A large number of awaiting-trial prisoners escaped from the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Monday, hours after a Democratic Party MP pledged to challenge Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula to explain the reason for the large number of suspects escaping from police custody.
Beleaguered Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky has offered to relinquish his stake in oil giant Yukos to pay off its tax debts. Khodorkovsky made the offer on the first day of his trial for fraud and tax evasion. Khodorkovsky faces up to ten years in prison should he be convicted.
South Africa’s top Catholic bishop said on Monday he cannot understand why the South African government is not considering sanctions against neighbouring Zimbabwe, given the success that sanctions brought for South Africa. ”What further suffering will sanctions bring to the people of Zimbabwe?” the bishop asked, pointing out that he is not calling directly for sanctions against Zimbabwe.
A Chinese man has handed himself over to Port Elizabeth police following one of the biggest illegal perlemoen busts in the Eastern Cape. Police on Friday raided a smallholding and recovered more than a ton of perlemoen as well as equipment used to process the shellfish for illegal export. Three people were arrested.
Democratic Alliance MP Roy Jankielsohn has vowed to challenge Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula to explain, in Parliament, the high number of suspects escaping from police custody. Jankielsohn says that Nqakula and his department are accountable for the high number of escapees.
Iraq’s interim President Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar said in an interview published on Monday that the government will within ”a couple of days” offer an amnesty to insurgents who have fought United States-led forces but are ready to lay down their arms. Amnesty will not apply to ”murderers, rapists, and kidnappers”, Yawar said.
A war cemetery near Newcastle was vandalised by robbers who were apparently looking for treasure, the Amafa Heritage in KwaZulu-Natal said on Monday. The robbers used a front-end loader to gouge at graves and destroy headstones at Skuinshoogte, a burial site of a battle of the first Anglo-Boer South African War.
The weaker dollar has pushed spot gold to a three-month high on Monday. The metal was quoted at $408,50/oz up from Friday’s close of $407,58/oz. Platinum also touched a month-high of $828,50/oz earlier on Monday as the yen continued to assert itself over the American currency.
At least 14 people were injured during the annual ”running of the bulls” festival in Pamplona, Spain, on Monday. Among those injured were two United States citizens, a French national and a visitor from Colombia. The festival, made world-famous by writer Ernest Hemingway, comes to an end on Wednesday.
The department of housing in Gauteng and the residents of Diepsloot, north-west of Johannesburg, are expected to have a meeting at Muzomuhle Primary School on Monday afternoon. The meeting comes after last week’s violent protest by the residents amid rumours that they were about to be relocated to the North West province.