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.
The threat of HIV/Aids can be countered by abstinence, loving relationships and marriage instead of relying solely on condoms, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told delegates at the International Aids Conference in Bangkok on Monday.
President Thabo Mbeki said on Monday he is concerned by the way people ask about how much African peace-keeping efforts cost, in the light of the current debate about the cost of the Pan-African Parliament. He was speaking at the South African Council of Churches’ three-yearly conference in Johannesburg.
The British scientific establishment responded with anger on Monday to an attack by Prince Charles on nanotechnology — applied science involving tiny particles. Over the weekend the prince suggested using the technology in fertility treatment could lead to a disaster of the kind caused by the use of thalidomide.
Poor performance and the effect of diseases such as Aids are two major challenges facing the African transport industry, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said on Monday. Radebe said the cost of border-post delays to the Southern African Development Community region is estimated at -million annually.