SOUTH AFRICA
CAPE TOWN – Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana removes Themba Langa as chairperson of the Land Bank and as a member of the Land Bank board of directors with immediate effect. The decision is supported by the board, which it says is distancing itself from "factually inaccurate" recent media statements attributed to Langa.
PRETORIA – The Judicial Services Commission meet to discuss complaints made by both Cape judge president John Hlophe and the judges of the Constitutional Court. During the proceedings legal representatives of the complainants have the opportunity to address the commission. The agenda set out for the meeting determines which commissioners will officiate in all or any of the further stages of the complaints procedure and whether the Constitutional Court judges and Hlophe have, respectively and judged purely on the papers at this stage, made out a prima facie case of gross misconduct within the meaning of Section 177 (1)(a) of the constitution.
AFRICA & WORLD
ABUJA – Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua calls for a global clampdown on the theft and smuggling of crude oil, an international trade, which is fuelling unrest in the country's southern Niger Delta. Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude oil but a sizeable proportion of its output is stolen by thieves who either drill into pipelines or hijack barges loaded with oil, theft which is known locally as "bunkering". Some estimates put the amount of crude stolen from Nigeria's Niger Delta at 100 000 barrels a day, equivalent to around $14-million daily or $5,1-billion a year at current prices. It is shipped out of Nigeria and sold on the international market.
BRUSSELS – The European Union (EU) announces that it will channel €1-billion in unused European farm subsidies to African farmers as part of its response to the global food crisis. The proposal will have to be approved by ministers from the EU's 27 countries and the European Parliament. Europe's Common Agricultural Policy eats up more than €40-billion euros a year in subsidies and other farm spending.The World Bank has estimated that about $10-billion is needed in short-term aid to help poor countries face the global food and fuel price crisis.
PARIS – President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla meet French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, who was rescued after six years in the hands of leftist Colombian guerrillas, at the airport when she arrives with her family on a special French flight from Bogota. Sarkozy has played an active role in seeking the liberation of Betancourt since he took office last year, pushing for negotiations with her captors and urging the Colombian authorities to avoid any military action. The French government was consequently kept in the dark about the Colombian rescue mission and Sarkozy was only informed Betancourt had been freed after Colombian soldiers had extracted her from the jungle.
TOYAKO – The Group of Eight nations agree to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe's leadership because of violence during the widely condemned re-election of President Robert Mugabe. The US and Britain, among the fiercest critics of the veteran leader, have been lobbying for a strong stand at the G8 summit in Japan after he was declared winner of a June 27 poll boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The grouping of major industrial powers say that Mugabe's re-election has occurred without the necessary conditions required for a free and fair vote.
WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama rejects charges that he has shifted positions on Iraq and other issues as part of a move to the political centre now that he is his party's nominee. As he positions himself for the battle against Republican John McCain, the Illinois senator has softened an earlier vow to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement, has not opposed a Supreme Court decision striking down Washington's gun ban and says he will support expanding the government's wiretap authority. Most recently, he has signalled greater flexibility on his pledge to quickly pull US troops out of Iraq, telling reporters last week he might "refine" his views based on what happens on the ground.
CAPE TOWN – Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana removes Themba Langa as chairperson of the Land Bank and as a member of the Land Bank board of directors with immediate effect. The decision is supported by the board, which it says is distancing itself from "factually inaccurate" recent media statements attributed to Langa.
PRETORIA – The Judicial Services Commission meet to discuss complaints made by both Cape judge president John Hlophe and the judges of the Constitutional Court. During the proceedings legal representatives of the complainants have the opportunity to address the commission. The agenda set out for the meeting determines which commissioners will officiate in all or any of the further stages of the complaints procedure and whether the Constitutional Court judges and Hlophe have, respectively and judged purely on the papers at this stage, made out a prima facie case of gross misconduct within the meaning of Section 177 (1)(a) of the constitution.
AFRICA & WORLD
ABUJA – Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua calls for a global clampdown on the theft and smuggling of crude oil, an international trade, which is fuelling unrest in the country's southern Niger Delta. Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude oil but a sizeable proportion of its output is stolen by thieves who either drill into pipelines or hijack barges loaded with oil, theft which is known locally as "bunkering". Some estimates put the amount of crude stolen from Nigeria's Niger Delta at 100 000 barrels a day, equivalent to around $14-million daily or $5,1-billion a year at current prices. It is shipped out of Nigeria and sold on the international market.
BRUSSELS – The European Union (EU) announces that it will channel €1-billion in unused European farm subsidies to African farmers as part of its response to the global food crisis. The proposal will have to be approved by ministers from the EU's 27 countries and the European Parliament. Europe's Common Agricultural Policy eats up more than €40-billion euros a year in subsidies and other farm spending.The World Bank has estimated that about $10-billion is needed in short-term aid to help poor countries face the global food and fuel price crisis.
PARIS – President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla meet French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, who was rescued after six years in the hands of leftist Colombian guerrillas, at the airport when she arrives with her family on a special French flight from Bogota. Sarkozy has played an active role in seeking the liberation of Betancourt since he took office last year, pushing for negotiations with her captors and urging the Colombian authorities to avoid any military action. The French government was consequently kept in the dark about the Colombian rescue mission and Sarkozy was only informed Betancourt had been freed after Colombian soldiers had extracted her from the jungle.
TOYAKO – The Group of Eight nations agree to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe's leadership because of violence during the widely condemned re-election of President Robert Mugabe. The US and Britain, among the fiercest critics of the veteran leader, have been lobbying for a strong stand at the G8 summit in Japan after he was declared winner of a June 27 poll boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The grouping of major industrial powers say that Mugabe's re-election has occurred without the necessary conditions required for a free and fair vote.
WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama rejects charges that he has shifted positions on Iraq and other issues as part of a move to the political centre now that he is his party's nominee. As he positions himself for the battle against Republican John McCain, the Illinois senator has softened an earlier vow to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement, has not opposed a Supreme Court decision striking down Washington's gun ban and says he will support expanding the government's wiretap authority. Most recently, he has signalled greater flexibility on his pledge to quickly pull US troops out of Iraq, telling reporters last week he might "refine" his views based on what happens on the ground.
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