United States astronomers on Tuesday presented the most solid proof yet of the existence of dark matter, a mysterious substance believed to make up more than a quarter of the universe. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope spotted a ring of dark matter in a galaxy cluster about five billion light years away from Earth.
African leaders will meet in Ghana in July to discuss the idea of creating a united government for the continent. This would be a legacy of the dreams of pioneering post-colonial leaders, such as Kwame Nkrumah, and would see current states surrender certain powers to the superior entity.
South Africa’s targeted inflation should remain within its range, but the target could be threatened by adverse developments and a poor response to past monetary tightening, the central bank said on Tuesday. In its latest monetary policy review, the Reserve Bank said it remained focused on keeping inflation within a 3% to 6% band.
Irish rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof on Tuesday accused the group of eight (G8) nations of falling far behind on pledges of aid to Africa and put pressure on Germany as current head of the club to donate nearly -billion. Geldof said German Chancellor Angela Merkel needed to channel a minimum of -million in aid to Africa this year.
An ”indefinite” full-blown strike has been set to start on May 28 for public-sector unions affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the federation said on Tuesday. ”We are talking about indefinite action — not a symbolic strike for a day or two,” South African Democratic Teachers’ Union general secretary Thulas Nxesi said.
An al-Qaeda front group in Europe threatened on Tuesday to launch bloody attacks in France in response to the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as president. ”As you have chosen the crusader and Zionist Sarkozy as a leader … we in the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades warn you that the coming days will see a bloody jihadist campaign,” the group’s ”Europe division” said.
Portuguese authorities searching for missing girl Madeleine McCann have placed a British man under formal investigation in the case, Lusa news agency said on Tuesday. It quoted police as saying the suspect was Robert Murat (32), who was questioned late on Monday along with an unidentified German woman and a Portuguese man.
Good progress is being made in establishing a ”special-purpose vehicle” to speed up and ensure effective land reform, Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana said on Tuesday. She said the matter was still under discussion, but would hopefully go to the Cabinet for approval in a month’s time.
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Claims of a plot to assassinate African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma should be treated seriously, the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) said on Wednesday. ”We call on the police and other relevant law-enforcement agencies to do everything in their power to get to the source of this matter,” ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula said.
Russia’s atomic energy agency said on Tuesday it has signed a deal to build a nuclear-research reactor in Burma, whose military rulers have been criticised by the West for repressive and undemocratic practices. The centre will include a 10MW nuclear reactor with low enriched uranium consisting of less than 20% uranium-235, the atomic energy agency, known as Rosatom, said.