Members of militias fighting for control of the Somali capital could face war-crimes charges for attempting to prevent the wounded and civilians from receiving assistance during the conflict, a United Nations official warned on Monday. The battle between fundamentalist Islamic militias and rival secular combatants has forced about 1 500 to seek treatment.
The trial of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants was expected to resume on Monday with further defence testimony seeking to refute the charges of crimes against humanity. The accused have had a chance to bring witnesses to speak out on their behalf over the charges relating to the killing of Shi’ite villagers after an attempt on Saddam’s life in 1982.
Khat chewers are at greater risk of heart disease and liver damage, according to a paper published by Britain’s Royal Society of Medicine, which says doctors should be trained to spot harm caused by this habit. Sagar Saha and Clare Dollery of Londons Heart Hospital cite the case of a 33-year-old East African man, a daily khat-chewer, who was admitted to their hospital with a heart attack.
Authorities in Zimbabwe want all political parties to be registered to prevent ”rogue parties” contesting future elections, reports said on Monday. Zimbabwe is deeply divided between supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
At least 42 people were injured when three blasts rocked a town in southern Ethiopia at the weekend in the latest of a series of mystery explosions to have hit the country, police said on Monday. The simultaneous blasts hit a hotel and two restaurants in Jijiga, about 720km south-east of Addis Ababa around 7pm on Saturday.
Mogadishu residents cautiously returned to their homes on Monday, taking advantage of a lull in fierce factional fighting to pick through rubble-strewn neighbourhoods in the capital. At 62 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, most of them civilians, in the latest round of fighting that began on Wednesday.
Wherever you go, people stare at you. Paparazzi take pictures, fans ask for autographs, absolute strangers wonder aloud if they once met you at a party. For the hard-pressed celebrity there’s only one way to get away from it all: hide on your own desert island.
Transnet and two of its pension funds have decided to dispose of their share in Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, billed as South Africa’s most visited tourist destination. The remaining shareholder, the Transnet Retirement Fund, has yet to decide whether it will sell its 22,6% share, or retain it and push it up to 26%.
Perceptions of racism and the slow transformation in rugby were discussed at a sitting of Parliament’s sport portfolio committee on Monday. Briefing committee members, SA Rugby acknowledged that problems remained, but asked for recognition of what had been achieved.
India’s biggest distiller, the United Breweries Group, said on Monday it had dropped plans to buy French champagne group Taittinger as ”local groups” had stepped in with a new offer. According to French newspaper Les Echos, Belgian businessman Albert Frere is considering re-entering the bidding.