The wheels were in motion late on Thursday afternoon for the homecoming of 64 suspected South African mercenaries jailed in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean authorities were processing deportation papers for the men, after which they would be handed over to immigration officials, a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said.
The number of United States troops killed in Iraq has topped 1 500, an Associated Press count showed on Thursday after the military announced the deaths of three Americans, while car bombs targeting Iraqi security forces killed at least four people in separate attacks. Meanwhile, talks aimed at forging a new coalition government faltered on Wednesday.
The chief executive of the National House of Traditional Leaders, Malungisa Gobe, has died in a car accident in Zimbabwe. Two other members of the House, spokesperson Sibusiso Nkosi and North West chairperson Chief ME Mabi, were injured in the accident on Wednesday, as was a Zimbabwean national travelling with them.
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Incessant questioning by relentless prosecutor Billy Downer appears to be taking its toll on fraud and corruption accused Schabir Shaik in the Durban High Court. ”It’s been a long trial. I have been under a lot of stress and my words are spinning out of context,” Shaik said at one stage.
Up to 20 people, including children, were killed in northern China when explosives stored in the home of a mine operator blew up near a school, local officials and state media said on Thursday. Local press reports said at least 20 children died and the Beixinzhuang elementary school was badly damaged in the Wednesday-afternoon blast.
A traditional healer who told a young patient he had to have sex with her for his medicine to work has been arrested for rape, Free State police said on Thursday. Police spokesperson Sergeant Thandi Mbambo said the matter was reported to police on Wednesday after the 14-year-old girl discovered she was three months pregnant.
A public-relations specialist who worked for Michael Jackson for six days told jurors the pop singer’s team planned a smear campaign against the mother of his young accuser. Ann Marie Kite testified on Wednesday that his associates hoped to portray the accuser’s mother as a ”crack whore”.
The Gauteng government plans to introduce a provincial tax to increase its revenues, provincial finance minister Paul Mashatile said on Thursday. The nature and rate of the tax were not made clear. He said the additional revenue raised will be used for socio-economic development, reducing poverty and unemployment.
The Sudanese government voiced its displeasure on Wednesday at the latest United States proposition for sanctions over Khartoum’s handling of the crisis in Darfur. A Sudanese official said the US State Department Adviser for Sudan, Charles Snyder, had promised that the draft resolution proposing sanctions would be ”mitigated”.
Police in Kenya arrested 53 anti-globalisation demonstrators on Thursday, keeping them from reaching the venue of a meeting of trade ministers from 30 countries discussing further efforts to liberalise global commerce, officials said on Thursday. The meeting will discuss a framework accord on future trade rules.