President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party has threatened to seize commercial companies it says are trying to provoke food riots in the wake of last week’s parliamentary elections. Trade Minister Samual Mumbengegwi said manufacturers and retailers who raised prices should revert to previous levels because the increases had not been approved.
About 21 000 members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the Free State have suspended their strike at Harmony Gold’s Free State operations and will return to work for the evening shift, ending a two-week strike, the NUM said on Wednesday. An agreement was reached between the union and the company on Wednesday afternoon.
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Zimbabwe’s main opposition said on Wednesday an investigation into last week’s election indicates massive fraud in at least 30 seats won by the ruling Zanu-PF. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said in 11 races the winning Zanu-PF candidate got more votes in the official returns than the electoral commission said were cast.
Flocking to St Peter’s Basilica in their tens of thousands, in families, clutches of friends or organised busloads, pilgrims said on Wednesday the crush of crowds and the interminable wait are all part of saying goodbye. About a million pilgrims were massed early on Wednesday in the area around St Peter’s Basilica.
The success of the first mass immunisation campaign against cholera in Mozambique’s port city of Beira has prompted calls for greater access to an oral vaccine. Needle-administered cholera vaccines have generally provided about 50% protection for just two months, but the oral vaccine has proven far more effective.
A New Zealander, held captive for almost a month by Ivorian rebels on suspicion of being a mercenary working for the government, has died in a rebel jail, Red Cross and rebel officials said on Tuesday. Brian Hamish Sands (36) was found dead in his prison cell in the northern town of Korhogo on Monday night.
Tributes flooded in from around Europe for Monaco’s Prince Rainier III, who died on Wednesday. French President Jacques Chirac hailed the prince’s ”courage and tenacity” in the face of his failing health. In a message of condolence to Rainier’s successor, Prince Albert, Chirac praised Rainier for helping to modernise once-sleepy Monaco.
A former maid in Michael Jackson’s house told the jury at his child molestation trial on Tuesday she had seen him having a shower with a young boy. Blanca Francia, the mother of the man who testified that he had been molested by Jackson more than 15 years ago, said she had seen Jackson in bed with young children.
Arsonists set fire to a Zanzibari opposition leader’s home and protesters attempted to raid a voter registration centre, as violence flared months ahead of elections in the semi-autonomous archipelago, and the Zanzibar Electoral Commision suspended a voter registration drive on Monday.
The safety of a Japanese neighbourhood was on Wednesday put in the hands — briefly — of a robot, which became police chief for the day in a campaign to promote safe driving. T63 Artemis, named after the Greek moon goddess Artemis, helped its subordinate human officers distribute fliers on traffic safety at the train station