South Africa

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S. Africa Reclassifies Chinese as 'Black'

Group can now benefit from post-apartheid equality programs

(Newser) - South Africa's high court has decided Chinese people should be reclassified as black, the London Times reports. The country's 20,000 citizens of Chinese origin had complained that they were left out of programs aimed at reversing inequalities created under apartheid, despite having been discriminated against under white rule. A...

Four Nations Fight Microsoft Doc Standard

Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa and India target format

(Newser) - Four nations have appealed to stop the fast-track adoption of Microsoft’s Office Open XML file format as an international standard, a world standards body announced yesterday. Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa and India have all appealed. The exact reason is unknown, but many have complained that the March vote to...

Mbeki's Lost Letter Focuses Scrutiny on Zimbabwe Role

Denies Tsvangirai note; impartiality questioned

(Newser) - Last month Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader and the victor of March's elections, sent a 4-page letter to South African president Thabo Mbeki asking him to step aside as mediator. But when South African media reported the story last week, Mbeki's camp denied that the letter even exists, much less...

S. Africa to Build Refugee Camps for Foreigners

Affluent nation shocked by settlement plan

(Newser) - South Africa is planning to establish refugee camps for the foreigners driven from their homes by anti-immigrant violence, the New York Times reports. The shelters, dubbed “temporary places of safety,” would initially house the 11,000 people sheltered near police stations across the country, but could eventually be...

S. Africa Deploys Troops as Immigrant Killings Spike

Anti-foreigner attacks spread across South Africa

(Newser) - South African president Thabo Mbeki has summoned troops to help counter a wave of anti-immigrant violence in the country, AFP reports. Mbeki called on soldiers after police requested help quelling mob violence that has claimed 42 lives, officials said. As many as 16,000 people have been displaced by the...

Tutu Pleads for End to Immigrant Attacks

Archbishop issues impassioned call for South Africans to end rampage

(Newser) - Archbishop Desmond Tutu pleaded yesterday with his South African countrymen to end a vicious surge of anti-immigrant violence that has killed at least 22 people, AP reports. Extra police were sent to squatter camps as roaming mobs continued to stab, beat and burn immigrant workers in some of the worst...

High Court OKs Apartheid Cases
 High Court OKs Apartheid Cases 
May 12, 2008 7:14 PM CDT

High Court OKs Apartheid Cases

Claims against big corporations can proceed in federal court

(Newser) - Apartheid victims can sue corporations that dealt with South Africa’s government before 1995, the Supreme Court said today. But the judges did not render a decision, as four of the nine recused themselves, likely due to personal stock holdings. The claims seek $400 billion from companies including Exxon, Citigroup,...

Mandela on US Terror Watch List

Rice is embarrassed, she tells senators

(Newser) - Nelson Mandela may be a Nobel Peace Prize winner, former head of state, an icon of non-violence, and a symbol of the conquest of hope and endurance over oppression, but to the US federal government he's a potential terrorist. Incredibly, Mandela and all members of the African National Congress remain...

S. Africa Blocks Sending UN Envoy to Zimbabwe

Security Council hits stalemate

(Newser) - A closed-door session of the Security Council failed to make progress on Zimbabwe after South Africa led a successful effort to block a plan to send a UN envoy to Harare. The US, Britain, and France pushed for dispatching an observer—and for a moratorium on arms sales. UN Secretary-General...

US Envoy: 'Tsvangirai Won'
 US Envoy: 'Tsvangirai Won' 
Apr 24, 2008 1:49 PM CDT

US Envoy: 'Tsvangirai Won'

Diplomat condemns Zimbabwe violence, but hints at 'political solution'

(Newser) - After more than three weeks in which Robert Mugabe has failed to hand over results from Zimbabwe’s presidential election, a top US diplomat for Africa came out in support of his challenger today, the AP reports. “Morgan Tsvangirai won, and perhaps outright,” Jendayi Frazer said in South...

Zimbabwe Arms Ship Heads Back to China

South African dock workers refuse to unload Chinese tanker

(Newser) - A Chinese ship with a cargo of arms and ammunition bound for Zimbabwe will indeed head back to China, the Chinese foreign ministry confirmed today, after Zimbabwe's neighbors refused to let the vessel dock. The decision is a victory for the coalition of trade unionists, religious leaders, and Western diplomats...

Zuma in London for Zimbabwe Talks
Zuma in London for Zimbabwe Talks
Apr 23, 2008 6:06 AM CDT

Zuma in London for Zimbabwe Talks

South African leader takes harder line on Mugabe

(Newser) - South African leader Jacob Zuma has arrived in London, where he'll meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss the political deadlock in Zimbabwe, reports the BBC. Before the meeting, the head of the ruling African National Congress said that the delay in the release of last month's election results...

Chinese Weapons Ship May Head Home

Guns may not reach Zimbabwe

(Newser) - China may recall the ship carrying arms to Zimbabwe, thanks to stonewalling by its Southern African neighbors, the BBC reports. Coastal nations are refusing to allow the ship to dock, worried that the weapons will be used to escalate Zimbabwe’s tense post-election standoff. The ship may yet find harbor...

China Ships Arms to Mugabe
 China Ships Arms to Mugabe 
Apr 18, 2008 4:29 AM CDT

China Ships Arms to Mugabe

Union refusing to unload dangerous cargo destined for tense Zimbabwe

(Newser) - As tensions rise in Zimbabwe, a Chinese ship has arrived in a South African port with arms bound for Harare. The ship put to sea with AK-47 rifles, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and millions of rounds of ammunition, apparently to fortify President Robert Mugabe, who's not relinquishing power despite his suspected...

South Africa Calls for Results in Zimbabwe

Mbeki shifts position as world criticism of Mugabe mounts

(Newser) - South Africa shifted course today and for the first time called on Zimbabwe to release election results, Reuters reports. A spokesman for the government of Thabo Mbeki—an ally of Robert Mugabe who had previously downplayed the crisis—called the situation "dire." President Bush, meanwhile, criticized African leaders...

Mbeki: Don't Worry About Zimbabwe
Mbeki: Don't Worry About Zimbabwe
Apr 12, 2008 5:11 PM CDT

Mbeki: Don't Worry About Zimbabwe

As African conference begins, Mugabe ally plays down crisis

(Newser) - South Africa's president told African leaders today not to worry about Zimbabwe's disputed election, Reuters reports. "I wouldn't describe that as a crisis," President Thabo Mbeki said at a summit of 14 leaders in Zambia, assembled to free Zimbabwe from its political deadlock. "It's a normal electoral...

Mugabe Foe Meets South African Leaders

ANC chief may be leaning to Tsvangirai in power play

(Newser) - The Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai traveled to South Africa yesterday to shore up international support for his claim that he has defeated Robert Mugabe in the presidential election. No details were released about Tsvangirai's meeting with Jacob Zuma, the African National Congress leader and assumed next president, but the...

'Urine Stew' Vid Sparks Furor in S. Africa

Anti-integration students force-fed black workers vile soup

(Newser) - South Africans have reacted with outrage and violence to a homemade video showing white college students forcing black employees to eat dirty meat and soup mixed with urine. The four Afrikaners, who don't disguise their faces, made the video to protest racial integration at the formerly all-white University of the...

Dollar Slides to Record Low; Oil Tops $102

Investors bet on Fed rate cut, driving euro up against US currency

(Newser) - The dollar declined against most major currencies and fell to its lowest level ever against the euro today as markets anticipated another rate cut from the Fed when it meets March 18, increasing the value of assets outside the US, Bloomberg reports. The dollar’s erosion pushed commodity prices up,...

South Africa to Lift Ban on Killing Elephants

Government says culling is a 'last resort' population control option

(Newser) - South Africa will lift its 1994 ban on elephant culling, sparking outrage among animal rights activists, the Guardian reports. Killing animals will remain "the option of last resort, acceptable only under strict conditions," said the environment minister. He added that managing the elephant population, which has grown to...

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