Thursday, 27 March, 2008
- 27 Mar 08, 06:36 PM
ZIMBABWE UNCOVERED
Zimbabweans go to the for presidential elections. Incumbent Robert Mugabe, who's been in power for 28 years, is seeking another term as president. The Local, Senate, Assembly and Presidential polls come against the backdrop of a disintegrating economy - the annual rate of inflation exceeded 100,000% in February. Opposition activists have complained of intimidation, unequal media coverage and other anomalies. The opposition itself is divided and has failed to unite behind a single figure. Former Finance Minister Simba Makoni is challenging Mr Mugabe as an independent and could split the vote of the ruling Zanu-PF party.
With only a day to go there are still major questions and arguments of voter registration and the number of ballot papers printed - one report suggest that an extra three million ballot papers have been printed. The 大象传媒 as you may know is banned from Zimbabwe. Only a handful of international journalists were granted accreditation, one of those was RTE's Richard Downes - but he was only given official access to the country for three days around polling day. Undeterred by such bureaucratic irritations he slipped into Zimbabwe as a tourist to try to assess the state of the country in the run up to the election. See his exclusive report on the programme tonight.
We'll be speaking to Simba Makoni who is challenging Robert Mugabe for the presidency.
IRAQ
Scores of people have been killed in fighting between the , Iraqi, and in many instances, US troops during a crackdown on the militia of firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Why is this happening now and is Iraq on the verge of a civil war? We'll be speaking to a senior adviser to the Iraqi army.
TERMINAL FIVE
More than 30 flights have been cancelled at Heathrow's new because of problems with its high-tech baggage handling system. Thousands of passengers have been stuck at the airport awaiting flights and trying to trace their bags.
BIG BROTHER
George Orwell's world of Big Brother seems to be alive and well in supermarket chain . Detectives hired by Lidl, which has thousands of stores worldwide, including 450 in Britain - have been monitoring employees in Germany. Several hundred pages of surveillance records have been passed on to Stern magazine, causing outrage among the unions and data protection officials. Peter Marshall is on the case.
