A decade after a landmark United Nations conference resolved to tackle violence against women head on, not enough has been done to put an end to this scourge, say female legislators from East Africa. They said that leaders in their countries had largely relegated violence against women — and other issues related to gender equality — to the back seat of policy-making and resource allocation over the past ten years.
Almost a third of the British government’s arms sales machine is dedicated to selling to a single regime — Saudi Arabia. A United Kingdom Ministry of Defence publication circulated to defence firms and obtained by The Guardian shows the extent of Saudi dependence on Britain to run its air force. No fewer than 161 of the department’s 600 officials work for the ”Saudi Armed Forces Project”.
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At least 42 miners were stuck 2,4km underground at Hartbeesfontein gold mine late on Wednesday after an earthquake shook the Klerksdorp mining area in the North West province. ”Rescue teams are working to open entry tunnels that were closed by rock falls,” said Ilja Graulich, spokesperson for DRDGold, which operates the mine.
The plight of the San indigenous community in South Africa was placed in the spotlight last week with the launch of a report by the South African Human Rights Commission. According to the Working Group for Indigenous Minorities of Southern Africa, there are currently about 100 000 San — the majority of whom live in Botswana.
As the citizens of the Central African Republic go to the polls to choose a new president and parliament this weekend, experts differ on whether it is a step toward true democracy. The landlocked nation has had a violent and troubled past. Since independence from colonial master France in 1960, it has been continuously rocked by political instability.
A Danish commercial radio station is under fire for organising a prank encouraging listeners to squelch cream cakes on staff at a bakery, reports said on Wednesday. The Voice offered listeners 10 000 kroner (about R10 000) if they went to a bakery, bought a cream cake and dumped it on the head of the salesperson.
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Prosecutor Billy Downer completed his cross-examination of fraud and corruption accused Schabir Shaik in the Durban High Court shortly before lunch on Wednesday. Shaik, who has been charged with one count of fraud and two of corruption, has been under cross-examination since Monday last week.
Talks on Israel ceding control of West Bank towns to the Palestinian Authority stalled over technicalities on Wednesday, while Israel voiced caution after a top Palestinian official said militant groups were set to observe a truce. ”We did not reach a final agreement yet,” Haj Ismail Jabr, the top Palestinian security official in the West Bank, told reporters.
The Zimbabwean ambassador to South Africa was scathing about a protest by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) outside his embassy in Pretoria on Wednesday, saying he pities the protesters. ”I hesitate to give an iota of dignity to these misguided malcontents,” Simon Khaya Moyo said.