International officials on Monday hailed Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) landmark elections at the weekend as an example to Africa and called on presidential candidates to accept the results. ”This has made the DRC an example for African elections,” former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano said.
Israel’s attack on Qana in Lebanon on Sunday, which killed 52 people, more than half of them children, was ”humanity gone mad”, South African Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Monday. Meanwhile, Israel has rejected mounting international pressure to end its 20-day-old war against Hezbollah guerrillas.
European football governing body Uefa on Monday announced a range of tougher sanctions for European football, including a five-match ban for racist or insulting conduct and a two-match ban for players who simulate being fouled. European football’s new disciplinary regulations for the coming season also include ”improper conduct of a team” .
Charges of assault, resisting arrest and impeding a police officer in performing his duties were withdrawn against the Free State chairperson of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) on Monday, the party said. Hendrik Minnie, a Mangaung Local Municipality councillor, was arrested on Friday night at Heidedal in Bloemfontein and spent the weekend in police custody.
The Department of Arts and Culture has received ”hundreds” of submissions on the proposed renaming of Johannesburg International airport to OR Tambo International airport, the department reported on Monday. The deadline for submissions is at midnight on Monday. Ministry spokesperson Sandile Memela said that submissions were streaming in ”every moment of every hour”.
Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink faces an FA charge over claims he made about former club Chelsea in his autobiography. Hasselbaink, who joined Charlton earlier this month from Middlesbrough, alleged Chelsea had made illegal bonus payments to players following the win against Arsenal in their Champions League quarterfinal in April 2004.
Three explosions in Dire Dawa, a railway town in eastern Ethiopia, on Monday caused minor damage but no injuries, a police official said. Police had arrested one person suspected of involvement and an investigation was continuing. While such explosions are relatively rare in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa this year has been hit by several mysterious blasts.
It’s unlikely to occur by swallowing a pill or donning a special cloak, but invisibility could be possible in the not-too-distant future, according to research published on Monday. A theoretical physicist at St Andrews University in Scotland believes the most plausible example is the Invisible Woman, one of the superheroes in the ”Fantastic Four”.
Ethiopia’s 1 700-year-old obelisk, returned to the country 14 months ago, will be re-erected after the rainy season that ends in September, the United Nations agency in charge of culture said on Monday. Stolen by Italian fascist invaders in the 1930s, the Ethiopian national treasure was returned in April last year.
Media and entertainment group Johnnic Communications (Johncom) announced on Monday that it had terminated the employment of its suspended CEO Connie Molusi forthwith, saying it had lost confidence in him. "The board of directors of Johncom has lost confidence in its chief executive officer, Mr Connie Molusi," the group said in a terse statement to the JSE.