Washington | Tuesday US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused the Taliban and al-Qaeda of using Afghan civilians as human shields and blamed the US foes for ”every single casualty” of the war in Afghanistan. Rumsfeld’s counterattack this week came amid growing uneasiness among leaders in Muslim countries over the toll in civilian lives from US […]

POLICE on Wednesday morning cordoned off President Thabo Mbeki’s Tuynhuys office in Cape Town, following what is believed to be an anthrax scare. A standard emergency plan was put into place when a suspicious envelope was found at the reception area, soon after 9am. The envelope will be sent for forensic tests, although it is […]

FIFTEEN East London postal workers were admitted to the Frere Hospital for observation on Tuesday after coming into contact with a white substance found in an envelope while sorting mail. The hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Eswari Rajeev said all 15 were placed in the isolation ward for observation before being discharged they were found to […]

Bisho | Wednesday IF the Ciskei soldiers had followed standard procedure they would not have fired without warning on ANC marchers at Bisho in September 1992, businessman Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday. Ramaphosa, who was African National Congress secretary-general at the time of September 7, 1992 march on Bisho, was giving evidence to the Bisho […]

New York | Wednesday A NEW York woman was battling for her life Tuesday in a new confirmed case of inhalation anthrax as authorities remained stumped over the source of the deadly germs. The 61-year-old hospital worker is on a respirator and ”struggling for survival” in the city’s first case of often lethal inhalation anthrax, […]

Harare | Monday ZIMBABWE’S tobacco production dropped 35,3-million kilos in 2001, to 201,7-million kilos, after last year’s record-high crop, the state-run Herald said on Saturday. With an average price of 175 Zimbabwe dollars (US$3,18) per kilo, tobacco sales totalled 35-billion Zimbabwe dollars ($630-million) when the auction season closed on Friday, producers said. Prices were higher […]

TOGOLESE President Gnassingbe Eyadema has pardoned a journalist close to the opposition who was sentenced to prison in June for fraud, officials said on Monday. Eyadema on Wednesday signed a decree pardoning Lucien Djossou Messan, who was given a 12-month jail term in June. Messan, editor of the Combat du Peuple weekly, is known for […]

London | Tuesday ABOUT 7 000 sick and dying South Africans claiming compensation for asbestos-related ailments from the London-based insulation and building materials company Cape Plc, may settle for UK25-million (R330-million), their British lawyers said. “This is substantially less than the claimants may expect to receive after a trial, if Cape could have afforded to […]

BURUNDI’S national assembly has adopted by acclamation the transitional constitution that will guide the workings of the three-year government due to begin functioning on 1 November. The ABP news agency reported that the “status and restoration of the monarchy can only occur by referendum” and that “all authorised political parties or movements” can take part […]