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Chitungwiza’s famous market stalls were empty on Thursday as vendors went to the polls in this poor town on the outskirts of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, to vote for a government that will lift them out of destitution. Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe said his party has always been ready to talk to the country’s opposition.
The International Criminal Court was gearing up on Thursday for a possible war crimes investigation in Sudan’s violence-plagued Darfur region — an important case that could confirm the fledgling tribunal’s legitimacy. The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on Thursday on a resolution that would authorise the prosecution of war crimes suspects
House prices in general are less affordable now than a few years ago as house prices have risen faster than remuneration, according to banking group Absa.
Oil prices rose on Thursday as traders digested United States government figures showing a large increase in crude inventories but a drop in gasoline stocks ahead of the driving season. Light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 15 cents at ,14 a barrel by midday in Europe.
Belgium’s interior minister was left red-faced on Thursday after it emerged that photos comparing United States President George Bush to a chimpanzee had been used in a police training manual. The pictures in question show a series of the US leader’s facial expressions next to shots of a chimpanzee making apparently similar faces.
The former head of Nigeria’s police force, who quit suddenly amid allegations of corruption in January, has been arrested by the country’s financial crimes watchdog and may appear in court soon, his lawyer and government officials said on Wednesday.
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President Robert Mugabe on Thursday predicted a landslide victory for his ruling party in elections that the opposition in Zimbabwe charged were not free and fair despite a campaign that broke away from the political violence of the past five years. He dismissed opposition concerns of election fraud as ”nonsense”.
The firearms amnesty has missed its target and many ”illegal” guns that have been handed in are registered on the police database, but not in the names of heirs who have inherited them, the South African Gun Owners’ Association (Sagoa) said on Thursday. A Sagoa spokesperson said such people are legal owners under previous legislation.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Thursday upheld an appeal by Laurie Frazer, who in 1997 made headlines for several failed attempts to get custody of his child, who was given up for adoption without his consent. The SCA set aside his prison sentence and replaced it with a fine, a suspended jail sentence and community service.
Fans of hit television drama series <i>24</i> can soon become agent Jack Bauer in a "brand-new day" of the show: a PlayStation2 game developed with the help of the <i>24</i>’s writers, musicians, stars and producers. The countdown has begun to the release of <i>24: The Game</i>.