Seven armed men robbed the Pick ‘n Pay Hypermarket at the Northgate Shopping Centre on Monday morning, West Rand police reported. The men held up 250 staff members at gunpoint for more than two hours. Later, two suspects were shot and injured during a shoot-out with police and seven were arrested.
Iraq’s interim prime minister said on Monday that he will not interfere with an Iraqi tribunal’s right to decide whether Saddam Hussein and his top lieutenants should be executed on war crimes charges. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said he is willing to abide by whatever the court decides in the trial, which is not expected to begin for months.
Amnesty for Iraqi insurgents
The development of the judiciary and the rule of law must take account of customary and traditional practices, Botswana’s President Festus Mogae said on Monday. Mogae was opening the Southern African Development Community chief justices’ conference on human rights.
The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic was adjourned on Monday after his ill-health prompted a judicial review of the way the trial is being conducted. Milosevic, who is conducting his own defence, had been expected to deliver a political tirade on Monday as part of his opening statement to the international criminal tribunal in The Hague.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) is set to clamp down on taxpayers who fail to reflect accurately and honestly details relating to the travel section on their tax return forms, the receiver said in a statement on Monday. A Sars spokesperson said some taxpayers have been dishonest when furnishing travel-specific information.
Pakistan has turned to old ally Libya to purchase a fleet of Mirage fighter jets and spare parts, an air force spokesperson said on Monday. ”Libya had a fleet of Mirages, which was grounded for over a decade. We have purchased that fleet at a very reasonable price,” Air Commodore Sarfraz Khan said.
The African National Congress urged the government on Monday to intervene to ensure that the majority of South Africans benefit from the country’s stabilising economy. ”Despite evidence of a stabilising economy, the majority, particularly African people, continue to suffer,” the ANC secretary general said in Johannesburg.
Being able to prove descent from Genghis Khan, with the aid of a simple DNA test, will in future buy a free meal at London’s two Mongolian restaurants, the Times reported on Monday. The restaurants, both called Shish, are located in trendy Hoxton in the East End and in Willesden Green to the northwest.
The first summit meeting of national leaders on HIV/Aids in Bangkok next week has been called off because only one of the invited leaders is showing up. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said only Ugandan President Lieutenant General Yoweri Museveni and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan are now coming.
Just listening to Naomi Campbell is enough to get jet lag. In an interview on Monday with The Guardian newspaper, the 34-year-old British-born supermodel revealed how she didn’t stay in any one place for more than 48 hours the preceeding week.