Dagga worth an estimated R3-million was seized at a house at Cape Town’s Mfuleni area, Western Cape police said on Monday. Detectives visited the house, situated at Ngogoshe Street at Mfuleni Extension 4, at about 8pm on Sunday after a tip-off by a member of the public, Inspector Bernadine Steyn said.
France, Italy and Germany — but not Britain — have paid ransoms totalling -million for the freedom of nine hostages abducted in Iraq, The Times of London claimed on Monday. The claims were immediately rejected by the three governments listed by The Times as having ”bought” the release of hostages over the past two years.
De Beers chairperson Nicky Oppenheimer and the Botswana government will launch a new joint-venture company, the Botswana Diamond Trading Company, on Tuesday, De Beers said. A number of new mining releases are also to be signed. The diamond partnership between the two goes back to before the country attained independence from Britain in 1966.
Four people were seriously injured after being thrown off moving trains on Monday morning, Metrorail said. A number of people have been thrown from moving trains in Gauteng in recent weeks — many of them working security guards believed to be targeted by their striking colleagues.
Kenyan prosecutors on Monday said a local priest plotted the murder of a septuagenarian Italian bishop in northern Kenya last year in a row over cash donated to the diocese from well-wishers. The accusation came as the prosecution opened its case in the trial of the Father Waqo Guyo Malley and five others.
Biodiversity policies must be integrated into economic decision-making for South Africa’s flora and wildlife to be conserved, says Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk. He was speaking at the launch of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan in Port Elizabeth on Monday..
Winter will not be exceptionally cold, it will just be normal, Weather South Africa said on Monday. ”According to our models the temperatures will be normal for this time of year,” meteorologist Selebaleng Gaebee said. Last winter was exceptionally warm, which may explain why people feel the current cold weather more intensely.
Nepal’s interim government announced the long-awaited final names for an 18-member Cabinet on Monday but was immediately rocked when one minister refused to take her post. The top seven jobs were appointed 20 days ago, with 11 more names announced on Monday, including the education, tourism and water-resources portfolios, state-run media said.
Cell C has denied it was to blame for the problems experienced by the Vodacom network on Friday. ”Problems experienced were on Vodacom’s network and our understanding is that these were rectified by Vodacom’s engineers fixing their own network problems,” said Cell C head of communications Vanashree Pillay on Monday.
Police in Chad have released the former head of an independent radio station, Tchanguiz Vatankhah, who was detained for more than three weeks for his political activities, a media body said on Monday. Vatankhah, who is president of the Chad Union of Privately Owned Radio Stations (URPT), was freed last Friday, said a URPT statement.