The state was stalling on details of the travel-voucher fraud charges faced by a current and a former MP, their defence teams claimed in the Cape Town Regional Court on Monday. Lawyers acting for the two said they wanted the court to rule that prosecutors must provide full answers to their requests for further particulars.
Judges on Monday postponed until January 2008 the war-crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor on charges of directing atrocities in Sierra Leone after his defence asked for more time to prepare. Taylor is accused of instigating murder, rape and mutilation.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday asked the Public Protector to investigate whether Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang benefited from the inappropriate influence of President Thabo Mbeki. It has been alleged that Mbeki called up surgeons at a medical centre to insist they approve a liver transplant for Tshabalala-Msimang, DA leader Helen Zille said.
World stock markets roared higher on Monday after last week’s slump, but analysts warned of further turmoil for share prices owing to lingering concerns about borrowers’ failure to repay United States home loans. The London and Paris main indices jumped by about 1% in morning trade after Tokyo’s market closed up 3%.
Residents in Russia’s far east have been warned to use caution in the sea after the capture of a great white shark like that made famous in the 1975 horror film Jaws, a newspaper said on Monday. ”Great white sharks have appeared off southern Sakhalin” island, the popular daily Novye Izvestiya said.
Bombers killed an Iraqi provincial governor on Monday — the second assassinated in two weeks — amid mounting tension between rival Shi’ite armed factions in Iraq’s southern cities. Both governors were members of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, one of Iraq’s most powerful parties and a bitter rival of another Shi’ite movement.
Jazz guitarist Johnny Fourie (70) was a ”rare and dedicated” musician, friends said in a tribute following his death in Johannesburg on Sunday, just months after releasing his debut album, Once upon a Time. ”His family, students and fans will sorely miss him,” they said in a statement.
Six months after sniffing their way to fame in Malaysia, Labrador crime dogs Lucky and Flo were awarded medals on Monday for "outstanding service" in tracking down pirated discs. The exploits of the canine sleuths, who nosed out about $6-million in illegal merchandise, endeared them to Malaysians and regularly landed them on the front pages in the country.
Water shortages in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, have led to worsening outbreaks of diarrhoea with health centres treating about 900 cases per day, it was reported on Monday. So serious is the problem that city health centres have been ordered to treat diarrhoea patients for free to stop the spread of disease.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was on Monday trying to verify a weekend media report claiming that files on African National Congress (ANC) leaders who had been denied amnesty were languishing in a police safe. ”We’re still following up to check the source of the story,” said Scorpions spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi.