Sudan on Tuesday rejected as invalid the findings of a United Nations human rights mission that accused Khartoum of orchestrating and taking part in gross violations in Darfur. Sudan’s Justice Minister Mohamed Ali Elmardi also told the UN’s Human Rights Council, which had dispatched the mission, that the humanitarian situation in Sudan’s vast western region was ”much more stable now”.
Eight babies removed from a filthy cellar in Orange Grove in Johannesburg — where they had allegedly been abandoned by their teenage mothers — are back with their mothers. Johannesburg General Hospital spokesperson Lungi Mvumvu said on Tuesday that the babies had not been admitted but examined as outpatients.
A police sergeant inexperienced in murder scenes told the Cape High Court on Tuesday of his shock at finding the corpse of estate agent Andre Weitz bludgeoned to death in a duplex in Cape Town. Bernard van Zyl (28), Weitz’s former romantic partner, is alleged to have attacked Weitz with an axe in June 2004.
An assault case against the kwaito star known to his fans as Mandoza was postponed in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, police said. Glen Nonkonyana (30) laid a charge at the Kliptown police station on Monday, alleging that Mandoza had assaulted him at a flat in Ferndale in Randburg late on Saturday, police said.
The Labour Ministry on Tuesday accused the Democratic Alliance (DA) of purposely misrepresenting the facts about Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana’s availability to answer questions in Parliament. A DA statement on Monday listed Mdladlana as being among ministers who evaded parliamentary questions.
Royalty payments are tax deductible under the Income Tax Act, the Supreme Court of Appeal held on Tuesday, upholding an appeal by BP Southern Africa against a judgement of the Cape Town Income-Tax Special Court. The case was about the BP trademarks, colour schemes, designs and symbols that BP Southern Africa has used since 1959.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is considering a tough security plan that could see the country placed under a state of emergency within the coming month, media reports said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has appeared in court, two days after he was arrested, and a protest in Johannesburg has called for his release.
Google on Monday added details of WWF environmental projects to its popular global online mapping service. The Mountain View, California, internet search powerhouse wove WWF images, information and website links into its popular Google Earth program.
A South African business group called on government on Tuesday to adopt new strategies to combat rampant crime and make the police force and Department of Justice and Constitutional Development more efficient. ”The previous solutions weren’t going to achieve results,” Siphiwe Nzimande, CEO of Business against Crime, told a forum.
United States entertainment giant Viacom on Tuesday launched a billion-dollar lawsuit against Google and its affiliate YouTube, accusing the video-sharing website of "massive" copyright infringement. The suit seeks more than $1-billion in damages, as well as an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from further infringements.