A 27-year-old man who admits he cannot control his sexual urges will spend 12 years behind bars for raping his 10-year-old cousin. The man from Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, told the Vereeniging Circuit Court he committed the crime because of too much pornography.
Tonga has delayed the naming of its 30-person World Cup squad following court action over continuing turmoil in the Pacific nation’s rugby union. Tonga was due to name its squad for September’s World Cup on Thursday but the country’s Supreme Court the same day ordered the Tongan Rugby Union to hold an annual general meeting to resolve long-running divisions.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has pulled out from Ethiopia’s restive Ogaden region following a government order, but still hopes to return, a spokesperson said on Thursday. Authorities in Ethiopia’s Somali regional state last week gave the Red Cross seven days’ notice to leave, accusing it of consorting with rebels.
New car sales rose to 32Â 199 units last month from 30Â 825 in June, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa said on Thursday. It said in a statement this represented an improvement of 4,5%. Year-on-year sales were, however, down by 13,8%. In July last year, 37Â 366 new cars were sold.
The African National Congress’s (ANC) version of affirmative action was based on ”racial categorising”, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said in Parliament on Thursday. DA safety and security spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard criticised the ruling party’s ”refusal to define how exactly it would determine someone’s race”.
Two men convicted of murdering a top Iranian judge in 2005 were hanged in public in central Tehran on Thursday, the first such public executions in the Iranian capital in five years. The men were executed for the murder of Hassan Moghaddas, a hardline deputy prosecutor and head of the ”guidance” court in Tehran
It would be dangerous for the government to stay out of the South African economy, taking into account the country’s history, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said on Thursday. Speaking at the launch of the National Industrial Policy Framework, Mpahlwa said the plan would help the government address some of the legacies in the economy.
Sierra Leone’s United Nations-backed Special Court convicted two former leaders of a pro-government militia on Thursday for war crimes, but acquitted them of some of the most serious charges of crimes against humanity. The two were leaders of the Civil Defence Forces, which fought for President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in a 1991 to 2002 civil war.
A Sicilian mother took away her 61-year-old son’s house keys, cut off his allowance and hauled him to the police station because he stayed out late. Tired of her son’s misbehaviour, the pensioner in the central Sicilian city of Caltagirone turned to the police to ”convince this blockhead” to behave properly, La Sicilia reported on Thursday.
BP said on Thursday petrol pumps had started running dry at some of its outlets on the fourth day of a multi-industry strike, as South Africa’s largest oil refinery faced a possible shutdown. BP spokesperson Zipporah Mothoa said delivery of stocks to petrol outlets had been ”gravely impacted” because workers in the distribution chain were on strike.