It was almost as if the last 58 years of painful separation had never happened. Some of the first 30 bus passengers for more than half a century to cross from Pakistan’s side of divided Kashmir to the Indian zone kissed the ground in what just minutes before had been alien territory.
The Irish Republican Army said on Thursday it was giving ”due consideration” to an appeal from its political wing Sinn Fein to fully embrace politics and abandon its armed struggle in Northern Ireland. On Wednesday, Gerry Adams said he had supported the IRA in the past because there had been no choice, but that now there was an ”alternative”.
The Ugandan military said on Thursday it had freed 110 abductees, most of them children, held by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and killed 50 of LRA fighters in the war-ravaged north of the country last month, said an army spokesperson in the northern town of Gulu, where the operations took place along with areas of Apac, Adjuman, Kitgum and Pader in the conflict-scarred north.
Growth in the South African economy is "as good as it gets", says investment company Citadel’s chief economist Dave Mohr. "Whilst we believe that 4% growth for 2005 is achievable, we are concerned that our new-found prosperity does not appear to be so solidly based as is commonly believed," he says.
A girl in eastern India has been married to a dog in a bid to ward off tigers, a report said on Thursday. The tribal wedding took place to the beating of drums in a slum on the outskirts of Orissa state capital Bhubaneswar, the Press Trust of India news agency said quoting witnesses.
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The defence in the Schabir Shaik trial on Thursday rested its case in the Durban High Court, but the State has applied to again lead evidence to prove the authenticity of a two-page document. Prosecutor Billy Downer said that the state was ”taken by surprise” when Shaik denied any knowledge of the document, known as BBB1 and 2.
A target of 30% black ownership has been set by South Africa’s information, communications and technology sector (ICT), according to a draft ICT sector empowerment charter released on Thursday. The charter steering committee said the charter is expected to be implemented in the second half of this year.
Israeli police sought to counter the increasingly virulent tactics of extremists opposed to the Gaza Strip pullout on Thursday by beefing up intelligence and banning a protest due to be held in Jerusalem’s disputed mosque compound. Meanwhile, the supreme court was also hearing petitions which argued the whole pull-out is illegal.
The West Indies, buoyed by their performance in the first Test and the return of four key players, will be looking to go the full distance and win the second Test against South Africa, which starts on Friday. The West Indies defied the gloom merchants to outplay South Africa for all but the last two periods of the drawn first Test.
Standard Bank has increased its administration fees on home loan accounts by 305% to recover part of the costs of maintaining these accounts, the bank said on Thursday. ”That is huge. It is really in a major way problematic. I wonder if the bank ever listens to what [Reserve Bank Governor] Tito Mboweni has been saying,” an economist said.