Continental giants South Africa and Nigeria are working together
Continental giants South Africa and Nigeria are working together
to bag two permanent seats on the UN Security Council (UNSC)
allocated to Africa under a plan to revamp the world body, Deputy
Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said on Thursday. The South African
minister, opening a meeting of the South Africa-Nigeria
binational commission, said the two presidents, Thabo Mbeki and
Olusegun Obasanjo, would be major forces at the UN 2005
millennium summit where the reform of the United Nations will be
discussed. "Nigeria and South Africa are working together to seek
those two seats," he said, adding that South Africa's Mbeki and
Nigeria's Obasanjo "will be able to put together a common
position on UN reform." -- AFP
Former Nepal PM
charged with graft
Nepal's powerful anti-graft commission on Thursday charged former
prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba with misappropriation of
government funds while in office, a commission spokesman said.
"The commission has found out that Mr. Deuba had misappropriated
the Prime Minister's Relief Fund while in office," spokesman Prem
Raj Karki said. "He also refused to testify and pay bail money of
8,000,000 rupees (US$114,285)," Karki said. Karki, however, did
not say what action would be taken against Deuba after being
charged with misappropriation of state funds. Deuba, who was
arrested last Wednesday, and his coalition government were
dismissed by King Gyanendra when he seized power Feb. 1. -- AFP
Polish parliament
keeps government
Polish lawmakers on Thursday defeated an attempt to dissolve
parliament early, in a vote that could keep the unpopular
governing party in power for a few more months. The 460-seat
lower house fell short of mustering a two-thirds majority - or
307 votes - required to dissolve the legislature. A vote to
dissolve would have forced elections in six weeks instead of by
mid-October, as scheduled. There were three separate motions,
each brought by a different right-wing opposition party. In the
first two votes, 253 lawmakers voted for self-dissolution, with
172 against. In the third, 255 lawmakers voted for self-
dissolution and 172 against. In each case, there were about a
dozen abstentions, and several lawmakers were absent. -- AP