Trade union Solidarity announced on Monday that it will commence strike action at petrochemicals group Sasol on Tuesday morning at 6am. "This follows after Solidarity held a mass meeting with members. During this meeting it transpired that the trade union’s members were unhappy with a number of issues, including the company’s attitude towards its workers," Solidarity said.
The British government moved on Monday to ban for the first time two Islamist militant groups based in Britain under new laws prohibiting the glorification of terrorism, officials said. Home Secretary John Reid named the outlawed groups as al-Ghurabaa and the Saved Sect, Home Office officials said.
Marine salvors were attempting to remove the remaining 20 tons of heavy fuel oil from the stranded Safmarine Agulhas after a crack on the portside of the vessel started leaking diesel oil on Monday afternoon. Environmental affairs representative Nazeera Hargey said officials were unsure about the quantity of oil leaking from the crack but were dealing with the matter.
Torrential rains have killed at least 170 people across south China since the weekend, flooding cities, sweeping away houses and cutting off utilities as well as rail and road links, state media reported on Monday. The rains were triggered by tropical storm Bilis, which killed dozens in the Philippines and Taiwan before hitting China on Friday.
Several dozen submissions on Johannesburg International airport’s name change to OR Tambo International airport have been received, the ministry of arts and culture said on Monday. A ministry spokesperson said the submissions have been a "mixed bag", with some for and some against the name change.
Southern Sudanese leader Salva Kiir expressed optimism on Monday that peace talks his government is mediating between Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels will succeed despite a rocky start. At the same time, he warned that failure will likely lead to fighting between the LRA and his forces in autonomous south Sudan.
A total of 218 people were arrested over the weekend for crimes such as attempted rape, illegal possession of firearms, house breaking and possession of stolen goods, North Rand police said on Monday. Superintendent Sophie Mayisela said the suspects were arrested during Operation Iron Fist in several parts of Johannesburg.
A rocket fired from Lebanon smashed into a three-storey residential building in the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Monday, wounding at least two people, but it appeared no one was trapped under debris, medics said. The rocket tore the front off the building, crushing cars underneath.
A rarely used mixture of high explosives, fuel oil and ammonium nitrate was used in the Mumbai train blasts last week that killed 182 and wounded hundreds, the lead investigator said on Monday. Anti-Terrorism Squad chief KP Raghuvanshi declined to comment on whether the mixture, which included the high explosive RDX, could be linked to a specific group.
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) staff and officials will have three days to make submissions to an independent commission probing the public broadcaster’s alleged blacklisting of certain political analysts. Commissioners have set aside this Friday and Saturday and next Monday to hear submissions, an SABC statement read on Monday.