Russia

Trial of dead lawyer adjourned

A Moscow court on Monday adjourned the tax evasion trial of dead Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky until March 22, after opening the process in defiance of criticism from his family and the West. The trial of Magnitsky - whose 2009 death lead to a crisis in relations with the US - got under way at the Tverskoi district court but was almost immediately adjourned by the judge.

South Africa

Mandela's memory fading

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's frail anti-apartheid hero who spent a night in hospital over the weekend for a medical checkup, is doing well but has memory lapses, a close friend said on Monday. South African human rights lawyer George Bizos said that while the 94-year-old is aware of current political events, he forgets at times that his fellow anti-apartheid activists are dead.

DRC

Govt to sign peace deal

Democratic Republic of Congo's government is due to sign a peace deal on Friday with the M23 rebels who have been waging an insurgency in the east for the past year, according to a draft agreement seen by Reuters on Monday. The draft says rebel fighters will hand in their weapons ahead of a deployment of UN peacekeepers in their territory.

Kenya

Leader prepares vote challenge

Kenya's outgoing Prime Minister Raila Odinga, defeated in last week's presidential polls by Uhuru Kenyatta, was preparing his Supreme Court appeal alleging fraud, officials said on Monday.

Iraq

Suicide bomber kills three

A suicide bomber blew up a car in northern Iraq on Monday, killing two policemen and a woman, and wounding 100 others, many of them schoolchildren, officials said. The bomber struck at a police station in the town of Dibis, northwest of the ethnically mixed oil city of Kirkuk.

AFP-Reuters

(China Daily 03/12/2013 page11)