SIX Algerian religious students were killed and one injured in an attack by Islamic militants in the village of El Hnenfa west of Algiers, security services said on Sunday. Witnesses said the six, aged from 24 to 32, had been shot at a monastery where they were studying the Koran and theology just outside the […]
TRADE and Industry Minister Alec Erwin has censured Khaya Ngqula, chief executive of the Industrial Development Corporation, and cut his bonuses in half at the weekend, the Business Day newspaper reported on Monday. The report said Erwin’s move followed the IDC board’s failure to agree on whether or not to fire Ngqula for receiving irregular […]
AN Egyptian child lived for nearly two years with half a ballpoint pen stuck in his brain after it entered through an eye, the Egyptian press reported this week. Ibrahim Farahat, now 10, fell down two years ago, and a ballpoint pen went into his eye, causing him to faint for a minute, his mother […]
THE government of Congo-Brazzaville has banned shark fishing off its Atlantic coast to prevent depletion of stocks caused by massive demand in Asia for shark fins. Shark fishing in the area took off in 1998, said Augustin Kegui, speaking for Ghanaian fishermen in Pointe-Noire. “You can catch four to five sharks a day,” Kegui said, […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bloemfontein | Monday A THREE-day hearing is expected to start in London on Monday to determine a final date and processes to be followed for a lawsuit by about 5_000 South Africans suffering from asbestos-related diseases against British mining company Cape plc. According to the claimants’ South African-based lawyer, Richard Spoor, the hearing […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday ALLAN Boesak, the jailed anti-apartheid leader and cleric, walked out of the Goodwood prison at 6am this morning, after serving a third of his three-year sentence for fraud and theft. Boesak, a flamboyant former leader of the African National Congress in the Western Cape province, was in 1999 convicted […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cairo | Monday AN insurance agency specialising in providing political risk insurance to traders doing business in conflict-ridden Africa will be launched on August 31 this year in Uganda, the head of a regional group said on Sunday. Secretary General Erastus Mwencha of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) said […]
ELEVEN African First Ladies held their own summit in Rwanda’s capital Kigali Sunday as part of the fight against Aids which includes 25 million sufferers in Africa. The three-day gathering ending on Tuesday would come up with a plan of action against Aids in Africa by 11 wives of presidents of sub-Saharan Africa, said the […]
A TOTAL of 354 Sierra Leonean rebels and 255 fighters from a state backed militia had handed-over their weapons by the third day of a disarmament pact in the war-ravaged north of the country, a UN representative said. Rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) disarmed at several collection points over the past few days […]
BRENDAN BOYLE, Johannesburg | Monday MINING resumed last night at Gold Fields Beatrix operation in the Free State after a methane gas explosion killed 12 people two weeks ago. Chief Inspector of Mines Mavis Hermanus said the Beatrix Number One and Two shafts had begun a staged resumption of operations on Friday night after accepting […]
BRITAIN has pledged $10m over the next five years to support Nigeria’s slow-moving privatisation programme, officials of both countries said on Wednesday. Talks were still under way over how the money will be spent, with no direct grants but funding to be made available for seminars, skills training and capacity building, they said. “The assistance […]
THE South African bourse sprinted to a record high on Thursday powered by strong overseas markets and a firmer gold price, dealers said. Shortly after the open the all-share index had surged 2.02% to 9,456.6 on brisk demand across the board, dealers said. The index has risen around 36% from levels seen in April 2000. […]
A WOMAN told police that she bit the testicles off a man attempting to rape her, Chicago media reported over the weekend. The 42-year-old woman from the suburb of Evanston appeared at a police station, reported that she was attacked, and handed over the evidence. Police stored the testicles in a biohazard evidence container. When […]
OIL has been struck offshore from Mauritania, in northwest Africa, Australian exploration company Woodside Petroleum Ltd. announced here on Wednesday. Woodside, operator and 35 percent stakeholder of the Mauritania Area B joint venture, said the Chinguetti-1 exploration well, 80km offshore, intersected several oil-bearing sandstones. A shallower secondary objective contained gas-bearing sandstones, it said. Woodside said […]
A RESPECTED maths teacher has been arrested for allegedly being in possession of 1 000 ecstasy tablets which police believe he was selling to schoolchildren, The Sunday Times reports. Mohamed Essop, who previously taught at an exclusive Christian private school in Johannesburg and now gives private lessons, appeared in court this week on charges of […]
A MAN charged with 24 counts of rape is expected to apply for bail in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. Police representative Senior Superintendent Chris Wilken said the 24 charges related to 32 young women who were raped in the Berea, Hillbrow, Yeoville and Alexandra areas of Johannesburg. Some charges related to two victims. […]
THE son of the Gauteng transport MEC Khabisi Mosunkutu, and an alleged accomplice appeared briefly in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday on fraud charges. Police representative Sergeant Amanda Roestoff said Sechaba Mosunkutu, 21, and Mzwandile Dlamini, were granted R8_000 bail each. Roestoff said Sechaba was arrested together with a friend on Thursday around 9am […]
TWELVE UN Security Council envoys flew into South Africa on Wednesday on the first leg of a 10-nation tour to speed up moves to end the multi-nation war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The team, headed by French UN Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, is due to meet with the heads of state of the countries […]
SOUTH African police on Tuesday consulted a witchdoctor to shed light on a mysterious threatening letter to Tony Yengeni, a senior African National Congress politician alleged to have taken a bribe in a major arms deal. Hendrik Olivier from the police’s VIP protection unit said he asked a local sangoma to look at an envelope […]
THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s amnesty committee has granted amnesty to the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Ronnie Kasrils for causing bomb explosions in and around Durban between 1961 and 1963. The committee also granted amnesty to four ANC cadres for bombing Ellis Park Stadium and killing Linus Mare and Clive Clucas in July […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Saturday PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki has denied a request from corruption-buster Judge Willem Heath to be discharged from the judiciary. Mbeki’s decision is based on Justice Minister Penuell Maduna’s recommendation, according to informed sources. Justice ministry representative Paul Setsetse confirmed that a recommendation was made to Mbeki, but referred queries to the […]
THE German government denied a report on Tuesday that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had admitted to a German official that Tripoli was involved in the Lockerbie bombing and an attack on American soldiers at a Berlin nightclub in 1986. The Foreign Ministry, however, declined either to confirm or deny the report in the respected Frankfurter […]
Severe floods and winds in Kinshasa have left 25 people dead, several of them children, a state governor in the Democratic Republic of Congo said. The storm stuck early on Friday, with rivers in the capital bursting their banks and washing away several houses. Some homes collapsed from the wind or were damaged by falling […]
NOT a single elephant is left in the Kahuzi-Biega national park of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, while the gorilla population has been cut down to 130 from 8_000 just five years ago, a report said on Friday. An environmental magazine, The Gorilla, said that in 1996, some 3_600 elephants had been counted in the […]
POLICE in Burkina Faso have rescued 23 children from seven traffickers who planned to sell them to cotton farmers in neighbouring Benin. Thee children, aged between eight and 10, were intercepted on Sunday when they were taken to Mandjoary near the border with Benin by seven people, said local police. The accused told the police […]
THE bodies of 93 Africans who apparently died of thirst as they tried to enter Libya have been found in the desert near the country’s southern border. A Niger-registered truck carrying residents from various African countries entered Libyan territory May 8 and broke down, leaving the 93 to die. Another 26, including the Sudanese driver, […]
AT least 22 people were killed and 12 wounded when explosives blew up on the lorry on which they were travelling in Hiran in central Somalia, local authorities said. “The explosion occurred inside the vehicle, which was transporting passengers as well as explosives. There was no attack from outside,” Hiran regional governor Hassan Abdulle Qalad […]
SWAZILAND has again advertised the post of a hangman, after applicants from Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland were found to be unsuitable, The Star reports. There are now 14 prisoners on death row, of whom four had their sentences approved by the court of appeal and the Committee on the Prerogative for Mercy. The post […]
TWELVE UN Security Council envoys announced plans in South Africa on Thursday for a timetable to end the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), then headed for Kinshasa as President Joseph Kabila lifted a ban on political activity. Kabila’s move “sets the stage for positive development in the days to come,” the team’s […]
TWELVE UN Security Council envoys announced plans in South Africa on Thursday for a timetable to end the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), then headed for Kinshasa as President Joseph Kabila lifted a ban on political activity. Kabila’s move “sets the stage for positive development in the days to come,” the team’s […]
THE breakaway state of Somaliland in northwest Somalia will hold a referendum on May 31 to ask three million voters whether they want independence from Mogadishu, officials said Tuesday. “There is no way we will postpone it,” said Abdulkadir Hagi Ismail Jirdeh, deputy speaker of Somaliland’s parliament. Somaliland, which seceded from the rest of Somalia […]
KHADIJA MAGARDIE, Johannesburg | Friday LAWYERS for Cape Town candidate attorney Gareth Prince are proposing that Rastafari carry a pass, authorising them to smoke dope. The Constitutional Court this week resumed argument on whether Prince should be exempted from legislation outlawing the possession and use of the drug. He was refused admission by the Cape […]