Deputy President Jacob Zuma has condemned the carrying-out of a witchhunt against MPs allegedly involved in the Travelgate scam. The deputy president told MPs: ”I will never participate in the campaign against people when they are not found guilty … if there is no evidence conclusively that says, yes, they have erred.”
The head of a suspected mercenary recruitment agency, one other man and a two women were released by the Scorpions in Cape Town on Thursday after being questioned about possibly illegal military activity. A spokesperson for the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions said the investigation is not over.
National health legislation, due to be signed into law by President Thabo Mbeki, will prohibit the manipulation of any human genetic material for the purpose of reproductive cloning. The minister of health said the legislation permits her to allow ”therapeutic cloning … under prescribed conditions”.
Human rights group Amnesty International on Thursday called for an independent international investigation into last week’s massacre in western Burundi, when 158 Congolese refugees were shot, hacked, clubbed and burnt to death. The FNL (National Liberation Forces), the last rebel group fighting the government in Burundi, immediately claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack on the Gatumba refugee camp.
A barrage of mortar rounds slammed into a police station in the holy city of Najaf on Thursday, killing at least seven police officers and wounding 31 others, a hospital official said. The police station has been the frequent target of attacks from militants loyal to radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
An Iraqi Cabinet minister said on Thursday that Iraqi forces could begin an offensive against Moqtada al-Sadr within hours, despite the firebrand cleric’s acceptance of a peace proposal. To prevent an imminent attack on his forces, al-Sadr must immediately disarm his Mehdi Army militia.
Mortar rounds hit police station
They trigger fires, prey on the elderly and thrive in the cement jungles of Japanese cities. But they’re not delinquents or gang members. Japan’s latest urban scourge comes not on two legs, but on four: big city rats. Complaints about the rodents have soared over the past decade.
Cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s top producer, have accused President Laurent Gbagbo’s government of complicity in the shoddy management of the sector, which they say has driven prices down and forced growers into poverty.
First the board room, now the board game. At his Fifth Avenue Tower on Wednesday, Donald Trump unveiled his newest business venture: a new board game, called Trump: The Game, with high-stakes dealmaking and dollar sums in the billions. Move over, Mr Monopoly.
A cocker spaniel owes its life to a man who jumped into an alligator pool at a Czech zoo and rescued the dog from jaws of death, a Prague newspaper reported on on Thursday. The drama happened on Tuesday while Michal Gubik and his girlfriend were walking their female dog at the zoo.