Nine people were killed and 26 wounded in the north-western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) when soldiers went on the rampage to avenge a colleague shot dead while thieving, a United Nations-backed radio station said on Monday, quoting the Red Cross. Radio Okapi said the incident happened on Sunday at Mbandaka.
Belgian Tom Boonen of the Quick Step team unleashed another powerful sprint to win the third stage of the Tour de France held over 212,5km between La Chataigneraie and Tours on Monday. American David Zabriskie, of the CSC team, retained the race leader’s yellow jersey with a two-second lead on Lance Armstrong.
The Democratic Alliance has accused South African Tourism of discriminating against the Afrikaans language in an airport advertisement. The DA feels the advert, with the words ”nine indigenous languages, 44-million people”, is grossly insensitive and a ”smack in the face of everyone who spoke Afrikaans”.
Mauritian Prime Minister Paul Berenger on Monday conceded his ruling coalition’s defeat in weekend parliamentary elections, telling the Indian Ocean island that the opposition ”would form the next government”. He said his coalition had lost in Sunday’s polls to the Social Alliance, headed by ex-premier Navin Ramgoolam.
Iranian President-elect Mahmood Ahmadinejad said on Monday he wants to develop ties with all countries, especially in Europe, provided they respect Iran’s ”democratic choice”, the student-run news agency Isna reported. ”We advise Western countries to treat us in a way that does not show prejudice,” he said.
Playwright Christopher Fry, a Christian humanist who helped TS Eliot revive verse drama in the 1940s and wrote a number of epic films including Ben Hur, has died at the age of 97, his son said. Fry died on June 30 in the hospital in Chichester, southern England, Tam Fry said.
A multimillion-rand probe into possible cases of radiation sickness caused by the Pelindaba nuclear plant will be the first step towards a proper survey of the true costs of nuclear power to the country, Earthlife Africa said on Monday. However, it voiced concern about what the probe will accomplish.
Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile, while congratulating the performance of rugby teams, still wants the South African Rugby Union to work on racial transformation in the sport. ”His praise of the teams does not in any way represent a change of heart on certain issues,” a departmental spokesperson said on Monday.
A United Nations envoy has extended her investigation of a so-called urban renewal drive that has destroyed the homes and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans to a second week. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s deputy minister of housing says the demolition of slums is part of the country’s national housing plan.
United States President George Bush will on Monday warn that he will not make concessions on climate change in return for British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s staunch support over Iraq. He acknowledged that human activity was ”to some extent” to blame for global warming, but made it clear he regards new technology as the key to halting it.