British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday proposed a 15 000-strong European Union battle force, including British troops, dedicated to intervening in African conflicts and deployable within 10 days of a political instruction. He said the force should be ready next year.
They call me Liewe Heksie, but Lavinia is my name. I’m the cleverest witch that I know, and I’ve even been to the moon. That’s how I used to say hello to the children. It used to rhyme, too, when the nice uncles at the SAUK let me do my show in Afrikaans. That’s all gone now. I’m not complaining, though, you understand: my new place is small and the roof leaks, but I have my health.
When Portuguese sailors first rounded the Cape in 1488 they called it Cabo Tormentosa for the storms that buffeted their medieval vessels. Now the trials and tribulations of those early mariners — people who could in fact be called the first new South Africans — are providing a major drawcard for modern-day adventurers on the Wild Coast.
Members of Parliament who represent constituencies outside Harare are raking in millions of Zimbabwean dollars every month from transport and accommodation allowances, despite staying in the capital most of the time they are attending parliamentary sessions, investigations by the <i>Zimbabwe Independent</i> have revealed.
A packet of chips and an empty two-litre bottle of Sprite in a plastic bag are still there. This is the site where Johannesburg’s most famous unknown man was found two weeks ago, the morning after paramedics refused to put him in their ambulance because he was too dirty, stinking and flea-ridden. Anonymity has replaced humanity on the streets of Johannesburg.
The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa moved further into uncharted territory on Friday as money continued to follow into local equities. A turnaround in European markets added to the positivity. By 11.55am, the all share and all share industrial indices were up 0.74% and 0.86% respectively. Resources rose 1.05%, the platinum mining index jumped 1.83% and the gold mining index gained 0.48%.
There is a factor of the Iraq war that somehow has faded into the background. What has happened to those brave gents and ladies who, when the United States and British forces were about to bomb Baghdad, dispatched themselves there as human shields? As they prepared themselves for their mission they got a lot of publicity, on television and in the papers.
The trial of Schabir Shaik will put to the test not just him and Deputy President Jacob Zuma — but a groundswell of opinion in the African National Congress and its alliance partners that Zuma should be the country’s next president. The Gauteng ANC last week opened the debate about the presidential succession within the ANC, insisting that the matter should be raised long before the 2007 ANC conference.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard is on course to win a fourth victory in the general election this Saturday. Most opinion polls indicate that the results will be close, but Howard is firming up as the favourite. His opponent, Australian Labour Party (ALP) leader Mark Latham, needs to win 12 seats in the lower house of Parliament to gain government.
Opposition and donors have heaped praise on Malawi’s President Bingu Mutharika for the way in which he runs the government, but his leadership has irked a group in his ruling United Democratic Front who have held secret meetings to plan a demonstration at his Lilongwe state house. Mutharika, who succeeded Bakili Muluzi after the controversial May elections, has vowed to prosecute corrupt officials.