Zimbabwe police have arrested a man in connection with last month’s slaying of an opposition member during a tension-filled by-election that was won by the ruling party, a police spokesperson said on Tuesday. Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said a 43-year-old man was arrested near the capital, Harare.
British and United States intelligence agents on Tuesday claimed to have foiled a chemical terrorist attack in Britain, news reports said on Tuesday. According to the BBC, the agents believe that the people behind the plot are sympathisers of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network.
United States troops battled guerrillas on Tuesday on the edge of Fallujah in an operation to crush the insurgency there, as violence inspired by supporters of an anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric again spread to at least four cities, with 30 Iraqis killed.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=33744">Radical Shiite cleric leaves mosque</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=33724">On the brink of anarchy</a>
For the first time since independence more than four decades ago, many Algerians felt their vote could make a real difference as they mulled Tuesday whether to re-elect President Abdelaziz Bouteflika or throw him out in favour of one of his five challengers.
The United Nations Security Council has given Secretary General Kofi Annan the go-ahead to plan for a peacekeeping mission in the war-torn Central African country of Burundi, the UN News Service said. ”It is my intention to immediately begin preparations,” Annan wrote in a letter to the Security Council, released late on Monday.
The increase at midnight on Tuesday of the retail price of petrol and diesel will further dampen economic growth in South Africa, says official opposition energy spokesperson Ian Davidson. "All taxes and duties that currently make up almost 40% of the fuel price should be reviewed," he said.
Four countries — China, Iran, the United States and Vietnam — accounted for most of the 1 146 known executions carried out around the world last year, says human rights organisation Amnesty International (AI). In a statement on Tuesday to mark the release of its annual report on death sentences and executions, AI said the true figure could be much higher.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday announced its decision to suspend the current wage negotiations between the union and gold mining giant Harmony. This was in reaction to the company’s announcement last Friday that it might have to close six of its mine shafts, which could cost more than 6Â 300 jobs.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) warned on Tuesday it would declare a dispute if police management failed to meet the union to discuss a controversial plan to upgrade salaries and packages. The plan is a bid to counter the exodus of trained and highly experienced personnel from the police service.
Former security policeman Gideon Nieuwoudt is receiving treatment for health problems and will not be able to continue testifying at his amnesty hearing this week, his lawyer, Jan Wagener, said on Tuesday. He said Nieuwoudt would ”hopefully” be able to take the stand again during the next session of the hearing.