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South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande says the alliance of the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party represents the most backward elements created by apartheid. ”These two parties represent not only the interests of beneficiaries of apartheid but are reluctantly part of the new order,” he said.
Special Report: Elections 2004
South African parastatals and their employees will be required to contribute to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) from April 1, the Labour Department said on Thursday. Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said that only public service workers would be exempted from contributing to the UIF.
Police, security and intelligence agencies across Europe will have authority to hold and exchange data on individuals — and detain them — under a draft declaration on combating terrorism to be agreed by EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
A United States military lawyer representing a detainee at Guantanamo Bay said on Wednesday that his client could not receive justice under the existing system of military commissions. ”The system is not set up to provide even the appearance of a fair trial,” said Major Michael Mori, who was appointed by the Pentagon to defend the Australian detainee David Hicks.
Fear that the French rail network has become a target for terrorists was raised again on Wednesday night after a track worker found an explosive device half-buried on the main line from Paris to Basle in Switzerland.
He’s a proven bestseller, one of the few who can compete with the JK Rowlings of the literary world. And on Wednesday, his publishers announced that his latest, long-awaited book will be out in May. Heaven knows how Pope John Paul II found the time to churn out his 200-page memoir, or how the frail 84-year-old summoned the energy.
One of the world’s greatest rivers has been reduced to a trickle in places by a series of giant Chinese dams and engineering works which are threatening the livelihoods of up to 100-million people in south-east Asia.
About one in three people around the world are not getting enough vitamins and minerals, lowering the IQ of nations, contributing to the death of one-million children a year and leading to mental impairment in 20-million babies, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.
The Western Cape provincial working committee of the African National Congress has temporarily suspended Kannaland Municipality Mayor Jeffrey Donson as an ANC member, pending a hearing. According to reports, Donson, who moonlights as a DJ, was confronted by taxpayers over the alleged use of public money to fund this other career.
Hewlett-Packard says it is yielding to large clients’s demands and expanding Linux distribution — a decision that could force Microsoft to reconsider some of its corporate pricing for Windows. HP announced a partnership with Novell this week and plans to package its SuSE version of Linux with computers bound for corporate clients.