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/ 27 October 2004
Police in the Southern African nation of Malawi on Wednesday arrested a former finance minister over graft allegations involving the illegal sale of strategic grain reserves, which led to a food crisis. A police spokesperson said Jumbe was arrested at Blantyre airport while on his way to South Africa on a private visit.
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/ 27 October 2004
An Australian court ruled on Wednesday that a convicted heroin dealer can claim a Aus 000 (about R1,02-million) tax deduction for money that was stolen during a drug deal. The Australian Taxation Office lost a bid in to overturn a lower court decision that Francesco Dominico la Rosa could write off the money as lost income.
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/ 27 October 2004
Russia’s Upper House of Parliament on Wednesday ratified the Kyoto Protocol and sent it to President Vladimir Putin for the final stamp of approval that will bring the global climate pact into force early next year. The Federation Council voted 139-1 to endorse the protocol, which aims to stem global warming.
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/ 27 October 2004
Humans are not alone in suffering from stress-related illnesses, a team of British veterinarians reported Wednesday: their pet cats can be affected too. A team from Edinburgh University found that the presence of another pussycat in the same house, moving home or the arrival of a new member of the household can produce anxiety conditions.
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/ 27 October 2004
The Pan Africanist Congress has cheered the decision by Harare to boot out a Congress of South African Trade Unions fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe. But Mosiuoa Lekota, chairperson of the African National Congress and Minister of Defence, said his party was ”a bit” embarrassed by the deportation.
Cosatu member tells of Zim eviction
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/ 27 October 2004
Johannesburg residents who have applied for boom-gate access control in their streets will hear from Thursday if their applications were approved or not, mayor Amos Masondo told reporters. A total of 324 applications were received — 309 for existing closures and 15 for new closures.
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/ 27 October 2004
A member of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) delegation to Zimbabwe, which was thrown out of the country on Tuesday night, has talked of the group’s seven-hour ordeal at Harare International airport. ”They [Zimbabwean police] attempted to beat us when we asked for food,” Simon Boshielo said.
‘Mbeki should rebuke Mugabe’
Cosatu leaves Zimbabwe
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/ 27 October 2004
De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM), the South African division of global diamond giant De Beers, has concluded the sale of Dancarl Diamonds, a mine in the Northern Cape, to a black-owned partnership consisting of Sedibeng Mining and Meepong, a women’s grouping, together with Australia’s Crown Diamonds NL.
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/ 27 October 2004
Equatorial Guinea authorities are being given a chance to go on a fishing expedition by questioning Mark Thatcher, a Cape High Court judge said on Wednesday. Thatcher is hoping to overturn a subpoena ordering him to answer questions on an alleged coup bid in Equatorial Guinea.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=124471">Tough questions in Thatcher case</a>
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/ 27 October 2004
Ethiopia has completed the vaccination of 750 000 children against polio as it seeks to eradicate the last traces of the paralysing disease in the country. The campaign comes amid fears that polio could re-emerge in Ethiopia after new cases were discovered close to the border of neighbouring Sudan.