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/ 11 October 2004
India is to send about 3 000 troops for United Nations peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), making it one of the largest contingents in the strife-torn African nation, a senior official said on Monday. India’s present deployment consists of a 300-strong air force contingent armed with Mi-35 utility and attack helicopters and a 100-member army team.
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/ 11 October 2004
Millions of Beijing residents were warned to stay indoors at the weekend as a hazardous smog choked the city, closed highways and forced the cancellation of an air show for the visiting French president, Jacques Chirac. According to the World Bank, 16 of the planet’s 20 most polluted cities are in China.
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/ 11 October 2004
Israel was pushing on with its deadly offensive in Gaza on Monday despite reservations of army chiefs. Senior officers reportedly told Sharon that Operation Days of Penitence had now met its main objective, but Sharon told top brass that they must push on with the operation.
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/ 11 October 2004
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has told traditional leaders that he has long been concerned that the South African government lacks the resolve to address ”the issue of the obliteration of the powers and functions of amakhosi [traditional leaders]” through the imposition of municipalities.
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/ 11 October 2004
The vicious war that once characterised relations between the Johannesburg Metropolitan Council and street vendors seems to be heading towards a peaceful settlement, government news agency BuaNews reported on Monday. The local council has come up with a deal to ensure pavement traders continue doing business.
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/ 11 October 2004
Member states to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) on Monday adopted an ”action plan” that places further controls on the illegal ivory trade in Africa. The plan, Cites document 29,1, calls on African ”range states” with large elephant populations to prohibit unregulated domestic sales in ivory, placing the onus on sellers to prove that their sources are legal.
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/ 11 October 2004
A conference exploring the evolving dynamics of small arms as the most pressing security challenge in Africa ended on Friday with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni calling on governments to address the causes of their use and proliferation. ”Small arms will not find a market if there are no unresolved issues in our midst,” he said
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/ 11 October 2004
The trial of four men arrested at Mzingi near Nelspruit in connection with the murders of a Benoni family in February is expected to start in the Secunda High Court on Monday, police said. Frans van der Merwe (57) his wife Gina (53) their son Daryl (31) and his wife Melissa (24) were found dead near the Loskop Dam in Mpumalanga on February 9. All had been shot.
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/ 11 October 2004
The New National Party held its 86th provincial conference in KwaZulu-Natal at the weekend at which its provincial leader Renier Schoeman was unanimously re-elected and former provincial legislature member Brian Edwards became provincial chairperson.
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/ 11 October 2004
Spiders, cockroaches and other creepy crawlies scare the British more than the threat of a terrorist attack, suggests an opinion poll released on Monday by a Hollywood studio. The poll of 1 000 adults, conducted at 65 locations around the nation, put insects at the top of Britain’s most-feared list, followed by the spectre of a terrorist strke.