A would-be robber was arrested after he tried to hold up his local town hall, mistaking it for a bank, Austrian police said on Wednesday. Wearing a mask and waving a toy pistol, the unemployed man burst into the town hall in the village of Poggersdorf, southern Austria, and shouted: ”Hold-up, hold-up!”
On Thursday the Constitutional Court will hear an application on whether life partners in a same-sex relationship may inherit intestate estates as though they were spouses. The court’s senior registrar, Martie Stander, said on Wednesday that the case of Mark Gory versus Daniel Gerhardus Kolver and others was due to be heard on Thursday.
Burundi’s government has evidence linking a former president to an alleged plot to assassinate his successor and overthrow the government, a public prosecutor said on Wednesday. Domitien Ndayizeye was arrested on Monday, joining more than a half dozen people, including two former high-ranking officials and a dissident rebel, already jailed on suspicion of involvement in the plot.
Twelve years into a democratic South Africa access to education has not improved, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said on Wednesday. ”In the 1980s the issue was about race, but now it’s a class matter. The only black children who go to the best schools are those who can afford them,” said Sadtu president Willie Madisha.
World powers which backed a package to defuse a dispute with Iran over its nuclear ambitions are ready to respond to Iran’s call for talks but only if it first suspends uranium enrichment, France said on Wednesday. Iran replied to the incentives package offered by six nations on Tuesday, saying it contained ideas that would allow serious talks to start immediately.
Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday condemned high-profile killings in the country, saying it could lead to political instability. Several prominent politicians, including two governorship candidates, have been killed by unknown gunmen in the past weeks in Africa’s most-populous country ahead of general elections next year.
The ongoing strike at Shoprite Checkers is costing both the retailer and the strikers money, company head Whitey Basson said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. ”I don’t know if we pay or under pay … but our job is to balance the interest,” Basson said.
Tournament co-favourites Southern Gauteng and Western Province both had emphatic wins on the second day of the Spar Women’s Interprovincial Hockey championship being played at the Randburg Astroturf in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
It was a mixed night for former European Cup winners as Liverpool, AC Milan, Hamburg and Benfica progressed to the Champions League group stages but Red Star Belgrade bit the dust. The 1991 champions will have to settle for Uefa Cup football this season after they went down 2-1 at home to Milan, to lose 3-1 on aggregate.
Johannesburg serial child killer Sipho Dube swore when he was led to the cells after receiving 10 life sentences in the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday. ”The accused showed no mercy at all to his victims,” said Judge Seun Moshidi. ”The crimes were clearly premeditated and well-planned.”