Marine salvors were attempting to remove the remaining 20 tons of heavy fuel oil from the stranded Safmarine Agulhas after a crack on the portside of the vessel started leaking diesel oil on Monday afternoon. Environmental affairs representative Nazeera Hargey said officials were unsure about the quantity of oil leaking from the crack but were dealing with the matter.
Several dozen submissions on Johannesburg International airport’s name change to OR Tambo International airport have been received, the ministry of arts and culture said on Monday. A ministry spokesperson said the submissions have been a "mixed bag", with some for and some against the name change.
Southern Sudanese leader Salva Kiir expressed optimism on Monday that peace talks his government is mediating between Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels will succeed despite a rocky start. At the same time, he warned that failure will likely lead to fighting between the LRA and his forces in autonomous south Sudan.
A total of 218 people were arrested over the weekend for crimes such as attempted rape, illegal possession of firearms, house breaking and possession of stolen goods, North Rand police said on Monday. Superintendent Sophie Mayisela said the suspects were arrested during Operation Iron Fist in several parts of Johannesburg.
A rocket fired from Lebanon smashed into a three-storey residential building in the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Monday, wounding at least two people, but it appeared no one was trapped under debris, medics said. The rocket tore the front off the building, crushing cars underneath.
British prosecutors said on Monday that they had ”insufficient evidence” to charge police officers with any crime for shooting to death a Brazilian man they mistook for a suicide bomber last year. However, the Crown Prosecution Service said London’s Metropolitan Police will be prosecuted as a whole under health and safety laws for the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes.
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) staff and officials will have three days to make submissions to an independent commission probing the public broadcaster’s alleged blacklisting of certain political analysts. Commissioners have set aside this Friday and Saturday and next Monday to hear submissions, an SABC statement read on Monday.
A rarely used mixture of high explosives, fuel oil and ammonium nitrate was used in the Mumbai train blasts last week that killed 182 and wounded hundreds, the lead investigator said on Monday. Anti-Terrorism Squad chief KP Raghuvanshi declined to comment on whether the mixture, which included the high explosive RDX, could be linked to a specific group.
Stalled peace talks aimed at bringing a final end to Burundi’s 13-year civil war resumed on Monday but prospects for progress remained unclear with mediators silent on the matter. After a weekend of meetings with both the government and the National Liberation Forces rebels aimed at ending a stalemate , mediators reconvened the two sides.
The South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) will embark on lunchtime pickets at Shoprite Checkers shops throughout the country from Tuesday. Union chairperson Mike Tau told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday the decision stemmed from the company and the union failing to reach agreement over an across-the-board wage increase.