China on Monday joined calls for Washington to provide explanations following disclosures of National Security Agency (NSA) programmes, which collect millions of telephone records and track foreign internet activity on US networks. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters that Washington needs to heed international concerns expressed since the programmes were made public earlier this month
Read more: China, Germany press US to explain NSA-spying allegations
The epitaph on the granite base of the statue in the English town of Bedford simply states, “No white person has done more for South Africa than Trevor Huddleston,” the words of Nelson Mandela. I don’t know if Father Trevor, as we used to call him in Sophiatown, would be totally comfortable with the fact
Tight security has been thrown around the deployment of more than 1000 heavily armed South African troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the past 72 hours, 1300 soldiers from 6 SA Infantry Battalion, including paratroops, special forces and engineers, have left for the eastern DRC as part of a UN peace enforcement mission.
Russia, Turkey and South Africa expressed outrage on Monday over revelations that Britain and the United States spied on foreign delegates at G20 meetings in London in 2009. The Turkish government summoned Britain’s charge d’affaires to explain a newspaper report that London put Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek under surveillance during the talks. Moscow meanwhile expressed
Read more: British spying claims outrage Russia, Turkey and South Africa
US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden said on Monday that he was honored to have been branded a traitor by former vice president Dick Cheney and other senior politicians. “Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American,” he said, in an online interview hosted by the Guardian newspaper.
Read more: Snowden regards it as an “honor” to be called a traitor by Cheney
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tina Joemat-Pettersson has refuted a media report that she received kickbacks, her office said on Monday. The allegations in the Sunday Times that Joemat-Pettersson benefited from a game-farm sale were “unsubstantiated and regrettable”, her spokeswoman Palesa Mokomele said in a statement. “Those who know Minister Joemat-Pettersson know her to
Read more: Joemat-Pettersson denies kickbacks over game-farm sale
Sweden will next year introduce a total ban on bestiality, which until now has only been illegal if cruelty to the animal could be proven, the government said Thursday. “The government is now tightening the rules surrounding bestiality so there will be no doubt about the fact that it is prohibited to inflict suffering on
The legacy of the 1913 Land Act was still with South Africa and so it is the duty of the state to implement effective redress through land restitution, Western Cape premier Helen Zille said on Monday. “This will never remove or fully compensate for the pain suffered but it is a major step towards the
Read more: Zille joins ANC and Malema chorus in calling for ‘land reform’
Turkey on Monday said it had contacted British authorities to inquire about “unacceptable” newspaper allegations that Britain spied on Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek’s emails and phone calls when he was in London in 2009. Documents leaked by US former spy Edward Snowden appear to show that Britain spied on foreign delegates including fellow NATO member
Reports that Britain spied on G20 delegates, including South Africa, during meetings in London in 2009, should be investigated, the international relations and co-operation department said on Monday. Spokesman Clayson Monyela said the government had noted with concern the reports published by the UK’s Guardian newspaper. “We do not yet have the full benefit of
Read more: Dept. of International Relations wants British spying on South Africa probed
Former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said that Britain had been preparing gunmen to invade Syria two years before the crisis there flared up in 2011 During a TV show, Dumas said ”I was in Britain two years ago, and I met British officials, some my friends…they admitted that they were up to something in
Read more: Britain, not US, prepared for war in Syria two years before the crisis
A DA councillor in the Eastern Cape has been suspended for circulating a racist email, The New Age reported on Monday. Stanford Slabbert had reportedly sent an email saying President Jacob Zuma had more wives than brain cells. The email also slammed the African National Congress for producing “dumb idiots who wait for handouts”, according
Read more: DA suspends councillor over ‘very offensive and racist’ email
The Blue Bulls Company has reduced ticket prices for the final round of the four-nation Incoming Series rugby contest, Beeld reported on Monday. Tickets for the upper east pavilion and restricted viewing seats in the south pavilion had been reduced by R100 to attract a larger crowd to Loftus Versfeld where the Springboks face Samoa
Read more: Rugby: Loftus tickets reduced to attract spectators
Hong Kong’s football authority announced a slew of measures to punish and prevent racist behaviour at games, after Philippine football chiefs complained to FIFA about racist abuse of its players and fans. The moves could see home and away supporters being segregated and will impose bans on abusive fans. Hong Kong supporters hurled rubbish and
Read more: Soccer: Hong Kong introduces anti-racism measures
