Polish and German security officials teamed up on Thursday for an exercise in subduing aggressive, unruly Polish football fans, many of whom are expected to try to cross into Germany for this summer’s World Cup. ”The conditions of this exercise were very close to what we would expect in real life,” said Jacek Ogrodowicz, a spokesperson for the Polish border guard.
President Jacques Chirac was further drawn into a dirty tricks scandal rocking the French government on Thursday, with the publication of leaked evidence showing he knew of a secret enquiry into his political rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
Le Monde newspaper printed excerpts of hand-written notes kept by spy-master Philippe Rondot.
”This is Omar Maarouf calling from Kenitra Central Prison,” said the dejected voice on the other end of the line. The bizarre phone call was the second in two days from a prisoner inside the high-walled Kenitra, one of Morocco’s most notorious lockups.
Within earshot of a truckload of South Korean troops, a family of wild boars approaches a military base looking for an afternoon snack. Just down the road, water deer dash into a forest dotted with mines. Off-limits to most humans for more than 50 years and home to about two million soldiers, the Demilitarised Zone separating the two Koreas is the world’s most heavily fortified border.
Militias are sowing terror in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ahead of its general elections in July, launching almost daily attacks against the overstretched DRC army, military spokespersons told Agence France-Presse this week. ”Hardly a day passes without a skirmish,” said Olivier Mputu, liaison officer of the Congolese Armed Forces in the north-eastern region of Ituri.
Japan’s top mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo, said on Thursday it will start a next-generation service letting cellphone users download music videos, aiming to outdo rivals’ success with online music. The new service, which will start as soon as June, uses a high-speed data transmission technology to allow downloads at 10 times the speed of DoCoMo’s third generation handsets.
Urgent planning for the deployment of a large-scale United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur is being blocked by Sudan and there will be a minimum six-months delay before the force arrives in the country, British and UN officials said on Wednesday.
Crowds of angry investors gathered in cities across Spain on Wednesday, blocking traffic and demanding government action after two large stamp-investment companies were accused of cheating up to 350 000 people. Investigators reportedly found a hidden stash of â,¬10-million in â,¬500 notes at the home of one person involved with the two companies.
A pay strike has brought teaching at Walter Sisulu University in East London to a standstill, media reports said on Thursday. The action by academic and administrative staff came just weeks before more than 21 000 students were due to sit for mid-year examinations.
Hillary Clinton’s political shift to the right reached new territory this week as she warmly praised George Bush at a speech in Washington and defended her decision to let Rupert Murdoch sponsor a fundraising event on her behalf. On the day that a New York Times poll found Bush’s approval ratings at an all-time low of 31%, the leading contender for the Democratic party’s 2008 presidential nomination praised the US president’s ”charm and charisma”.