The 2005 Gandhi Peace Award has been made to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in Johannesburg on Monday. It was in recognition of his contribution to society and political transformation, said the prime minister. Tutu had shown ”truly Gandhian values”, he told dignitaries at Constitutional Hill.
KwaZulu-Natal provincial minister of transport Bheki Cele on Tuesday applauded the police for the swift arrests of 24 alleged cash-in-transit heist gang members. ”The police had done a tremendous job and I certainly believe that, as the province, we will work tirelessly in decreasing the rate of crime, particularly the accelerating rate of cash-in-transit heists,” said Cele in a statement.
The United States has offered to return nearly all British residents held at Guantánamo Bay after months of secret talks in Washington, the Guardian has learned. The British government has refused to accept the men, however, with senior officials saying they have no legal right to return.
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Several people were shot and killed by a hostage taker who opened fire at an Amish school in Pennsylvania on Monday, police said, in the third fatal shooting at a United States school in a week. ”There are a number dead. The exact number I am not sure at this point. There are also a number of wounded. And the shooter is not at large,” said Ralph Striebig of the state police.
The African National Congress (ANC) has expressed deep sadness over the death of MP James Kati, a spokesperson said on Monday. James Zamiwonga Kati, who became an MP in 1999, died on Friday after a long illness. ”The ANC dips its revolutionary banner in remembrance of his undying spirit,” said ANC Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
Iran will not suspend uranium enrichment, as demanded by the West, but is still holding talks about its nuclear programme, the Iranian government spokesperson said on Monday. United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said as she flew to the Middle East that foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany might meet this week to discuss Iran.
A report on the alleged political bias of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has been handed over to the public broadcaster’s chief executive, Dali Mpofu, the commission of inquiry said in a statement on Monday. Earlier this year the SABC came under fire for the alleged blacklisting of political analysts too critical of President Thabo Mbeki.
The new Advance Tax Ruling System — intended to promote clarity, consistency and certainty in the interpretation and application of the tax laws — came into effect on Monday. The system allows the commissioner to issue two new types of rulings — binding private rulings and binding general rulings — the South African Revenue Service said in a statement.
One of South Africa’s worst military disasters is to be taught in British schools to highlight the role of African soldiers in World War I, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission announced on Monday. A total of 616 South Africans, virtually all of them African, died when the steamship Mendi sank in the Channel on the way to France on February 21 1917.