Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's neighbours in the Southern African Development Community on Wednesday announced a new mechanism for delivering urgent humanitarian aid to the crisis-hit southern African country.

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, whose country currently chairs SADC, said financial and material aid would be channeled through a new structure called the Zimbabwe Humanitarian and Development Assistance Framework (ZHDAF).

Harare/Johannesburg - Political tensions in Zimbabwe heightened Tuesday as President Robert Mugabe's government claimed that a "terrorist assassination attempt" had been made on a notorious top officer of the security forces.

The state-controlled daily Herald newspaper said Air Marshal Perence Shiri, commander of the Zimbabwe Air Force, was ambushed by unidentified gunmen as he was driving to his farm in the Bindura district about 80 kilometres north of Harare on Saturday night. It said he suffered a gunshot wound in the palm of his hand.

Johannesburg  - South Africa was bracing for a tense Reconciliation Day in the southern city of Bloemfontein as the ruling African National Congress and the opposition Congress of the People (COPE) prepared to go head to head with rival rallies.

At the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994, December 16 was set aside as a day on which to foster reconciliation between the country's various racial groups. Prior to that, it commemorated a key Afrikaner military victory over the Zulu nation in 1838.

Johannesburg, Dec. 14: Miss Russia Kseniya Sukhinova has been crowned Miss World 2008, while India''s Parvathy Omanakuttan was adjudged the first runner-up at a glittering ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday.

Miss Trinidad and Tobago Gabrielle Walcott was declared second runner-up. Among the other five finalists were Ms Angola Brigite Santos and Ms South Africa Tansey Coetzee.

Johannesburg, Dec. 12: Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief Gerald Majola believes that the decade-old contentious racial quota system - known as "targeted transformation" has produced the results that it was designed for.

The Age quotes Majola as saying the target for the Proteas this season is "a minimum of four black players on the field and a minimum of seven black players in a squad of 15".

By "black players", lovers of the sport should read non-whites.

Johannesburg - South Africa's Department of Agriculture announced Thursday it was suspending imports of all meat and dairy products from the European Union due to the discovery of dioxin in Irish meat products.

"Due to concerns regarding 'soft borders' within the EU and the wide distribution of animal feed between EU member states, a decision has been taken to suspend all imports of meat and dairy products and other edible animal products (including pet food) from the EU to South Africa," the department said in a statement.

Dioxins have been found in Irish pig meat and animal feed produced in Ireland.