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With about two weeks to go before key elections in Zimbabwe, some rights groups and the police say the campaign thus far has been largely spared of the political violence that marred the 2000 and 2002 polls. The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, however, maintains that a campaign of intimidation continues unabated.
A boy attacked by lions at a nature reserve near Krugersdorp on Sunday would have been dead but for his courage and respect for the animals, a curator said. The manager of the reserve said the boy was attacked while showing his girlfriend the lions, ”which the curator refused [to allow] without being … present himself”.
The trade union Solidarity is to join an investigation into the latest accident at Sasol’s Secunda plant on Tuesday, which left a man dead. The man died on Tuesday morning in an accident on the second day of a commission of inquiry into the September blast that left 10 dead and 360 injured.
Two journalists in Malawi were arrested on Tuesday and charged with publishing false information for reporting that President Bingu wa Mutharika had moved out of a newly built palace because he believes it is haunted. Mutharika angrily denied the reports when he returned on Saturday from a trip to Belgium, saying: ”I have never feared ghosts in my life.”
A ”super cyclone” packing winds of more than 300kph was bearing down on Australia’s remote north-west coast on Tuesday after already striking the country twice in the east and north. Cyclone Ingrid was upgraded to a category five — the highest level — early on Tuesday over the Timor Sea.
Leaders and dignitaries from about 40 countries were in Jerusalem on Tuesday to attend the opening of a -million Holocaust museum that focuses on the personal tragedies of the six million Jews who perished in the Nazi genocide. The new Holocaust History Museum at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem memorial took 10 years to complete.
Assailants armed with guns and swords shot and hacked to death 22 people, mainly women and children, from a rival clan in northeastern Kenya on Tuesday, officials said. Security forces later killed 12 suspects during an operation to restore order in Mandera, a district troubled by clashes between the Garre and Murule clans.
The setting of medicine prices came under intense scrutiny at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday. The court is being asked for leave to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that the new medicine-pricing regulations invalid are invalid. Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang told journalists the case is all about access to safe and affordable medicines.
Officials and religious leaders are disputing claims by a Cambodian man that his cow is possessed by a magic healing spirit that emigrated from Thailand. The animal’s owner claimed on Monday that excrement and urine from his cow could miraculously cure diseases since it became possessed by a heavenly entity last week.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo called on Monday for Western countries to make good on promises of debt relief to poor nations, saying failing to do so would destroy their credibility. Poor countries, especially in Africa, have long complained that repaying massive debts is draining away funds that could be spent on better roads and schools.