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/ 24 December 2004
Insurgents have been able to ”operate at will” in Mosul, where 22 people died in a bomb attack this week, because the United States forces and the Iraqi authorities have failed to tackle them, an intelligence assessment by senior US officials in northern Iraq concludes.
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/ 24 December 2004
Suspended Western Cape leader of the Independent Democrats (ID), Lennit Max, on Thursday afternoon said he had not done anything to deserve the suspension. In a statement Max said he became aware of his ”alleged suspension” on Wednesday when members of the media contacted him for comment. ”To date I have only received a very vague formal notification about it [the suspension] and I still don’t know what it really means,” he said.
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/ 23 December 2004
The battle over the government’s medicine pricing regulations will almost certainly end up on Constitution Hill. But whatever the highest court in the land decides about dispensing fees and single exit prices, the legal community will be watching for clues to the state of relations between the executive and the judiciary.
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/ 23 December 2004
People in Hong Kong and Malaysia are the world’s biggest consumers of fast food with six in 10 people eating fast food at least once a week, according to a survey on Thursday. Sixty-one percent of Hong Kong adults and 59% of Malaysians go to a fast-food restaurant once a week or more, compared with just 35% of Americans and 11% of Europeans.
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/ 23 December 2004
A 12-strong group of nationalist Israeli MPs have signed a petition promising to obstruct physically the ”immoral” evacuation of settlers from their homes in the Gaza Strip, Parliament sources said on Thursday. The petition was drawn up by National Religious Party leader Effi Eitam, who quit Ariel Sharon’s government in June.
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/ 23 December 2004
Police on Thursday morning seized every last examination script written by this year’s Mpumalanga matrics as part of an investigation into suspected exam fraud in the province. ”We seized the scripts of all pupils, in all subjects in all schools in the province,” said police spokesperson Superintendent Izak van Zyl.
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/ 23 December 2004
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille opened her personal bank account records to members of the media on Thursday to refute claims by former ID Western Cape leader Lennit Max that she pocketed about R400 000 meant for party coffers. De Lille has rejected Max’s allegations, saying the ID is very open and transparent.
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/ 23 December 2004
The United Nations on Thursday appealed for relief supplies worth -million to support more than 7,2-million Ethiopians affected by drought in the Horn of Africa country. A total of 387 482 tonnes of food worth -million and non-food assistance worth -million is needed for 2005.
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/ 23 December 2004
A giant billboard in Johannesburg is promoting the Homecoming Revolution, a campaign that aims to persuade South Africans who are living abroad to return to their country, and help rebuild it. The initiative has particular resonance at a time of the year when absence does not necessarily make the heart grow fonder.
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/ 23 December 2004
The Somali Parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly approved Mohammed Ali Gedi as Prime Minister of the war-shattered Horn of Africa nation, 12 days after it fired him and his government for being in office illegally. ”I thank all MPs for approving me as prime minister,” Gedi said. ”Now, I will form the government after wide consultations with each of you.”