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/ 2 December 2004
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Former head of the Heath Investigating Unit Judge Willem Heath said his unit would have come to a very different conclusion than the three agencies the government eventually tasked with investigating arms deal irregularities. Speaking after his testimony in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial, Heath said: ”There was a deliberate attempt by government to keep us out of the investigation.”
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/ 2 December 2004
Sudan has told the local director of the British aid group Oxfam that while his expulsion has been postponed, he must leave the country to fulfill the requirements of his exit visa. This week, the government gave the directors of Oxfam and Save the Children in the UK 48 hours to leave Sudan, accusing them of issuing statements that sent ”signals of support” to rebels in Darfur.
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/ 2 December 2004
Three explosions rocked the Chenjiashan coal mine in northern China on Thursday, but rescuers searching for the bodies of 166 workers killed in a weekend blast escaped unharmed. The first blast ripped through the mine at 3.25am on Wednesday with another two following in the next four hours, highlighting the dangers facing rescue teams.
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/ 2 December 2004
Over 100 children have been killed and 600 others were injured by landmines in Russia’s breakaway republic of Chechnya over the past decade, according to the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (Unicef). ”Since 1994 through 2004, 717 children were injured by exploding mines in Chechnya, and 114 of them died,” Unicef spokesperson Anna Chernyakhovskaya was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
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/ 2 December 2004
Restructuring at the international news agency Reuters has sparked objections by journalists that quality could suffer, but management has said that talk of big job cuts is inaccurate. The British-based agency embarked on a drastic restructuring programme in February 2003, after posting the biggest loss in its history.
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/ 2 December 2004
The winds of change are sweeping through southern Africa, with the long-term leaders of both Namibia and Mozambique preparing to hand over to their successors after more than a 15 years at the helm. However, both departing heads of state are assured of living out their autumn years in style thanks to perk-packed retirement deals.
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/ 2 December 2004
The Zimbabwean government is seeking leave to appeal the acquittal of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of treason, a newspaper reported on Thursday. In October, the Harare High Court acquitted Tsvangirai of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe and stage a coup, saying there was insufficient evidence against him.
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/ 2 December 2004
As Mozambique calmly voted on a second and final day on Thursday for a new president and parliament, foreign observers and voters said the strength of its maturing democracy will be measured by the transparency of the count – and the reaction to the outcome. With 17 parties running for Parliament and five contesting the presidential race, many here believe the county is moving toward a presidential runoff next month.
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/ 2 December 2004
Swarms of locusts have invaded the Portuguese Argave region, one of Europe’s top tourist areas and home to some of the country’s most beautiful beaches. The locusts are the same species that recently swept across Spain’s Canary Islands, according to an expert at Lisbon’s Faculty of Science.
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/ 2 December 2004
How’s this for creative thinking? A cafe has opened with pyjama-clad servers pouring cereal day and night, topping it off with everything from fruit to malted milk balls, and serving it in ”bowls” resembling Chinese takeout containers. Behind glass-door kitchen-style cabinets at Cereality are 30 varieties of brand-name cold cereal.