Zambia on Friday denied rumors that President Michael Sata had died during a visit to New York after he failed to make a scheduled speech to the U.N. general assembly.

"The health of the president is entirely normal. I spoke to the president this morning," Vice President Guy Scott told parliament.

A Zambian aid worker was released in Sudan's troubled Darfur region on Friday after 19 days in captivity, peacekeepers said.

Felix Ngoma, who is on the staff of the International Organization for Migration, was the latest kidnap victim in a region where crime and violence have risen dramatically.

The health of Zambian President Michael Sata came under scrutiny in parliament Friday with opposition lawmakers requesting a meeting with the ailing leader, who has not been seen in public for three weeks.

Sata, 77, is believed to have returned last week from what the government called a "working holiday" in Israel.

A court in Zambia on Friday freed 54 separatists who were facing charges of treason for trying to create a new state called Barotseland in the west of the country.

The prosecution told magistrate Aridah Chulu that it had decided not to proceed with charges against the group, giving no further reason for its decision.

Zambian police questioned an opposition leader Monday for allegedly defaming President Michael Sata after he called him a liar in a radio program, a spokesman said.

Police questioned Nevers Sekwila Mumba "for the alleged offence of defamation of the president," police spokesman Rae Hamoonga.

Zambia's President Michael Sata threatened to dissolve parliament and prompt fresh elections Monday, accusing ministers of failing to defend his government from opposition attacks.

Sata's two-year-old administration has come under fire for having too many cabinet ministers, who, critics say, are cronies of the president and not servants of the nation.

Interpol has cancelled a demand for the arrest of the son of former Zambian president Rupiah Banda, his lawyer said Friday.

The international policing body could not find enough evidence against Henry Banda to justify a red notice, which requests an arrest be made, according to his lawyer Nicqui Galaktiou.

Zambian police Monday arrested a gay couple after the family of one of the men reported the relationship to authorities, who made the first arrest of its kind under tough anti-gay laws.

James Mwape, 20, and Philip Mubiana, 21, from the northern town of Kapiri Mposhi, are said to have been living together for some time.

Cholera has broken out in northern Zambia this week, with at least 30 cases recorded in the past three days, a health official said Wednesday.

"We have so far 30 suspected cases of cholera admitted at Mambilima Mission hospital," regional medical officer Lackson Ndhlovu told public radio station Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC).

Zambians on Tuesday woke up to a new year and new bank notes, which lop off three zeros in a bid to address high inflation that made the currency cumbersome to work with.

Zambia's Finance minister Alexander Chikwanda launched the new Kwacha notes assuring the citizens that the move to rebase currency was meant to address previous bouts of depreciation.