Zimbabwe

Bhebhe Fanwewl strolled through the trampled fields behind the Nechilibi School, shaking his head at the unsalvageable wreckage of corn and sorghum. For three nights in May, elephants penetrated the electrified fence surrounding Hwange National Park and helped themselves to the ripening crops. First they cleaned out the small grove of papayas and mangoes, then they worked through the grains. "They have two ways of destroying plants," said Fanwewl, the school's deputy headmaster.

THE DAY David Taundi disappeared, it was clear something had gone horribly wrong. His car had run off the road on Henry Avenue near Philadelphia University in East Falls early Dec. 15, hitting a tree before bursting into flames. A witness told police that a man climbed out of the driver's side, walked away from the wreckage and disappeared into the predawn darkness. Taundi's father, Josiya Taundi, mounted a massive search, publicizing missing-person fliers on social media and asking police to mobilize helicopters and search dogs.

Customs agents yesterday stalled truck and rail traffic from the black nations of Zambia and Zimbabwe into South Africa at this key border crossing, in apparent retaliation for the two countries' campaign for economic sanctions against South Africa. Since Monday, trucks and trains ferrying goods from the two countries for transit through South Africa have been subjected to a new, time-consuming inspection, local freight agents said. Beitbridge, on the Limpopo River, is South Africa's only border crossing with Zimbabwe.

Rebecca Robbins-Polland, 76, executive trustee of the Kapnek Charitable Trust, died of an apparent stroke on Thursday at her home in the Society Hill section of Philadelphia. Under Dr. Robbins-Polland's leadership, the Kapnek Charitable Trust became a major supporter of scientific and medical research and education in Zimbabwe. The trust was established by Dr. Robbins-Polland's uncle, James Kapnek, in the early 1960s to promote medical research and education. Dr. Robbins-Polland established a scholarship program in Zimbabwe that permitted countless numbers of women to pursue careers in medicine.

Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda declared last night that U.S. and British investments in South Africa "will go up in flames" if their governments refrained from imposing tough economic sanctions on Pretoria. "We must put them (sanctions) into action, otherwise they are not worth the paper they are written on," he said at a one-day meeting here of leaders of the self-styled "front-line" states, six black-ruled nations that border South Africa. The six countries are Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

South Africa yesterday launched an economic counterattack against two neighboring black states that had championed the Commonwealth's decision to impose sanctions aimed at ending apartheid. The two countries, Zambia and Zimbabwe, will have to pay a deposit on imports shipped to them through South Africa. Both Zambia and Zimbabwe belong to the Commonwealth and had led the campaign for economic sanctions against South Africa, which were finally agreed to at a meeting in London earlier this week.

As predicted by many, the tougher American sanctions against South Africa have not caused apartheid's walls to come tumbling down. Indeed, as the Economist and other financial journals have noted, most divestment has resulted in the sale of foreign businesses and factories to South African whites at fire-sale prices. South African President Pieter W. Botha's reaction to sanctions has been to tell the world to mind its own business, and the white-only government has introduced more oppressive measures to keep the country's 24 million blacks under control.

Egypt-to-U.S. plane diverted LONDON - A plane from Cairo bound for New York was diverted by fighter jets to an emergency landing in the U.K. after a passenger discovered a letter threatening the aircraft, officials said Saturday. Police said late Saturday that there had been no arrests, and that authorities are working to ascertain who wrote the note in a lavatory that forced Flight 985 - carrying about 300 passengers en route to John F. Kennedy Airport - to make an emergency landing at Glasgow's Prestwick Airport.

A dramatic election will take place in Zimbabwe this weekend that will provide a barometer of democracy's future in Africa. Robert Mugabe, a once-revered leader who has deteriorated over a 22-year rule into a power-hungry tyrant, faces trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai and an opposition that wants to revive Zimbabwe's lost prosperity and battered democracy. But Mugabe's thugs are ratcheting up political violence as the election approaches, beating and killing opposition supporters and attacking the independent media.

From a spacious office on a quiet road in Gladwyne, Ronald Benton has quietly developed a school in Zimbabwe that he hopes will become a model for an international educational and commercial network. Eleven years ago, Benton, a psychologist now in private practice, donated 45 acres in Harare, Zimbabwe, along with enough money to start up Danhiko School, a combination rehabilitation center and school for veterans of the country's war for independence. Benton is now creating a foundation in Gladwyne, called Stonehenge, to raise money to continue the work of Danhiko, which means ladder in Shona, and eventually expand internationally.