Israel has authorised the transfer of weapons to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel Army Radio reported on Friday. Defence Minister Amir Peretz made the decision after a ”rise” in intelligence alerts that radical or rival Palestinians could assassinate the moderate president, the radio said.
The house, on the outskirts of East Timor’s capital, was turned into a mere shell. The six people inside — five women and a child — were little more than burnt and broken skeletons. Attackers came in the middle of the night, broke the windows of the concrete dwelling, doused it in petrol and set it ablaze.
Former executives of Japan’s once-high-flying internet firm Livedoor admitted on Friday to fraud allegations as they went on trial for a scandal that rocked Japan’s financial and political circles. The four executives wore dark suits and looked humbly at the ground as prosecutors read charges of hiding financial losses.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair will on Friday in a foreign-policy address at Georgetown University call for a return to a multilateral approach to global affairs built around a radically reformed United Nations led by a powerful secretary general, in a bid to salvage his legacy as a progressive leader on the world stage.
Nadia Petrova laughs a lot these days, and giggles, too. For the past two years, during which her fellow Russians have all won grand slam titles, Petrova has frequently represented the somewhat stern face of her country’s amazing and uplifting rise to the top of women’s tennis — but not any more.
The Cape High Court ruled on Thursday that a man who raped his niece about 50 years ago should pay R450 000 for damages caused, the Women’s Legal Centre (WLC) said. Acting director Mary Caesar said the WLC is ”very pleased” that Esme van Zijl’s claim against her uncle, Imker Marais Hoogenhout, was successful.
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi is not being investigated by the Scorpions, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) reacted on Friday to a claim in the Mail & Guardian. The M&G reported on Friday that Selebi was linked to a ”shadowy” network of figures associated with slain businessman Brett Kebble.
The Competition Commission on Thursday referred a complaint of anti-competitive behaviour against Sasol to the Competition Tribunal. Profert Limited’s complaint against Sasol Chemical Industries was referred on the grounds that the latter was found to have contravened the Competition Act, commission spokesperson Liziwe Konyana said.
The eldest of the 15 South Africans who are being held in the Democratic Republic of Congo was barely in the country for 24 hours before being arrested, News24 reported on Friday. It said the project manager of the group, Eric Rademeyer, dodged arrest by being on a few days leave in Malawi.
Research published this week could help explain why a little-known African virus recently became rampant, infecting nearly one million people in an unprecedented disease outbreak that is still raging. The study suggests that the chikungunya virus has mutated in a way that makes it better at infecting the mosquitoes that spread the virus to people.