Interworld Radio News 3rd April 2008

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Interworld


South Africa‚s Business Day newspaper claims Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe has privately conceded defeat and is deciding if he should contest
a run-off vote. Mugabe has lost control of parliament for the first time
since independence in 1980 and the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) is claiming victory in last Saturday's elections. However, a
run-off presidential vote may be called if MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
fails to secure a clear majority. According to the final results of the
election for parliament's lower house, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) won 99 seats, while Mugabe's ZANU-PF won 97 seats and a breakaway
MDC faction won 10. One independent candidate won a seat. No official
results have yet been announced for the presidential vote.

Al-Qaeda‚s number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has defended the killings of UN
staff, describing the United Nations as an enemy of Islam. The interview
was released in an audiofile on Wednesday according to the monitoring
group IntelCenter. Responding to questions compiled by Islamist web sites,
Zawahiri defended Al-Qaeda attacks on UN offices in Algiers which killed
41 people in December and the 2003 bombing of a UN building in Baghdad
which claimed 22 lives. Zawahiri denied that Al-Qaeda killed innocent
people, and said those who died in Algeria were not innocent victims but
ŒCrusader unbelievers‚ who are defended by governments against Islamic
beliefs. Zawahiri, who, like his leader Osama Bin Laden is believed to be
hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan also refuted reports that the Al-Qaeda
head‚s health is failing.

At least 6,000 people in Kenya have been affected by flooding following
heavy rains in the southern coastal district of Taveta. The Kenya Red
Cross Society fears it will create widespread health and humanitarian
problems. The most affected people are those who were scattered across the
country following the eruption of violence over the disputed results of
the December 2007 elections. The Kenya Red Cross says groups of people
have been marooned, with transport services also affected as they attempt
to move their camps to higher ground. The camps most affected by flooding
included those in Nakuru in the Rift Valley Province and the neighbouring
town of Naivasha.

Aid agencies report a marked upsurge in cases of child trafficking in
Mozambique. According to the charity Save the Children, there have been 52
suspected cases of trafficking involving young women and children since
the beginning of the year alone. Experts say most victims of human
trafficking and exploitation are lured by their captors from Mozambique to
South Africa with the promise of better lifestyles. Chris McIvor, the
country director for Save the Children UK in Mozambique, believes the
increase could indicate a deeper and more pervasive problem throughout
Southern Africa. Experts believe the situation is also aggravated by the
lack of a legal provision for prosecuting human traffickers in Mozambique
even though the practice is illegal under international law.

North Korea will suspend all dialogue and has reportedly threatened
Œmilitary counter-measures‚ against South Korea, in a growing spat between
the two nations. According to the Yonhap news agency, the North Korean
military made the threats after failing to win an apology for remarks by
South Korea's Defence Ministry suggesting that it could target the North's
suspected nuclear sites if an attack looked imminent. The row between the
Koreas follows stalled talks on implementing a nuclear disarmament. North
Korea agreed last year to abandon its nuclear programme in return for aid.
In recent days North Korea has expelled South Korean managers from a joint
industrial base, test-fired short-range missiles and verbally attacked
South Korea‚s president, Lee Myung-bak in the state media.

Authorities in China have given the go-ahead to a Chinese drug maker to
begin large-scale production of a human bird flu vaccine, after a second
clinical trial showed the vaccine was safe and effective. The vaccine will
be the first of its kind to tackle a virus which experts say claims the
lives of 63 per cent of the people it infects. The vaccine uses substances
called antigens which stimulate the production of antibodies to attack the
bird flu virus when introduced into the body. Tests of the vaccine were
carried out on 402 participants aged between 18 and 60. According to
China's State Food and Drug Administration, there were minimal cases of
the drug causing side effects.