PRETORIA – South African athlete Oscar Pistorius should not go to jail over the killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, his sentencing hearing has been told. A probation officer appearing for the defence said Pistorius should serve house arrest and community service. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel described the suggestion as “shockingly inappropriate”. Pistorius was found guilty…
MOGADISHU – Somalia’s capital Mogadishu now has its first-ever ATM bank machine — and it dispenses U.S. dollars. The machine was installed in late September in the upscale Jazeera Palace Hotel, which is located 300 meters from Aden Adde International Airport in the south-west of the city Justus Mulinge Kisaulu, the hotel’s general manager, said…
CAPE TOWN – Reports say that Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye and his co-accused Themba Tshabalala have been found not guilty of murder and attempted murder. According to eNCA, the South Gauteng High Court overturned Jub Jub’s four murder charges, finding him guilty of culpable homicide. The hip hop star’s jail term has been reduced from…
WESTERN CAPE – British businessman Shrien Dewani has formally pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife on their honeymoon in South Africa in 2010. Mr Dewani, from Bristol, is accused of hiring a hitman to kill his wife Anni. The couple were held at gunpoint while being driven in a taxi through Gugulethu township near…
NEW YORK – A mystery no-show at the United Nations raises speculations about the state of health of Zambia’s President, Michael Sata, who last week emphatically told the Lusaka Parliament, “I am not dead.” A well-placed source at the UN told Newsweek that Sata died in his hotel room on Thursday. The Associated Press reported…
JOHANNESBURG – The retail price of 95-grade petrol in South Africa will drop by 5 cents a litre from next Wednesday, while wholesale diesel will decrease by 1 percent, the Department of Energy said on Friday. Petrol will cost 13.61 rand a litre while the wholesale diesel price will be set at 12.46 rand in…
GENEVA – New figures suggest 70% of those infected with Ebola in West Africa have died, higher than previously reported, says the World Health Organization. Ebola infections will treble to 20,000 by November if efforts to tackle the outbreak are not stepped up, the UN agency has warned. In the worst case scenario, cases in…
PARIS – A French tourist has been kidnapped in Algeria by a militant group linked to Islamic State (IS), French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has confirmed. Herve Gourdel, 55, was seized on Sunday in the unsettled north-east Kabylie area. Algerian militant group Jund al-Khilafa threatened to kill him if France did not halt air strikes…
LAGOS – Torture has become such an integral part of policing in Nigeria that many stations have an informal torture officer, Amnesty International says. Both the military and police use a wide range of torture methods including beatings, nail and teeth extractions and other sexual violence, it says. One woman accused of theft said she…
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has called the West Africa Ebola outbreak “a threat to global security” as he announced a larger US role in fighting the virus. “The world is looking to the United States,” Mr Obama said, but added the outbreak required a “global response”. The measures announced included ordering 3,000 US troops…
