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The Zimbabwean government has allocated US$10 million worth of funds for the relocation of thousands of families living near the Chiadzwa diamond fields in the Manicaland province. Murisi Zwizwai, the Deputy Mines Minister, said that the funds would be used to build houses for the residents in the area, and for developments in . “I can confirm that US$10 million has been set aside for the relocation. The relocation may take place after they have harvested their crops,” he said in an interview, as quoted by the New Zimbabwe news agency. Zwizwa

According to scientists, the land territory of Russia has expanded by about 4.5 square kilometres within the last few years in the Far East due to seismic and volcanic activity. The gained land was recorded in the Sakhalin Peninsula. Boris Levin, head of the Institute for Sea Geology and Geophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the increase happened primarily due to two seismic events. The first, in August of 2007, was when a heavy 6.8 earthquake near the city of Nevelsk in the Far East raised about three square kilometres of

Six aid groups have suspended work in Chad today after the killing of one aid worker, a rash of banditry, and a kidnapping, according to the United Nations. The UN says about 37,000 people will be affected in some way by the move. UN spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs noted that the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) are among those to halt operations. "To date, five NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] have temporarily suspended their activities in the east," Byrs

A passenger jet in the African country of Rwanda crashed into a VIP lounge at an airport on Thursday, officials have said, killing one person. The aircraft involved was a CRJ-100 with Rwandair, leased from the Kenyan Jetlink airline. The director general of Rwanda's Civil Aviation Authority, Richard Masozera, told media that the pilot of the aircraft reported a problem two minutes after takeoff and requested to land. The flight had been due to take its fourteen passengers to Uganda. "He landed safely on the runway and was guided by the marsha

Pakistani police said today that a suicide car bombing has killed at least eleven people and wounded more than twenty others, in the latest attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Officials reported that the bomber set off the explosives at a police checkpoint, and added that two police officers are among the dead. "At least eleven people have been killed and 26 others wounded," said Sahibzada Anis, the Peshawar district administration chief, to the Agence France-Presse news agency. According to the man in charge of the checkpoint, Mali

"The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water," says a press release from NASA. A Moon mission launched by the agency has confirmed the presence of water on the moon. The discovery comes a year after a NASA instrument on an Indian lander indicated there were water molecules on the surface of our satellite. On September 24, 2008 the Indian Space Research Organisation had stated Chandrayaan-1 had discovered water based on readings from NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, one of eleven instruments carried by the probe. Tho

Four teenage boys are dead after a car crash in Birmingham, England. The collision, which occurred at around 0345 GMT in the suburb of Moseley, involved four boys crashing a blue Rover into a wall on Salisbury Road. The ages of the adolescents are reported as 15, 16, and 17; the age of the fourth teenager is unconfirmed. All four died at the scene. "Police can confirm three of the boys in the car were 17, 15 and 16 years old," the West Midlands Police said in a statement. "The age of the fourth boy is yet to be confirmed. All four occupants of

The United Nations' World Food Program (WFP) said today that for the first time in history, the number of hungry people worldwide will exceed one billion. The huge number of people facing food insecurity has prompted the UN organization to appeal to individuals for the first time. The WFP launched the Billion for a Billion online campaign today, in an effort to get one billion people living in the developed world to give one euro (US$1.50) a week to the campaign. WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran commented that donor governments have s

The annual Lord Mayor's Show went ahead today in London, continuing a centuries old tradition. Severe weather forced the cancellation of the fireworks display for the first time in twenty years, but thousands of people turned out to watch the procession. The newly elected Lord Mayor of the City of London has journeyed through central London every year since 1215. The ceremony has only been cancelled once, in 1852 for the Duke of Wellington's funeral. Nick Anstee was appointed as the 682nd person to hold the position on Friday. Saturday's show

Irish priest Father Michael Sinnott has been freed by the gunmen who abducted him one month ago. The 79-year-old was taken hostage from his mission office in the Philippines on the 11th of October. The Irish government released a statement saying they had not paid a ransom. Authorities believe that Father Sinnott was being held by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Father Sinnott was based in Pagadian at the time of his abduction but was originally from County Wexford, Ireland. Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin released a statement saying

Italian goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini has been seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in London. The player, who plays for Tottenham Hotspurs, was involved in a collision with a car at 10:30 GMT. The football club reported that he has fractured his wrists and injured his pelvis. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police released a statement saying "A 36-year-old male suffered injuries described by the London Ambulance Service as possibly life-changing and was taken to Whipps Cross Hospital for further assessment and treatment". No arrests ha

Mozambique's main opposition party has rejected the results of last month's national elections, alleging fraud and ballot-stuffing. Official results were released on Wednesday confirming that President Armando Guebuza had won another term in office. The secretary-general of the opposition Renamo Party, Ussufo Momade, announced his party's rejection of the election results, saying there had been widespread fraud. "We do not recognize these elections," he stated. "We demand the cancellation of the results that were just announced and we insist o