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/ 13 December 2004
As the first sub-Saharan African nation to shake free of colonial rule, Ghana helped chart the region’s familiar downward path: post-independence euphoria followed by despotic leaders, corruption, economic decline — and often war. But Ghana has now extended its record of consecutive democratic elections to four.
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/ 13 December 2004
An attempted escape at Boksburg prison, which resulted in warders being taken hostage, has been brought under control, a warder said on Monday. By 3pm, the held warders had been freed and the group of prisoners had been reincarcerated, said a warder at the prison, who did not want to be named.
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/ 13 December 2004
Musica has launched South Africa’s first large-scale music download service on its website. It is comparable with any overseas service, legal and priced affordably for the country’s market, the music retail group announced on Monday. Music lovers will be able to download songs of their choice for R10 a track.
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/ 13 December 2004
Germany is to cancel a 67-million-euro (,68-million) debt owed by following an agreement signed in Addis Ababa on Monday between Ethiopian Minister of State for Finance and economic Planning Mulu Ketsela and German Federal Minister of State Kerstin Muller.
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/ 13 December 2004
Japanese men who want to rest their weary heads this Christmas season are finding comfort in the lap of a woman — made of foam. The torso-less ”lap pillow” stands upright like a small cushion and resembles a woman’s legs in a miniskirt. ”Single men find this soothing,” said Mitsuo Takahashi of the seven-employee manufacturer Trane KK.
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/ 13 December 2004
A suicide car bomber killed at least 13 people in Baghdad on Monday, as Iraq’s interim president cited the decision to disband Saddam’s army and key ministries as a contributing factor to the violence over the last 18 months. The explosion took place at the entrance to the Green Zone, the vast fortified complex that houses in the interim Iraqi government and the British and US embassies.
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/ 13 December 2004
The White House was on Sunday scrambling to find a new candidate for the high-profile post of homeland security chief after its original choice was forced to stand down for hiring a nanny who was an illegal immigrant. The bungled nomination of Bernard Kerik, a former New York police commissioner, was a setback to White House hopes of swiftly assembling a Cabinet for Bush’s second term.
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/ 13 December 2004
About 70 000 football fans were forced to evacuate Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu stadium on Sunday night when the police stopped a league game because of a bomb threat purporting to come from the Basque separatist group Eta. David Beckham, Michael Owen and Real Madrid’s other players were called off the pitch three minutes before the end of the match against Real Sociedad.
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/ 13 December 2004
More than 50 senior figures from Saddam Hussein’s former regime have begun a hunger strike in their United States military jail in Baghdad, according to an Iraqi lawyer. The group includes Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister, and Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former vice president, according to the lawyer, Badie Arief Izzat.
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/ 13 December 2004
Debtor delinquency, the need for notarial bonds and the number of judgements have all declined over the past 12 months. This is according to the latest KreditInform barometer, based on a survey of more than 100 major corporations, with the majority from the manufacturing, wholesale and retail, mining and agricultural sectors.