Washington | Monday AFGHANISTAN’S defiant Taliban regime has admitted for the first time it was shielding terror suspect Osama bin Laden from US wrath, as Washington warned bluntly it wants the militia out of power. As Washington ratcheted up preparations for military action, the Taliban also vowed a punishing guerrilla war if his Islamic militia […]

THE Tanzanian high court has released a 70-year-old man serving a life sentence for growing and peddling marijuana on grounds that the sentence imposed by a lower court was excessive. Mareremba Machafu was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on August 3 by a Bhiharamulo district magistrate after he pleaded guilty to the charge of […]

Rome | Wednesday ITALY on Tuesday gave the Eritrean ambassador to Rome 72 hours to leave the country following the expulsion of his Italian counterpart from Asmara, as the EU threatened to re-examine trade and aid links with the Horn of Africa nation. The move to expel Tseggai Mogos was announced by the Italian foreign […]

THE World Bank has released $45-million to the Zambian government aimed at restructuring the economy of this impoverished Southern African country. The money has been given to Zambia through the International Development Association (IDA) fiscal sustainability credit, said James Mtonga, a secretary to the treasury in the Zambian government. “The release of the fiscal sustainability […]

Cape Town | Wednesday AFRICAN National Congress Chief Whip Tony Yengeni has been granted R10 000 bail after appearing in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning in connection with charges of corruption. He had earlier handed himself over to the crack Scorpions unit after a warrant of arrest was issued. This follows an […]

SOUTH Africa’s Stanbic Bank is one of two banks bidding to acquire a 51% stake in state-owned Uganda Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL), Uganda’s finance minister said on Monday. The other bank whose bid has been received is the Development Finance Company of Uganda. Controversy has erupted over UCBL’s privatisation with the Ugandan parliament demanding that […]

EXTRA troops were deployed on Monday in Cameroon’s English-speaking provinces as local authorities banned all secessionist rallies on the 40th anniversary of national unification, witnesses said. Residents said that soldiers had been sent to the two provinces to prevent any rallies and demonstrations by activists demanding the secession of English-speaking areas from mainly French-speaking Cameroon. […]

ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe will discuss trade and investment issues with Thai leaders during a hastily arranged three-day state visit to begin later on Monday, the foreign ministry said. Mugabe was originally due to attend this week’s Commonwealth summit in Australia but it was abruptly cancelled in the aftermath of last month’s terrorist attacks on […]