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.
A bomb in a police car killed at least eight Afghans on Monday as Nato forces took control of security in southern Afghanistan to begin one of the biggest ground operations in the alliance’s history. The blast occurred in the eastern city of Jalalabad, far from the transfer-of-command ceremony on a base outside the southern city of Kandahar.
South Africa welcomes a European Union proposal to boost diplomatic ties but a closer relationship with the EU must benefit Africa, a senior official said on Monday. The EU’s European Commission has urged the 25-country bloc to upgrade links with Pretoria to a ”strategic partnership”, putting relations on the same footing as those between the EU and the United States, Japan, Russia, India and China.
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Charges of assault, resisting arrest and impeding a police officer in performing his duties were withdrawn against the Free State chairperson of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) on Monday, the party said.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”.