Bombers killed an Iraqi provincial governor on Monday — the second assassinated in two weeks — amid mounting tension between rival Shi’ite armed factions in Iraq’s southern cities. Both governors were members of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, one of Iraq’s most powerful parties and a bitter rival of another Shi’ite movement.
Jazz guitarist Johnny Fourie (70) was a ”rare and dedicated” musician, friends said in a tribute following his death in Johannesburg on Sunday, just months after releasing his debut album, Once upon a Time. ”His family, students and fans will sorely miss him,” they said in a statement.
Six months after sniffing their way to fame in Malaysia, Labrador crime dogs Lucky and Flo were awarded medals on Monday for "outstanding service" in tracking down pirated discs. The exploits of the canine sleuths, who nosed out about $6-million in illegal merchandise, endeared them to Malaysians and regularly landed them on the front pages in the country.
Water shortages in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, have led to worsening outbreaks of diarrhoea with health centres treating about 900 cases per day, it was reported on Monday. So serious is the problem that city health centres have been ordered to treat diarrhoea patients for free to stop the spread of disease.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was on Monday trying to verify a weekend media report claiming that files on African National Congress (ANC) leaders who had been denied amnesty were languishing in a police safe. ”We’re still following up to check the source of the story,” said Scorpions spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi.
Rescue teams in Peru’s shattered earthquake zone headed home on Monday as search operations were replaced by stepped-up aid efforts and security patrols against looters. Wednesday’s powerful 8,0-magnitude temblor killed at least 503 people, and the final toll "could reach 540", civil defence officials said. About 1 600 people were injured.
They’ve become as much a symbol of Africa’s landscape as the stereotypical lions and plains. Discarded plastic bags — in the billions — flutter from thorn-bushes across the continent, and clog up cities from Cape Town to Casablanca. South Africa was once producing seven billion bags a year and Kenya not so long ago churned out about 4 000 tonnes of polythene bags a month.
Go by bike from Pietermaritzburg to the Cape and no end of people will express surprise at your undertaking. Some will offer an opinion on your sanity. On day 13, in the part of the Karoo known as the Camdeboo, this fellow stops his car and does just that. Now he gets out and introduces himself, writes the Mai & Guardian’s Kevin Davie.
Zimbabwe’s Parliament meets for a new session on Tuesday that will consider two major pieces of legislation, one to give the president considerable sway in appointing a successor and another to nationalise foreign firms. Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, is seeking to consolidate power in the face of growing discontent.
The JSE continued to trade in positive territory in midday trade on Monday with world markets stronger after Wall Street’s recovery on Friday. At midday on the JSE, the all-share index was up 2,29%. Resources climbed 2,78% and the gold and platinum mining indices added 1,20% and 1,22% respectively.