The United States could consider new sanctions against North Korea if it goes ahead with plans to launch a long-range missile, US ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer said on Monday. Schieffer said that a test by the communist state would be a ”very, very serious matter” that could be brought before the United Nations Security Council.
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Only when former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial kicks off on July 31 will the defence teams and the National Prosecuting Authority know who will be the presiding judge. On Monday KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala said: ”You will see when he presides.”
A slightly built Zimbabwean University of Cape Town student, Tinashe Rioga (21), appeared briefly in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Monday in connection with an alleged aircraft hijacking attempt. Rioga was overpowered by fellow passengers on board a domestic flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg on Saturday morning.
Iran loses more than a billion dollars a year because petrol and refined oil products are smuggled to neighbouring countries, a senior police official was quoted as saying on Monday. "Every year, 1,8-billion litres of refined oil products worth 10,8-billion rials [$1,18-billion] are smuggled abroad," press reports quoted General Ali Soltani, director of the campaign against economic crimes, as saying.
Fifty-seven security guards have died since a strike in the industry began in March, the chairperson of a provident fund for the guards confirmed on Monday. Kevin Derrick, acting chairperson of the Private Security Industry Provident Fund, confirmed a report in Beeld newspaper, saying this was based on a study of newspaper reports since the strike began on March 23.
Darfur rebels were in Khartoum on Monday for the first time since signing a peace deal with the Sudanese government last month to end three years of conflict in the western region. The delegation from the largest rebel group was due to hold talks with the government on implementing the agreement signed in Nigeria.
Palestinian factions sought on Monday to find agreement on how to end a political crisis, deadly clashes and fiscal meltdown in a deal that could implicitly recognise Israel and avert a July referendum. Bitter rivals Hamas and the Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas were to meet late on Monday, nearing the end of a second round of crisis.
African and Western diplomats were discussing the details of a peacekeeping mission to Somalia, an African Union spokesperson said on Monday, after militias vowing to impose Islamic rule took over the capital. The meeting will not decide when peacekeepers will be deployed because the United Nations Security Council will have to first ease an arms embargo on Somalia.
Going on holiday can increase the likelihood of suicide in people suffering from clinical depression. ”A change of scene does not help a person with depression. It’s more likely to make them worry about the new environment they are in,” says Christa Roth-Sackenheim, chairperson of the professional Association of German Psychiatrists.
The JSE was in positive territory at midday on Monday, buoyed by firmer European markets, a weaker rand and an overhang from Thursday’s futures closeout. Gold stocks shone following a strong performance by their ADRs (American Depository Receipts) in New York on Friday.