Britain’s Prince Charles may have a fight on his hands when the time comes to inherit the crown from his elderly mother, Queen Elizabeth II, if a growing band of republicans has its way. The movement wants to swap the monarchy for an elected head of state, effectively making Charles and the rest of the royal family redundant.
There have previously been children whose birth attracted a certain amount of attention — Jesus Christ, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Mountbatten-Windsor, Brooklyn Beckham — but the recent arrival of Suri Cruise set a new record for interest in an infant.
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Breeding large predators such as lions, cheetahs and leopards for hunting will become illegal if draft regulations unveiled on Monday become law. ”The days of captive breeding of listed species for any purposes except science and conservation are over,” said Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will discuss the violence-prone security guards’ strike, including the disruption of May Day activities in Cape Town, at a central executive meeting on Wednesday. ”There is no place for violence,” said Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu’s Western Cape secretary.
The media might have fabricated fears reportedly expressed by judges about pending constitutional amendments affecting the court system, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Johnny de Lange intimated on Tuesday. ”I don’t trust the media,” he told Parliament’s security and constitutional affairs select committee.
Preliminary investigations have failed to yield an explanation of why hundreds of dolphins left their deep offshore habitat, got stranded in shallow waters and later washed up dead on Zanzibar’s northern coast, a scientist said on Tuesday. ”It is a mystery,” said Narriman Jiddawi, a marine biologist in Dar es Salaam.
Cheered by thousands, a four-year-old boy dubbed ”India’s Forrest Gump” who was nearly sold by his impoverished mother ran 65km on Tuesday to enter the country’s foremost record book. Budhia Singh had planned to run 70km, but doctors stopped him after 65km when he showed signs of extreme exhaustion.
A United Nations envoy on Tuesday urged Eritrea to release nearly 100 000 tonnes of food aid feared to be rotting in warehouses as he appealed for donors to meet an urgent appeal to assist drought-hit East Africa. ”The warehouses are closed and the government has the keys,” he told reporters.
Fifteen people — six rebel Rwandan Hutu militiamen, a government soldier and eight civilians — have been killed in fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), military sources said on Tuesday. The attacks in the restive Nord-Kivu province were led by Rwandan Hutu rebels accompanied by local Mai Mai militiamen.