On Sunday evening Karim al-Zuheiri was watching Iraq’s footballers play Australia at the Olympics. There had been no power for weeks in Najaf’s old city where he lives; and so — ignoring the shellfire from the nearby Imam Ali shrine — Zuheiri hooked up his television to a car battery.
The former Zimbabwean Cabinet minister Eddison Zvobgo, who has died aged 68 after a long illness, was a founder of the ruling Zanu-PF party. But though a spokesperson referred to his death as a great loss to country and party, Zvobgo had become a controversial figure in recent years, having led some challenges within Zanu-PF to the autocratic rule of President Robert Mugabe.
United States President George Bush stepped into the row over his presidential opponent’s war record on Monday, declaring John Kerry had served ”admirably” in Vietnam and calling for an end to all political attack advertisements sponsored by non-party groups.
South African courts should not decide whether a South African-born fugitive from justice had received a fair trial in Canada, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday. The court is hearing a case that is considered crucial to whether people sentenced in their absence in other countries will be able to find sanctuary in South Africa.
A 29-year-old Muslim women in the western Indian state of Maharastra was divorced by her husband over the telephone, it was reported on Tuesday. Shabana Sayyed said her husband divorced her by saying ”talaq, talaq, talaq” thrice when she called him up from her parent’s house last week, the Asian Age newspaper reported.
A Chinese court has ruled against two students who sued their high school in Shanghai for breach of privacy after authorities broadcast a video of them kissing, state press reported on Tuesday. The court decided that Fuxing High School had the right to monitor student behaviour with hidden cameras.
A shadowy group of militant Stockholmers carried out their threat to ”execute” a fiberglass life-size cow after their demand that Cow Parade, an outdoor art exhibit, be dismantled was not met, organisers said on Tuesday. ”We have received the cow cut into pieces in a bag. It’s really sad,” a Cow Parade spokesperson said.
Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour has ordered steps be taken to minimise the risk of a repeat of Monday’s fatal cell blaze at Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town. He visited the prison on Tuesday morning to inspect the cells where six awaiting-trial inmates set fire to mattresses and bedding on Monday afternoon.
Kenyan police used tear gas violently to disperse at least 200 Maasai tribesmen who were demonstrating in the capital, Nairobi, to demand their land back, an AFP journalist reported. ”We have used force to put off the demonstration because it was illegal,” Nairobi police chief Julius Ndegwa said as riot police charged on the Maasai.