An African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) city councillor was threatened with firearms by a drunken Western Cape police officer and his brother on Monday night. The ACDP allege that the drunken police officer threatened ACDP councillor Sipho Xasana with a firearm after the vehicle he [the police officer] was in hit a parked car outside Xasana’s house on Monday night.
The JSE was weaker in noon trade on Tuesday, taking its cue from European markets. The losses came on fairly light volumes. By 12.17pm, the all-share index shed 0,89%. Industrials and financials fell 0,46% and 1,05% respectively, while the banks index slid 1,64%.
Rafael Nadal’s blockbuster success story opened another chapter on Monday when the Spanish teenager set a new record of 54 successive clay-court victories. Defending champion Nadal, the second seed, brushed past Sweden’s Robin Soderling 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 to get his French Open title defence off to a flying start.
An earthquake measuring 6,0 on the Richter scale rocked Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province on Tuesday, causing panic among residents but no reported casualties, meteorologists said. The temblor came just days after a powerful quake left more than 5 400 dead on the central Java island.
Israel has condemned a ”repulsive” vote by Britain’s main university lecturers’ union to boycott colleges and academics unless they publicly oppose government policy in the Palestinian territories. Education Minister Yuli Tamir said on Monday that the decision would only serve to undermine academic independence.
President Robert Mugabe’s government is heightening repression against Zimbabwe’s opposition and critics of the veteran leader’s long rule, analysts say. Last week, the government published proposed legislation that would give it the authority to monitor phones and mail — both conventional and electronic.
Geologists warned on Tuesday that simmering Mount Merapi volcano could blow its top in the wake of the powerful quake that devastated swathes of Indonesia’s main island of Java. "There is a very large possibility that tectonic activities trigger or increase volcanic activities," said Syamsulrizal, who works at Indonesia’s national vulcanology office.
The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday rejected a second appeal against the death sentence of a doomsday cult guru convicted over the deadly 1995 nerve-gas attack on the Tokyo subway. The decision brought Aum Supreme Truth founder Shoko Asahara closer to the gallows, more than 10 years after his sect stunned the nation.
Malaysia is exploring plans to build the first Disney theme park in Southeast Asia, a government minister said on Tuesday. Effendi Norwawi, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of economic affairs, said the government is in talks with Disneyland operators to establish a theme park in the southern state of Johor, near Singapore.
Senior Zimbabwean opposition member Roy Bennett fears persecution from Zimbabwean state agents even while in South Africa waiting to appeal against his asylum rejection, he said in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The former Movement for Democratic Change MP fled to South Africa in March after being implicated in an arms find in Mutare, Zimbabwe.