Gun-wielding robots could soon be patrolling the world’s most heavily fortified border under a plan by South Korea’s Defence Ministry to bolster its frontier with the North. Plans call for the robots to be installed on the 250-kilometre-long border by 2011.
Zimbabwe’s pro-democracy opposition on Friday dismissed as a ”cover-up” the explanation offered by the country’s election boss of discrepancies in voting figures. On Thursday, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission George Chiweshe denied accusations that the organisation had ”fiddled the results” of parliamentary elections on March 31.
South Africa’s Highveld Steel and Vanadium (Hiveld, HVL) on Friday soared to an all-time high of R63,50 per share on the JSE Securities Exchange SA due to the shortage in vanadium metal, which has seen the price of the commodity rocket. At 1.25pm, Hiveld was quoted at R62,50 per share, up 7,8% or R4,50 from its previous close of R58.
Presidents, prime ministers and kings joined millions of pilgrims, prelates and other religious leaders crowding St Peter’s Square and Rome in paying a final farewell on Friday to Pope John Paul II at a funeral capping one of the largest religious gatherings in the West in modern times.
Militia groups in southern Sudan are threatening to wreck a fragile peace that has emerged nearly three months after Khartoum and the region’s main rebel force inked a deal to end 21 years of war, residents and aid workers said on Friday. About 30 such groups continue to terrorise Upper Nile state, collecting illegal taxes and abducting locals, they said.
Thousands of Israeli police have been deployed in Jerusalem’s old city for Muslim Friday prayers amid fears Palestinian anger would erupt over a planned gathering of Jewish extremists at a holy site. Palestinian groups warned Israelis that any extremist action around the compound at the meeting in two days time would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
The health department met its target of establishing at least one service point for HIV and Aids care in all 53 districts in the country by the end of March, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Friday. The department had also appointed seven companies to provide sustainable supplies of anti-retroviral drugs over the next three years.
Michael Jackson’s prosecutors on Friday were set to wrap up a week of explosive testimony in which jurors heard how the star allegedly performed oral sex on a young boy and fondled others. Jackson is on trial for allegedly fondling another 13-year-old boy at his Neverland ranch two years ago, but the prosecution hopes the prior cases will show a pattern of child abuse in his past.
The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was firmer in noon trade on Friday, lifted by the weaker rand and stronger world markets. It was a fairly quiet morning’s trade, with more interest in the Super 12 rugby than the market, dealers said. By 11.55am, the all-share index was up 0,64%. Industrials and financials strengthened 0,85% and 0,7% respectively.
The funeral of Pope John Paul II, one of the largest in history, began on Friday on a windswept St Peter’s Square with an open-air requiem Mass attended by world leaders, Roman Catholic cardinals and a multitude of pilgrims. To the tolling of a bell, the pope’s coffin was carried out by 12 black-garbed Vatican officials.