Staff Reporter

The defence of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, due to go on trial for war crimes in The Hague next month, said on Monday that they needed more senior counsels for the complex case. In a pre-trial hearing Taylor’s lawyer said his client was concerned he was being "short-changed" with only two attorneys against a prosecution legal team of at least 10 people.

Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was due to face motions of no-confidence in Parliament on Monday, the latest backlash over a scathing inquiry into his handling of last year’s Lebanon war. Parliament was due to debate three no-confidence motions that were lodged by both right-wing and left-wing opposition parties at an afternoon session, officials said.

On busy Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district, the paradox of Turkey in the 21st century is played out. Two women — one in early middle age, one younger — emerge from a shop with a provocative lingerie window display. Both wear the headscarves and long skirts denoting them as conservative and observant followers of Islam.

In a hangar in the south of France, a burst of violins and dramatic drum rolls marked the arrival of France’s most charismatic political showman. At his final gathering before Sunday’s presidential election, the right-wing Nicolas Sarkozy stood surveying his thousands of supporters draped in French football shirts, flags, or face-paint.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe warned Zimbabwe’s Catholic bishops, who have become increasingly critical of him, that they are treading a "dangerous path", according to reports published on Friday. Mugabe’s comments, in the state-run <i>Herald</i> newspaper, come after a pastoral letter was read out by the country’s Catholic bishops.

The desire to rename our country’s streets and public spaces after liberators and humanitarians is an understandable one. There is an inherent, home­grown logic to it, much as there is in deciding to dry a freshly bathed Chihuahua by putting it in the microwave for 10 minutes.

International relief agency Oxfam on Thursday blasted the international community for not responding to a United Nations appeal for donations to address a humanitarian crisis in Chad. "The international community has so far failed to halt the spread of this conflict," Oxfam director Jeremy Hobbs said in a statement.

"Challenging Zimpapers was no picnic. We told a story that the <i>Herald</i> would not tell — the story of how 20 years of independence had not yielded the milk and honey for which nearly 30&nbsp;000 people died." A free and courageous press has helped Zimbabwe, but hopes for a watershed election in 2008 may be disappointed, argues Bill Saidi.

"Free and fair elections are the foundation of democratic governance, as they enable the people to exercise their sovereign right to constitute a government of their choice." Huge changes are needed if the next polls are to reflect the true will of Zimbabwe’s people, writes Welshman Ncube.

Despite numerous laws protecting the rights of women, they are still bearing the brunt of economic and physical hardships in the country. It is important for greater attention to be paid to the effects of certain policies on the lives of women, writes Dr Fareda Banda.

Judge Richard Goldstone served on South Africa’s Benches during apartheid and, for nine years, was a member of the first Constitutional Court of democratic South Africa. Nicole Fritz asks Goldstone what Zimbabwe could learn from the transition experiences of Rwanda and former Yugoslavia.

An economic transformation is Zimbabwe is readily possible. The country has a wealth of assets which, if properly used, can fuel a vibrant economy. It has fertile land, but that land must be used constructively and productively. It has vast wealth under that land, including uranium, platinum, gold, diamonds, nickel, coal, methane gas and more.

Good government has to be of the people, by the people and for the people. All these elements have been lacking under the sad, dark days of Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF dictatorship. All the people of Zimbabwe, not just the new political leaders, need to take control of their own destiny.

The reputation of Zimbabwe’s judiciary is in tatters. The public seem to have lost all confidence in the country’s judges, whose attitudes and interpretation of law they find questionable, and in most instances where politically motivated crimes are being dealt with by the courts.

To a man who has only a hammer, every problem he encounters looks like a nail. So said the American psychologist Abraham Maslow — and, being a writer, I find myself in a similar position. I happen to have only a pen, and every problem that crosses my path resembles a story in need of fixing.

Zimbabwe’s trade-union leaders and members have been murdered, arrested, tortured and beaten — but their determination to overcome oppression is firmer than ever, writes Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.