Canberra: Zimbabwe's Ambassador to Australia, Jacqueline Zwambila, has been recalled to Harare following allegations of stripping and diamond smuggling orchestrated by Robert Mugabe.
Jacqueline Zwambila has been accused by Mugabe backers of stripping to her underwear in front of three male staff after blaming them for leaks to a state-run Zimbabwean newspaper.
According to The Age, Zwambila was posted to Australia as ambassador in February after the Movement for Democratic Change party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last year struck a power-sharing deal with Mugabe.
But in a sign the agreement is under strain, the pro-MDC Zimbabwe Mail yesterday hit back, claiming Zwambila was set up after discovering diplomatic bags were being used to smuggle blood diamonds into Australia.
A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Department confirmed Zwambila had raised the media reports with Australian officials before returning home.
She was reportedly reluctant to leave and travelled only after an ultimatum from Harare.
ANI
Aurangabad: Armed Maoists burnt equipments of a power plant being jointly set up by railways and NTPC at Nabinagar in Bihar's Aurangabad district, police said on Thursday.
Over 50 naxalites raided the construction site of the proposed plant late last night and burnt several equipments, including four dumpers, three hydra cranes and mixer machine
worth lakhs of rupees, Superintendent of Police Vivek Raj Singh said.
They also held captive some of the workers and assaulted them, he said.
A combing operation has been launched to track down the naxalites.
The railway and NTPC are jointly setting up a 2000 MW spower plant at Surar village in Nabinagar.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, November 25, 2010, 13:06