A Harare court on Monday postponed to later this month a ruling on whether to dismiss the case against four newspaper directors charged with illegally publishing the popular Daily News. Magistrate Lillian Kudya told the four to return to court on July 30, when she is expected to hand down her judgement.
No staff will be retrenched when the South African Social Security Agency starts operating next year, Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya said on Monday. "[Under] the Labour Relations Act, all staff in the social security function will be transferred to the agency," Skweyiya told reporters in Cape Town.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118944">Govt outlines social security agency</a>
Fears about terrorism returned to haunt Britain on Monday after police said they are investigating how secret police plans to prevent Heathrow airport from attack were found abandoned by a roadside. Also, a government minister advised the public to stock up on food and other emergency supplies in case of a terror attack.
Pro- and anti-whaling nations began a four-day meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Sorrento, Italy, on Monday amid growing support for an end to an 18-year moratorium on commercial whaling. Japan has welcomed growing support for its call for a return to commercial whaling.
Forty people, most of them commuters, were killed on Monday when a crowded bus shot off a highway in torrential rains and plunged into a rain-filled ditch in India’s West Bengal state, police said. ”The bus sank in the ditch filled up by monsoon rains,” state police inspector general Chayan Mukherjee said.
Residents evicted from their houses in Protea Glen, Soweto, will be relocated to free Reconstruction and Development Programme houses in Doornkop outside Soweto from Monday, Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu said on Sunday. Sisulu addressed a public meeting of more than 2 000 people in a bid to resolve the area’s housing problem.
It is not often that you hear of a renowned, five-star hotel going to the dogs. But on the outer reaches of Cape Town, the Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa has literally done just that, welcoming guests of the canine variety with special two day Smooch Your Pooch packages.
While the Zambian hotels and resorts fronting the Victoria Falls are teeming with tourists, it is relatively quiet on the other side of the river. "Zimbabwe’s political and economic woes have benefited us tremendously," explains one of the locals, adding that tourism has probably been the biggest benefactor.
The dispute between Harmony and the National Union of Metalworkers (NUM) over the closure of shafts and the retrenchment of 9 000 workers has been resolved, the union said on Sunday. The two parties have signed an agreement preventing the closure of shafts and the retrenchment of workers.
The Sudanese government is directly responsible for crimes against humanity in its strife-torn western region of Darfur, including the widespread rape of women, rights group Amnesty International charged on Monday. Refugees from Darfur described a pattern of ”systematic and unlawful attacks” against civilians by both a government-sponsored Arab militia and the Sudanese military forces.
Sudan peace talks collapse