Islamabad | Thursday PROVINCES have fallen like dominoes against Afghanistan’s former Taliban rulers, cornering the Islamic militia into a small southern corner from where their future looks decidedly uncertain. Routed in northern Afghanistan, chased out of the capital Kabul, the Taliban may now only have control of three or four of the war-stricken country’s 31 […]

Harare | Thursday RIOT police were deployed in force in the Zimbabwe capital on Wednesday to prevent pro-democracy demonstrators staging a protest march against proposed changes to Zimbabwe’s electoral laws. The armed police fanned out across the city centre to disperse all persons gathered in groups, thus preventing demonstrators from mobilising. Despite the crackdown, a […]

JAN HENNOP, Pretoria | Thursday THE trial of four men convicted of setting their police dogs on illegal immigrants in a 1998 “training exercise”, continues in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday with evidence in mitigation of sentence. On Wednesday, defence witness Hannes Brits testified it was not unusual for police dogs that were reluctant […]

ANGELA QUINTAL, Cape Town | Thursday WHEN the NNP’s provincial head council meets next Thursday, former Cape Town mayor Peter Marais is expected to be elected provincial leader, but it is not yet clear where he will slot in to the new co-operation deal with the ANC. NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk told reporters after […]

Mafeking | Thursday NINE rape cases in a week in the Molopo area have been reported with the victims including girls aged seven and eight, North West police said on Thursday. Inspector Lesego Metsi said one of the victims was a seven-year-old girl, another was aged eight, and three other minors — one a 14-year-old […]

Johannesburg | Thursday THE Constitutional Court will hear argument on Thursday that a section of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act is unconstitutional because it infringes the right to freedom of speech. The Islamic Unity Convention (ICU) is seeking leave to appeal to have clause 2(a) of the IBA Code of Conduct declared unconstitutional. The […]

Harare | Wednesday ZIMBABWE’S Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out charges of terrorism against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, declaring that the law under which he was charged was unconstitutional, his lawyer said. The ruling paves the way for Tsvangirai to contest in next year’s presidential elections, where he is expected to pose the greatest challenge […]

Bujumbura | Wednesday THE head of the UN World Health Organisation’s (WHO) operations in Burundi, Kassi Manlan of the Ivory Coast, was found dead in Bujumbura on Tuesday, police, one of his colleagues and other sources said. “Until proven otherwise, it is very likely that we are dealing with an act of banditry,” state prosecutor […]

Lisbon | Wednesday FANGOLAN rebel movement Unita on Tuesday claimed to have killed 298 government soldiers, police and militia forces in operations between November 8 and 19, according to a statement. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) said it had taken the town of Gamba in the eastern Moxico province on […]