Foreign and South African media are going for dramatic value in the Zimbabwean elections at the expense of context
South African President Thabo Mbeki and Côte d’Ivoire leaders were expected to put the finishing touches on proposals to restart the peace process in the troubled West African nation at a final day of talks on Wednesday. Mbeki opened the talks on Sunday with Gbagbo and four other key players in Côte d’Ivoire.
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Government is to take further action to ensure that employers comply substantively with the Employment Equity Act, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana announced on Tuesday. He said that those opposed to the act could shout as much as they wanted to but that employment equity was here to stay.
Poor infection control at dental, maternity and paediatric facilities is possibly contributing to the spread of HIV/Aids, statistics showed on Tuesday. The findings were in a study commissioned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council and released at an international Aids conference in Cape Town.
Videos posted on the Internet on Tuesday showed militants purported to belong to al-Qaeda’s ally in Iraq beheading a man said to be an Iraqi security force member and another group carrying out the execution-style killing of a reported informer. The video also showed the black banner of the group, which is headed by wanted Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Syrian soldiers hauling missiles and radar equipment headed home on Tuesday ahead of their country’s planned military withdrawal from Lebanon by the end of the month. A United Nations envoy met Lebanese officials to monitor the progress of the pullout.
Five Belfast sisters campaigning against the Irish Republican Army’s killing of their brother traveled on Tuesday to Brussels to lobby European Union leaders for help. The McCartney sisters say the IRA and its allied Sinn Fein party are covering up their members’ involvement in the January 30 attack on their brother, Robert.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, ending weeks of speculation, announced on Tuesday a general election for May 5 that he hopes will give his Labour Party a third straight term in power. ”I’ve just been to Buckingham Palace to ask the queen to dissolve Parliament,” Blair told reporters and TV crews outside his Downing Street residence.