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/ 23 October 2004
With her emerald green kimono, ghostly white face and bright red lipstick, Kosen stands out in the sparsely decorated tatami-mat room. And when she begins to dance, she has the group of men seated at her feet utterly transfixed. Behind her, Yachiho plucks the strings of a shamisen as her melancholy ballad fills the room before escaping through the paper window shutters into the night.
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/ 23 October 2004
Margaret Hassan, the aid worker being held hostage in Iraq, on Friday made an emotional appeal for British forces to withdraw from Iraq to save her from the same fate as murdered contractor Ken Bigley. ”Please help me, please help me,” said Hassan in a video shown on the Arabic television station al-Jazeera. ”This might be my last hours.”
British aid worker held in Iraq
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/ 22 October 2004
Tanzania plans to sell about 100 tonnes of confiscated elephant tusks in government stores to raise funds for conservation efforts and development projects, a senior official on said Friday. The ivory was seized from poachers or extracted from carcasses of elephants that died of natural causes.
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/ 22 October 2004
The death toll from Japan’s deadliest typhoon in more than a decade rose to 77 on Friday as rescue workers digging through sludge from mudslides and flooded rice paddies found 14 more bodies. Typhoon Tokage, the record eighth typhoon to hit Japan this year, ripped through the country earlier this week with high waves and rapid mudslides.
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/ 22 October 2004
Relations between fractious neighbours Asmara and Khartoum reached a new low this week after Eritrea claimed to have uncovered a Sudanese-backed plot to assassinate President Issaiais Afeworki. Its announcement that it had arrested a ”terrorist” cell allegedly deployed to attack civilians as well as kill Afeworki sparked a furious reaction from Sudan.
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/ 22 October 2004
A long-lost briefcase full of notes and lyrics that were intended for the 1981 U2 album October has been returned, 23 years after it was stolen at a Portland concert. U2 frontman Bono made the announcement on Wednesday during an appearance before the World Affairs Council of Oregon.
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/ 22 October 2004
Two more South Africans will be released from prison in Zimbabwe on humanitarian grounds due to ill health, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. Pius Kanjowa and Lenatu Eselumu were convicted in a trial relating to an alleged plot to overthrow the leadership of Equatorial Guinea earlier this year.
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/ 22 October 2004
The spat between President Thabo Mbeki and the Democratic Alliance over his reply to a question in the National Assembly on Thursday continued on Friday, with both Mbeki and DA leader Tony Leon referring to the matter in their respective weekly newsletters.
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/ 22 October 2004
Defending the government’s recent signing of trade deals with Israel, Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Friday they are designed to benefit the entire Middle East region. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with South African President Thabo Mbeki briefly on Friday at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
Tony Leon welcomes Israeli visit
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/ 22 October 2004
<i>Star Trek</i> star William Shatner and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Dave Navarro are among thousands who want to fly on Virgin’s proposed commercial space flights, company chief Richard Branson said on Friday. Branson said more than 7 000 people have registered their willingness to pay the R1,3-million fare.