not to hand over any of his countrymen to a foreign court, after the United Nations cleared the way for Darfur war crimes suspects to be tried by the International Criminal Court. About 300 000 people have died in more than two years of conflict in Darfur.
A sea of umbrellas met Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti as the skies over Pretoria opened on Saturday night for his farewell concert from Africa. Persistent rain did little to dampen the spirits of the thousands of faithful, but an undisclosed malady compelled the Maestro, as he is popularly known, to finish his performance early.
An amazed Kim Clijsters, who added Miami to another Masters trophy she lifted a fortnight ago in California, was revelling on Saturday in a resounding comeback from injury after defeating Maria Sharapova 6-3, 7-5. Trophies at the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami miracle over Sharapova has assured a return to the top 20 in Monday’s rankings.
World championship leader Fernando Alonso set a sizzling pace in the roasting desert heat in Manama on Saturday to claim the fastest time in first qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. World champion Michael Schumacher prepared the new Ferrari for its race debut on Sunday by finishing third fastest.