The two men who were arrested on Sunday night in connection with the murders of actor Brett Goldin and fashion designer Richard Bloom were released on Monday, Western Cape police said. Nine people have already been arrested and will appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday in connection with the murders.
The prosecution is preparing to oppose a court bid by arms company Thint to be given immediate further particulars on the corruption charges it faces alongside former deputy president Jacob Zuma. Thint and Thint Holdings are accused numbers two and three in the pending corruption trial.
Africa’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati III of Swaziland, on Monday celebrated 20 years of his reign by portraying himself as the kingdom’s unifying force. The king chose to mark the 20th anniversary of his reign near the grave of his late father, King Sobhuza II, in Nhlangano, about 200km south of Mbabane.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a keen Newcastle United fan, paid tribute on Monday to club-legend Alan Shearer, who retired a few weeks earlier than planned owing to a knee injury. ”I should say for purposes of the record that I think he’s been a fantastic servant for Newcastle United and is a great player and a great man,” Blair said at his monthly press conference in London.
Iran’s defence minister warned the United States on Monday it would suffer a ”disgraceful defeat” if it took military action against the Islamic republic, the official Irna news agency reported. ”If the US chooses the military option, a disgraceful defeat worse than the failure in Tabas desert awaits them,” Mostafa Mohammad Najar said, referring to a failed US attempt in 1980 to rescue American hostages in the seized US embassy in Tehran.
Ehud Olmert was facing a revolt on Monday in the ranks of his Kadima party with senior figures furious at losing out on key portfolios to Labour rivals as the new Israeli coalition government is drawn. Newspaper headlines made uncomfortable reading for the prime minister designate with a number of top Kadima candidates in last month’s election accusing him of reneging on agreements.
A rebel group issued a warning on Monday to companies that are looking to develop natural gas fields in a contested area of Ethiopia, saying any investment that benefits the Ethiopian government ”will not be tolerated”. The Ogaden National Liberation Front, which wants an independent state in Ethiopia for ethnic Somalis, said a pipeline ”in what is essentially a combat zone is far from reality”.
A senior United States diplomat arrived in Chad’s capital on Monday to meet with officials about a dispute between the government and the World Bank over how the country uses oil royalties — a dispute that has the government threatening to shut off oil supplies by the week’s end.
Sanlam, South Africa’s second-largest life insurer, has confirmed it is examining a possible acquisition of the United Kingdom life insurance business of General Electric (GE) as one of several opportunities for enhancing its capital efficiency. In a statement on Monday, Sanlam said, however, that its evaluation of the GE business was at an "embryonic stage".
United Kingdom’s public finances chalked up the worst deficit in 12 years during the 2005/2006 fiscal year, official data showed on Monday, dealing a blow to Finance Minister Gordon Brown’s forecasts. Economists said that the worsening state of the public purse pointed towards likely tax hikes or public-spending cuts in the near future.