The commander of a European Union force helping to provide security for elections next month in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) expressed confidence on Tuesday that his mission will be successful despite rising ethnic tensions ahead of the poll. But critics say the mission is largely a promotional exercise.
Mushin Ertugral has been appointed Ajax Cape Town head coach with immediate effect, Ajax CEO John Comitis announced on Tuesday. The former Kaizer Chiefs coach is a replacement for Gordon Igesund, who was fired last week although he still had 12 months to go on his contract.
The retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of contaminating hundreds of Libyan children with Aids reopened on Tuesday with the judge calling for the process to be speeded up. Judge Mahmud al-Huweissa adjourned the trial to June 20 after a brief session.
United States President George Bush arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday on a surprise five-hour visit in a bid to boost the new government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in its fight against the raging insurgency. A White House spokesperson confirmed that Bush was in Baghdad. ”I can confirm President Bush is in Iraq,” Ken Lisaius told Agence France-Presse.
Residents of western Florida heaved a sigh of relief on Tuesday as Tropical Storm Alberto appeared increasingly unlikely to strengthen into this year’s first Atlantic hurricane. ”There is now only a slight possibility that Alberto will become a hurricane prior to landfall,” said a forecaster with the National Hurricane Centre.
British physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking said on Tuesday that the human race should reach for the stars in order to survive. Speaking on a six-day visit to Hong Kong, Hawking said: ”It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species.
South Africa will send a 128-member observer mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to monitor that country’s election, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. Pahad said the observer team will be deployed in key areas in all the provinces of the DRC ahead of the election scheduled for July 30.
Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils’s failure to make public a report on hoax e-mails by former intelligence head Billy Masetlha raises suspicions of a conspiracy against African National deputy president Jacob Zuma. This is according to Young Communist League national chairperson David Masondo.
The former commander of detectives at the Maitland police station was among three police officers remanded in custody by the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. The former commander — Captain Trevor Chetty — and inspectors Ronnie Matthews and John Stevens face charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday he has given a green light to a transfer of weapons to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s personal security force so it can tackle Hamas. The light weapons, from Jordan, are to enable Abbas "to cope with Hamas", the hard-line Islamist group that leads the Palestinian government, Olmert said.