Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota arrived in Rwanda on Monday to sign a defence agreement with his counterpart, General Gatsinzi Marcel. Lekota’s visit coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide in which an estimated 800 000 people were massacred in 100 days.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118222">Rwandans face village justice</a>
The African National Congress urged the government on Monday to intervene to ensure that the majority of South Africans benefit from the country’s stabilising economy. ”Despite evidence of a stabilising economy, the majority, particularly African people, continue to suffer,” the ANC secretary general said in Johannesburg.
In a bid to strengthen food security, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) on Monday said it has identified two crops that will be part of a multi-pronged initiative to feed the hungry. The two crops, seen as ”African agriculture successes”, are cassava and Nerica (New rice varieties for Africa).
The first summit meeting of national leaders on HIV/Aids in Bangkok next week has been called off because only one of the invited leaders is showing up. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said only Ugandan President Lieutenant General Yoweri Museveni and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan are now coming.
Being able to prove descent from Genghis Khan, with the aid of a simple DNA test, will in future buy a free meal at London’s two Mongolian restaurants, the Times reported on Monday. The restaurants, both called Shish, are located in trendy Hoxton in the East End and in Willesden Green to the northwest.
Austrian President Thomas Klestil was hospitalised in a critical condition on Monday after suffering a heart attack three days before the end of his term, his office said. The president was revived by a bodyguard who used a defibrillator to jolt his heart back into action after he collapsed as he prepared to leave for his office.
Eleven people have been arrested in connection with violence that erupted in Diepsloot when residents were protesting their removal to Brits near Pretoria, police said on Monday. Earlier on Monday residents of the area burnt two city council buildings in protest at their removal to Brits "without any reason".
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is to challenge the Pretoria High Court’s partial dismissal of her appeal against a fraud and theft conviction on Monday. ”I have instructed my lawyers to appeal against a judgement that is completely wrong,” the former African National Congress Women’s League president told reporters outside the court.
Just listening to Naomi Campbell is enough to get jet lag. In an interview on Monday with The Guardian newspaper, the 34-year-old British-born supermodel revealed how she didn’t stay in any one place for more than 48 hours the preceeding week.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Monday declared "war" against the Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation after wage negotiations over the weekend hit a snag once again. "We are bracing for massive strike action in the car industry," a Numsa spokesperson said.