A Santiago appeals court on Tuesday lifted the immunity from prosecution of former dictator Augusto Pinochet (89), opening the way for him to be tried for financial fraud after the discovery that he had secret accounts in the United States, court sources said. Pinochet’s defence still can appeal the ruling to Chile’s Supreme Court.
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Schabir Shaik is still waiting to hear his fate after Durban High Court Judge Hillary Squires provisionally set aside Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning for sentencing. On Tuesday, Shaik’s advocate called on the court to show ”mercy and compassion”.
Attacks on Deputy President Jacob Zuma by opposition parties are ”malicious and wrong”, the African National Congress said on Tuesday in the National Assembly, referring to statements made by parties since the passing of judgement in the Schabir Shaik trial.
For the first time since the Cold War, global military spending exceeded -trillion in 2004 — nearly half of it by the United States, a prominent European think tank said on Tuesday. As military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror continue, the world spent ,035-trillion (R6,89-trillion) on defence costs during the year.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has applied to the Constitutional Court in relation to her fraud conviction, the court confirmed on Tuesday. This follows the dismissal by the Pretoria High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeals for leave to appeal her conviction on 43 counts of fraud and her suspended sentence.
A bulk carrier ship carrying a consignment of logs from West Africa was sinking off the coast of East London on Tuesday afternoon. The National Port Authority’s East London spokesperson, Terry Taylor, said they had received a call on Tuesday that the 180m Kiperousa was taking on water in her engine room.
The Nobel Prize-winning writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn has lamented the state of Russian politics and government in a rare televised interview in the Russian Federation, saying it will take many years before the country has anything resembling democracy.
The African National Congress has denied claims that the loan of trucks and buses for its election campaign last year was irregular. The ANC said in a statement ”for the record” that the ANC was loaned 10 trucks and two buses by the MAN Truck and Bus South Africa during its election campaign.
United States President George Bush’s successor as the governor of Texas was embroiled in an abortion row on Monday after signing a Bill which imposed stricter limits on late-term terminations and parental consent for minors who wanted the procedure.
Not being able to get an international line can be annoying for anyone. But when it’s 4am and the person with the hotel telephone in his hand is Russell Crowe, it’s probably time to duck. The 41-year-old actor was arrested and charged with assault early on Monday morning after allegedly throwing a telephone at a hotel employee.