Johannesburg - Minutes after winning the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize, Finnish ex-president Martti Ahtisaari's thoughts were with the south-west African desert state of Namibia, where he cut his teeth as a peace-broker in the 1970s.

The veteran mediator was a United Nations envoy to the country between 1977 and 1990 - during the struggle in then South West Africa's for independence from apartheid-era South Africa.

Johannesburg - Disaffected members of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) loyal to ousted former president Thabo Mbeki announced plans to form a splinter ANC faction that would challenge the party in upcoming general elections.

Addressing a press conference in Johannesburg, former defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota, flanked by his former deputy Mluleki George and other ANC members, said the ANC, under Jacob Zuma's leadership, had become mired in tribalism and disregard for the rule of law.

Johannesburg - More than 20 people were feared to have died in when a bus crashed into a bridge in South Africa's north-eastern Mpumalanga province, police said Tuesday evening.

The accident took place near the border with Swaziland. The cause of the crash and the exact number of passengers and fatalities were still unknown as police had yet to reach the scene of the accident.

Johannesburg  - Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Tuesday expressed regret that the party signed a power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe, without having first agreed on the composition of a unity government.

Speaking on South African radio about the three-week delay in the implementation of the landmark agreement, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said he he thought the party's "big mistake" was to have signed a deal before the negotiations had been concluded.

Johannesburg - A spokesman for Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Tuesday expressed regret that the party signed a power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe, without having agreed on the make-up of a unity government.

Speaking on South African radio about the three-week delay in the implementation of the historic September 15 agreement, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said he he thought the party's "big mistake" was to have signed a deal before the negotiations had been concluded.

Harare/Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's economic catastrophe is plunging the country into an "information dark age" as newspapers, radio and television become overwhelmed by multi-million per cent inflation and the breakdown of infrastructure, according to media analysts.

Newspapers have become too expensive for all but a tiny minority, while the state-controlled radio and television monopoly services are stricken by chronic power cuts, says the independent Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ).