Malawi on Monday launched a week-long HIV testing campaign amid fears the fight against Aids is being hampered by people not knowing whether they have the virus. The campaign follows the revelation that only 15% of the country’s population of 12-million people have been tested for HIV/Aids.
Group of Eight (G8) leaders on Monday launched a fresh bid to pin down an elusive global trade pact, seeking to give a positive outcome to a big-power summit riven by discords over the Middle East. Hopes of progress towards unblocking deadlocked world trade talks raised spirits at the end of the G8 summit in St Petersburg.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone will on Friday hold its first hearing in the case against Charles Taylor since the former Liberian president was moved to The Hague for security reasons, a court spokesperson said on Monday. ”This is a hearing to determine how preparations for the trial are going,” court spokesperson Peter Andersen told the media.
Rising South African star Trevor Immelman heads into this week’s British Open knowing he might have to abandon his challenge mid-tournament if he is to witness the birth of his first child. Immelman desperately wants to be at his wife Carminita’s side, but he admitted on Monday that might not be possible if the baby decides to arrive a few days ahead of schedule.
Islamists who control Mogadishu and a large swathe of southern Somalia have opened a sharia court to serve two government-controlled regions, officials said on Monday. The Islamic movement has set up nine new courts in areas it has seized, but it is the first time the Islamists have established a court in an area they do not yet control.
Group of Eight (G8) leaders have been told Iran is seriously considering a package of incentives aimed at getting it to halt its nuclear programme, South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Monday. He said he passed on that message during his meetings with G8 leaders in the Russian Federation.
During an official check to certify that Namibia remained polio-free a decade after it declared it had conquered the disease, officials made a surprising find: a 39-year-old man stricken with the virus. On Tuesday, Namibia launches a three-day nationwide immunisation drive aiming to vaccinate the entire population.
Idols winner Karin Kortje’s lover Cheslyn Williams made a brief appearance in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Monday charged with murdering Durbanville guest-house owner Renate Kellerman. The magistrate postponed the case to July 24 to allow investigators to establish whether Williams has a criminal record.
A new campaign against farm attacks is to get under way with a protest march in North West on Friday, the trade union Solidarity said. ”We want to make people more emotional over this issue,” Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans told the media. He said vigils and other forms of protest are being planned in the longer term.
Trade union Solidarity announced on Monday that it will commence strike action at petrochemicals group Sasol on Tuesday morning at 6am. "This follows after Solidarity held a mass meeting with members. During this meeting it transpired that the trade union’s members were unhappy with a number of issues, including the company’s attitude towards its workers," Solidarity said.