Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Friday told hundreds of young supporters of his ruling party that the parliamentary elections due next year would be a ”fight” against British Prime Minister Tony Blair. ”We are fighting Blair. It is an anti-Blair election…” he said.
The principal claims justifying the invasion of Iraq — that Saddam Hussein had biological and chemical weapons and was developing nuclear weapons — were fundamentally wrong and the result of a ”global intelligence failure”, a US Senate investigation has concluded.
The rand is likely to continue strengthening, leading to some difficult decisions for the South African Reserve Bank, says economist John Loos. Loos warns that the Reserve Bank might have to turn its attention to the current account imbalance, as this ”may deteriorate significantly should the rand go even stronger”.
In a country which sees ”bastard” and ”ratbag” as terms of endearment, a call for a return to old-fashioned standards of courtesy might seem out of place. But the Australian prime minister has called on his country — well known for its fertile imagination in inventing terms for vomiting — to behave with more civility.
It was a little court in a big desert, and the lawyers grew uneasy as the shadows lengthened: lions are nocturnal hunters. It was a surreal safari, where baseball caps and sunglasses replaced wigs and robes, but there was no doubting the seriousness of this week’s effort to bring justice to the Kalahari.
Africa’s masses had to be mobilised for a revolution to improve the continent’s political, economic and social situation, says President Thabo Mbeki. Writing in his weekly online column, ANC Today, Mbeki said that this duty would fall on the Pan African Parliament and the African Union.
Prison warders will be back at work nationwide this weekend after a last minute resolution to the staffing crisis, says the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru). Popcru said it would call off the strike, and the department would increase the weekend staff component back to 46% of weekday numbers.
Orlando Pirates hammered Sable de Batie 4-2 in the first clash of their Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match at the Oppenheimer Stadium in Orkney on Friday. The Buccaneers, in their popular black and white strip, made use of their territorial advantage without giving the visitors much room for manoeuvre.
Lance Armstrong knows his bid for a record sixth Tour de France victory could all end in one crash. So he wasn’t pleased when dozens of riders went down in a pile in front of him. The crash at the finish in Angers was the final straw for a five-time champion already bruised up in a tumble.
The government has shocked public service unions by declaring a dispute following two months of wage negotiations in Centurion, unions said on Friday. A Department of Public Service and Administration spokesperson said the government feels there has been no ”movement” since the start of negotiations.