The new supreme leader of Somalia’s Islamic courts that seized control of Mogadishu this month from a United States-backed warlord alliance said on Monday that Sharia law will be imposed throughout the country. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a controversial hard-line cleric designated a global terrorist by the US, denied US charges against him.
Three policing agencies are to meet on Tuesday to discuss ways to step up the fight against the continuing stonings on Cape Town’s highways, according to Western Cape provincial minister for community safety Leonard Ramatlakane. This follows the weekend death of city motorist Nolan Daniels, hit by a brick thrown through a window of his car as he drove along the R300.
Four armed robbers on Monday overpowered a Coin security guard and made of with tens of thousands of rand that he had collected at the offices of Sunday newspaper publisher RCP Media in Pretoria. Police spokesperson Inspector Katlego Mogale said: ”He was accosted by four suspects, all armed. They made off with the money in a black Toyota Tazz.”
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) said in a statement on Monday that it rejected claims by two Sunday newspapers that SARS customs officials at the Johannesburg International airport (JIA) were working with criminal syndicates who target foreign diplomats upon their arrival in South Africa.
Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin has declined to answer a parliamentary question about whether Western Cape farmers — hit by recent power outages — could sue the power parastatal Eskom. He was asked by Democratic Alliance MP Sarel van Dyk whether Eskom will give financial compensation to fruit-crop farmers.
The four police officers killed in Sunday’s bloody clash in Jeppestown in Johannesburg have been identified, while Gauteng’s provincial minister for community safety warned that criminals are mounting a guerrilla war. Captain Dennis Adriao said on Monday the police officers died when the West Rand flying squad and dog unit ”heroically” chased down the heavily armed fugitives.
A Zimbabwean court on Monday moved the trial of an ex-Rhodesian soldier accused of masterminding a plot to topple President Robert Mugabe to the eastern city of Mutare, officials said. Peter Hitschmann was arrested in early March along with seven others, including an opposition parliamentarian.
The world’s two biggest steelmakers — Mittal Steel and Arcelor — agreed on Sunday on a deal that forges a new force in the global steel business. This follows a marathon meeting of Arcelor’s 18-head board on Sunday with Indian-born Lakshmi Mittal’s group forced to raise its takeover price to secure Arcelor’s backing.
Palestinian security forces under the command of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were desperately searching on Monday for the Israeli soldier kidnapped by militants the previous day, as the army massing on Gaza’s border stood poised to invade.
The United States will deploy advanced Patriot interceptor missiles on Japanese soil this year for the first time as the region braces itself for a possible test launch by North Korea of an intercontinental ballistic missile, local media reports said on Friday.