U.S. authorities investigate suspected threat against Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama arrives onboard Air Force One at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York August 29, 2014.

Authorities in Connecticut on Friday were investigating a possible threat against President Barack Obama, local media reported.

The U.S. Secret Service, which is responsible for presidential security, issued a statement saying, "Information has been received by law enforcement regarding a potentially suspicious person and vehicle. We are working with our local law enforcement partners to determine the validity of the information provided."

Sierra Leone dismisses health minister over handling of Ebola

Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma dismissed his Health Minister Miatta Kargbo on Friday over her handling of the Ebola epidemic that has killed more than 400 people in the West African country.

A presidency statement said that Kargbo was removed "to create a conducive environment for efficient and effective handling of the Ebola outbreak". She will be replaced by her deputy Dr Abubakarr Fofanah, the statement said.

Ghana to serve as UN base for supplies bound for Ebola countries

The United Nations will use Ghana as a base for supplies bound for countries stricken by an Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 1,550 people in West Africa, the Ghanaian presidency said in a statement on Friday.

More than 3,000 people have been infected since the virus was detected in the remote jungles of southeastern Guinea early this year. It quickly spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, and Senegal reported its first case on Friday.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon had a telephone conversation on Friday evening with Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama, who agreed to let international agencies use Ghana's capital Accra as a base for air lifting supplies and personnel to affected countries, the statement said.

Ebola outbreak reaches Senegal, riots break out in Guinea

The West African state of Senegal became the fifth country to be hit by the world's worst Ebola outbreak on Friday, while riots broke out in neighboring Guinea's remote southeast where infection rates are rising fast.

In the latest sign that the outbreak of the virus, which has already killed at least 1,550 people, is spinning out of control, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Ebola cases rose last week at the fastest pace since the epidemic began in West Africa in March.

The epidemic has defied efforts by governments to control it, prompting the leading charity fighting the outbreak, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), to call for the U.N. Security Council to take charge of efforts to stop it.

Ukraine says Russian tanks flatten town; EU to threaten more sanctions

Pro-Russian separatists walk at a destroyed war memorial on Savur-Mohyla, a hill east of the city of Donetsk, August 28, 2014.

Ukraine said Russian tanks had flattened a small border town and pro-Russian rebels had made fresh gains in its east, as EU leaders signalled on Saturday they would threaten more sanctions against Moscow over the crisis.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, attending an EU summit in Brussels, said he was hoping for progress in finding a political solution, but told journalists there were now thousands of foreign troops in his country.

Russia has repeatedly dismissed accusations from Kiev and Western powers that it has sent soldiers into its neighbour, or supported pro-Russian rebels fighting a five-month-old separatist war in Ukraine's east.

Is this the beginning of the end for Zuma

                                                                       President Zuma

Cape Town - A series of setbacks in beleaguered President Jacob Zuma's battle against corruption allegations has sparked fresh speculation that he could be forced out of office.

Controversy over millions of Rands of taxpayers' money spent on his Nkandla home and the dropping of graft charges against him, returned to haunt Zuma with renewed force over the past week.

On Thursday he lost a five-year court battle to keep secret the so-called "spy tapes" that got him off the hook on more than 700 charges of fraud and corruption in 2009, shortly before he became president.

Lesotho PM confirms coup, flees to SA

                                                                                                 Tom Thabane

Maseru - Lesotho Prime Minister Tom Thabane confirmed on Saturday that the military had seized power in a coup in the tiny kingdom and that he had fled to neighbouring South Africa in fear of his life.

"I have been removed from control not by the people but by the armed forces, and that is illegal," Thabane told the BBC.

"I came into South Africa this morning and I will return as soon as my life is not in danger," he said. "I will not go back to Lesotho to get killed."

DA welcomes referral of Nkandla terms

Johannesburg - Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane has hailed the referral of the Nkandla ad hoc committee's terms of reference to Parliament as a victory for accountability.

He said: "The terms of reference are critical to the work of the committee."

Maimane said only when the terms of reference included consideration of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's "Secure in Comfort" report on Nkandla, could the committee do its job to hold President Jacob Zuma to account.

SA not sending troops to Lesotho

Lesotho troops leave the Central Police Office in Maseru after seizing control of several police stations and jamming radio stations in the capital

Pretoria - The South African government was not immediately sending troops to Lesotho following claims that the neighbouring country had been taken over by the military, the department of international relations (Dirco) said on Saturday.

Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela said diplomacy should be given a chance and the situation should be resolved through peaceful means.

Doctor dies from Ebola in Nigerian oil city

Abuja - Nigeria on Thursday said that a doctor had died from Ebola in the south-eastern oil city of Port Harcourt in the first case of the deadly virus outside the financial hub, Lagos.

Health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said the medic died on 22 August after treating a patient who had contact with a Liberian-American man, who brought the virus into Nigeria and died in a Lagos hospital on 25 July.

Nigeria Ebola patient hid from government

A 43 year old Congolese patient, who has been confirmed to have Ebola hemorrhagic fever is comforted by a Medecins Sans Frontieres Doctor. 

Abuja - A man who contracted Ebola in Nigeria after coming into contact with a traveller from Liberia evaded surveillance and infected a doctor in southern Nigeria who later died, Nigerian health authorities announced on Thursday.

The death was the first in Nigeria outside Lagos, the commercial capital. The incident raises the number of confirmed cases in the country to 15, including six deaths.

Health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu told reporters the man who evaded surveillance has recovered and is now being watched in Lagos. The wife of the doctor who treated him in Port Harcourt is also now being quarantined after she developed symptoms of the deadly disease.

Ebola death toll passes 1 500 mark, says WHO

Sierra Leone government burial team members wearing protective clothing carry the coffin of Dr Modupeh Cole, Sierra Leone's second senior physician to die of Ebola

Geneva - The death toll from the Ebola outbreak tearing through West Africa has passed the 1 500 mark while the number of cases has soared past 3 000, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.

As of 26 August 26, 1 552 people had died from the murderous epidemic that reared its head at the beginning of the year, while 3 062 had become infected, the UN's health body said.

On 20 August, the toll stood at 1 427 deaths out of 2 600 cases.

 Nigeria on Thursday said that a doctor had died from Ebola in the southeastern oil city of Port Harcourt in the first case of the deadly virus outside of its biggest city, Lagos.

Stop attacking Mugabe’s wife, politicians warned

                                                                           Zimbabwe's First Lady Grace Mugabe

Harare - President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party on Thursday warned party members against bad-mouthing the veteran leader's wife, following her shock entry into politics.

"I must warn the party leadership at every level, not to use the media to abuse the First Lady's name for whatever reason," Simon Khaya Moyo, Zanu-PF chairperson said in a statement.

"The First Family must be respected at all times."

Niger chief flees over baby-trafficking scandal

                                                                           Hama Amadou

Niamey - Niger's leader of the opposition and parliamentary speaker Hama Amadou has fled to neighbouring Burkina Faso after parliamentary leaders authorised his arrest on suspicion of involvement in a baby-trafficking network, his lawyer said on Thursday.

Speaking at a news conference where he announced Hama's departure, Mossi Boubacar accused the government of a "coup d'etat against democracy".

A source close to the Burkinabe presidency confirmed that Hama had arrived in the capital Ouagadougou. The source said neither Hama nor the Niger government had made any requests of the Burkinabe authorities.

PDP Governorship candidate Jimi Agbaje Attacked in Mushin

                                                                                               Jimi Agbaje

Jimi Agbaje, the Peoples Democratic party’s Governorship aspirant was attacked yesterday during a shoot out in Mushin area of Lagos.

The Sun reports that the unfortunate incident happened during the politicians visit to some  local councils in theOlomowewe area of  Mushin in Lagos, while trying to campaign for votes in the 2015 coming election .

The happenstance which luckily saw the politician unhurt, saw one of his supporters hospitalized due to gun shot attack. The hospitalized supporter was said to have lost so much blood before he was taken to the hospital for proper health care.

Enugu Confirms New Deputy Governor

                                                                                                Ralph Nwoye

A clergy cum politician, Ralph Nwoye has been confirmed by the Enugu State House of Assembly as the new deputy governor of the state.

According to Premium Times Report, Mr Nwoye’s name was forwarded to the Assembly on Wednesday, August 27, after the former deputy governor, Sunday Onyebuchi was impeached by the Enugu State House of Assembly on Tuesday for allegedly raising chickens behind his official quarters and misconduct.

Though very little is known about Nwoye’s political history, he is said to be a former caretaker local government chairman in the state.

It was also learnt that he is a pastor at the Christ Ascension Church in Enugu.

Cameroon stops Boko Haram militants at border

Yaounde - Cameroon's army has killed 27 members of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram near a northern town, state radio said on Wednesday, in a sign of the growing cross-border threat the militants pose.

The Boko Haram fighters crossed the border into Cameroon earlier this week, after attacking a military base and police station in Nigeria and apparently sending some 480 Nigerian troops retreating across the frontier.

"Cameroon soldiers have killed 27 Boko Haram elements during an attack in a locality near Fotokol in the far north," state radio CRTV said, adding that the deaths occurred on Monday and Tuesday. There was no word on any Cameroonian casualties.

Libya ministers resign over militia fighting

Cairo - The official Libyan news agency says six ministers have resigned after accusing the government of taking sides in escalating battles among rival militias.

LANA, quoting TV network al-Nabaa, on Wednesday said the ministers of industry, labour, planning, education and water resources, and the state minister for the affairs of the wounded, have submitted their resignation.

3rd doctor dies from Ebola in Sierra Leone

Freetown - A senior adviser to Sierra Leone's president says a third doctor has died from Ebola, marking a setback in the country's fight against the virulent disease.

Presidential adviser Ibrahim Ben Kargbo said on Wednesday that Dr Sahr Rogers had been working in a clinic in the eastern town of Kenema when he contracted the virus.

Boko Haram leader says ruling Nigerian town by Islamic law

 

The leader of Nigeria's Islamist group Boko Haram said his fighters were now ruling the captured northeastern town of Gwoza "by Islamic law", in the first video to state a territorial claim in more than five years of violent insurrection.

The Nigerian military denied Boko Haram had taken control of the town during fighting over the past week, although security sources and some witnesses said police and military there had been pushed out.

Abubakar Shekau's forces have killed thousands since launching an uprising in 2009, and are seen as the biggest security threat to the continent's leading energy producer.

British Ebola victim flown home as Congo finds new outbreak

A British man infected with the Ebola virus is loaded into an Royal Air Force (RAF) ambulance after being flown home on a C17 plane from Sierra Leone, at Northolt air base outside London, August 26, 2014.

A British medical worker was flown home from West Africa on Sunday after becoming the first Briton infected in an Ebola epidemic, and a separate new outbreak of the disease was detected in Democratic Republic of Congo.

A specially adapted Royal Air Force cargo plane picked up the male healthcare worker in Sierra Leone on Sunday after British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond authorized his repatriation for treatment.

The Department of Health said the patient - whose identity has not been disclosed - was "not currently seriously unwell". The man will be transported to an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

Boko Haram seizes villages, towns

Kano - Boko Haram on Tuesday attempted to blow up a bridge on the Nigerian border with Cameroon after overrunning a town and sending residents and soldiers fleeing, police and locals said.

A Cameroon police officer stationed in the far north town of Fotokol told AFP that the militants tried to destroy the bridge, which serves as the border crossing with Gamboru Ngala in Nigeria.

Boko Haram stormed Gamboru Ngala early on Monday and by evening had taken over the police station, a military barracks and vocational training centre, where they had based themselves, locals said.

MSF offers limited help in DRC Ebola outbreak

Kinshasa - Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the leading organisation in fighting Ebola, said on Tuesday it could provide only limited support to tackle a new outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo as it was already overstretched by the worst ever epidemic.

Congo declared an Ebola outbreak on Sunday and announced plans to quarantine the area around the town of Djera where a high number of suspected cases has been reported. It is Congo's seventh outbreak since the deadly haemorrhagic fever was discovered in 1976 in the same isolated northwestern jungle province, Equateur.

Nigeria troops cross into north Cameroon after Boko Haram attacks base

Around 480 Nigerian soldiers crossed into Cameroon after Boko Haram militants operating along the border between the two nations attacked a military base and police station, authorities in Cameroon said on Tuesday.

The apparent retreat across the border may suggest Boko Haram is having some success at chasing Nigerian forces out of towns they are defending along the hilly frontier with Cameroon.

The soldiers crossed to the Cameroon town of Fotokol in the Far-North region after fighting broke out when the Islamist militants attacked a base and police station in Gamboru in neighboring northeastern Nigeria, Cameroon Ministry of Defense spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Didier Badjeck said.

Zuma must do the honourable thing - NFP

                                                                                             President Jacob Zuma

Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma must do the honourable thing and repay the money used for upgrades to his Nkandla home, the NFP Youth Movement said on Monday.

"Under the circumstances, the honourable thing that our president can do is to pay back the money that was used for the swimming pool and theatre, unless he is convinced that having such a luxury could add value to his safety and that of his family," secretary general Busi Tshabalala said in a statement.

Man trampled to death by elephant

Johannesburg - A man is believed to have been trampled to death by an elephant in the Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site in Limpopo, SA National Parks said in Monday.

Rangers in the western part of the park found the body of a Zimbabwean man, in his early 40s, on Saturday, spokesperson Divhani Maremba said in a statement.

I will beat corruption charges - Malema

                                                                                         Julius Malema

Johannesburg - EFF leader Julius Malema was confident of beating looming fraud, corruption, money-laundering, and racketeering charges against him, he said on Monday.

"I do not fear anything, because I know I've not done anything wrong," Malema told journalists outside the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. He was referring to his pending trial, to be heard from 30 September to 3 October at the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane.

Whistle-blower's redeployment inadequate - group

                                                                                                      Richard Mdluli

Johannesburg - Solidarity wants a contempt of court order against the police for failing to correctly redeploy a whistle-blower demoted by ex-crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli. "The labour court will hear the application on the 17th of October," Solidarity's head of fair labour practice Dirk Groenewald said.

Mdluli demoted Colonel Kobus Roos from his position as head of internal audit, to the inspectorate and evaluation division of the unit. This was after he had exposed corruption in the crime intelligence unit, according to Solidarity, which successfully fought his redeployment in court.

Groenewald said the police did not abide by the court order and that was why it had lodged an application for an order of contempt of court.

Pistorius witness felt 'attacked' on stand

Pretoria - Annette Stipp, one of the prosecution's witnesses in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, said being questioned on the stand felt like a personal attack, The Times reported on Monday.

"We feel [like we were] trampled by a bus," she reportedly said in an interview for a research paper on the trauma of being a witness in a criminal trial.

She said Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux's presentation of his heads of argument earlier this month was harrowing. He described Stipp and her husband's testimony as "exaggerated and contradictory".

"You feel like you are being attacked personally. Your integrity is questioned. We felt that [we] were being attacked as liars." Stipp said.

Mpuma mom jailed for stabbing friend to death

 

Mbombela - An Mpumalanga mother who stabbed and killed her mentally ill friend was jailed for 10 years by the Nelspruit Regional Court on Monday.

Lungile Precious Malibe, 23, from KaNyamazane near Mbombela, was arrested last March after she was accused of murdering her best friend, Kedibone Mohlala, 24, by stabbing her five times with a knife.

Malibe, a mother of a 4-month-old baby, pleaded guilty to the charge, saying she acted in self-defence after Mohlala attacked her with a knife. The court heard the fight started after Mohlala demanded a bag containing her clothes and ID which she claimed she left at Malibe's home.

2 appear for Eastern Cape rape

 

Johannesburg - Two men accused of raping a woman in Dutywa appeared in the town's magistrate's court on Monday, Eastern Cape police said.

The matter was postponed to 5 September for a formal bail application, police spokesperson Jackson Manatha said. The pair would remain in police custody.

The men, aged 18 and 27, were arrested on Saturday night. A group of five men approached the woman and her boyfriend as they were walking in Dutywa town around 23:00 on Saturday.

They allegedly demanded money and cellphones from the couple.

"When they could not get anything, the boyfriend was severely beaten by the suspects and he ran, leaving his girlfriend behind," Manatha said.

He spotted a patrolling police car and alerted officers to the attack.

"The second suspect was found still raping the woman whilst the first suspect who raped the woman was still at the scene," Manatha said.

Mpuma nurse testifies in vigilante case

Mbombela - An Mpumalanga nurse testified in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Monday against an ex-municipal manager implicated in a vigilante murder.

Delfina Ndlovu, a nurse at Barberton General Hospital, was testifying in the murder trial of former Mbombela local municipality manager Bruno Vilane, 47.

Vilane is accused along with his son Nhlanhla Vilane, 23, Andile Lawrence Masuku, 20, Zwelithini Welcome Tsela, 22, and Makusile Mahlangu, 29.

Teen tried to kill uncles in their sleep, court hears

Johannesburg - A boy who allegedly tried to kill two of his uncles with an axe appeared in the Mkobola Magistrate's Court in Kwaggafontein on Monday, Mpumalanga police said.

The case was postponed to 25 September to find a bed for the 17-year-old at the Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital in Pretoria, where he would undergo mental observation, police spokesperson Selvy Mohlala said.

The teenager, who faces two charges of attempted murder, would be kept at a place of safety. In the early hours of Sunday, 17 August the teenager went into the room where his uncles were sleeping and allegedly attacked them with an axe.

5 in court after KZN beheading

Johannesburg - Five people appeared in the Chatsworth Magistrate's Court on Monday for the murder of a woman in the town last week, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

Nusumuzi Jabulani Gumede, 30, Sibonakaliso Zaba Mbuli, 32, and three teenagers aged 16 to 17 appeared. The matter was postponed to 1 September for a formal bail application, police said.

KZN protesters arrested for blocking N3

Durban - Ten people have been arrested in protests in Mooi River calling for the removal of a KwaZulu-Natal mayor. The protesters blocked part of the N3 passing Mooi River on Monday , police said.

Police spokesperson Thulani Zwane said the 10 were expected to appear in court on Tuesday. The protesters had been calling for the removal of Mooi Mpofana local municipality Mayor Ntombi Mpangase.

The protests started on Friday, but died down over the weekend. They erupted again on Monday.

"The situation is still tense and police are monitoring the situation," said Zwane.

KwaZulu-Natal co-operative governance and traditional affairs spokesperson Lennox Mabaso said in a statement the department had sent "a high level rapid response team to the municipality to end the protest action which is blocking traffic on the N3 highway near Mooi River".

KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate spokesperson Zinhle Mngomezulu said officially the road was not closed, but that protesters had closed it. She said a joint command centre had been set up, but that comment needed to be obtained from the police.

'Dr' Pallo Jordan: Why I did it

Johannesburg - Pallo Jordan is considering a lengthy retreat from public life following the furore triggered by the revelation that he possesses neither a doctorate nor a university degree, City Press reports.

This week the former Cabinet minister told City Press: “Now, maybe, I should retire from public life and sit it out.” In the exclusive interview, Jordan spoke matter-of-factly of the tragic circumstances in which he was first referred to as Dr Jordan.

That was in 1982, in a report about the letter bomb that killed the academic and journalist Ruth First in Maputo. It appeared in the authoritative newsletter Africa Confidential and noted that “social scientist Dr Pallo Jordan” was also injured in the blast.

Mamphela Ramphele abandons debt

                                                                                                         Mamphela Ramphele

Johannesburg - Former Agang leader Mamphela Ramphele allegedly moved to cash in shares worth R10m to pay Agang debts and staff salaries, but later reneged, saying she needed to protect her assets, City Press reports.

Ramphele left the party with a trail of debts totalling millions, and now angry suppliers are taking her and the party to court to recover their money. Ramphele, however, denies being personally liable for Agang’s debts.

One of the suppliers, Tracy Tarry, whose firm Red Cherry Events Managements is owed R750 000, said she facilitated talks between Ramphele and investors who were interested in buying some of Ramphele’s Mediclinic shares. Her family holds shares worth R30m in trust.

Free State woman, handicapped son hit by truck

Johannesburg - A woman died and her handicapped son was seriously injured when they were hit by a truck in Bloemfontein, Free State, on Sunday, paramedics said.

"A report from the scene indicates that the mother was pushing her son in a wheelchair to church when they were hit by a truck," Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said.

Dali Tambo bust by Parliament

Johannesburg - A damning internal legal opinion has found that Dali Tambo’s company may have overcharged Parliament for the bust of Nelson Mandela that stands outside the National Assembly, City Press reports.

The legal opinion also suggests that the spending on the bust should be declared irregular. But Parliament is disputing its own legal opinion and insists the money spent was neither irregular nor wasteful.

Tambo on Saturday threatened to sue City Press if the paper published anything “untrue” about the tender, and insisted everything was above board.

Muti killing a crime against humanity - Phiyega

       

                                                                                                General Riah Phiyega

Johannesburg - Muti killings are serious crimes against humanity and a collaborative approach is needed to combat them, Police Commissioner General Riah Phiyega said on Saturday.

"Women, the elderly and children remain the most vulnerable," she said at a crime awareness campaign on ritual murders and mob justice in Giyani, Limpopo.

She said a study prepared for the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions in 2011, documented that witchcraft had been widely practised in African societies since before the colonial time.

Two arrested for stolen laptops

Johannesburg - Two men have been arrested for allegedly stealing a number of laptops, police said on Sunday.

Following a tip-off, a 25-year-old man was arrested in Lyttleton, south of Pretoria, after he was found in possession of four allegedly stolen laptops, Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale said in a statement.

"These laptops were reported stolen in Brooklyn and Sandton in July and August 2014 respectively."

Following the 25-year-old man's arrest, the second man, 31, was arrested in Sasolburg in the Free State, where he was found in possession of 25 allegedly stolen laptops.

DA welcomes travel ban

                                                               Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, minister van gesondheid.

Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance welcomed on Thursday the travel ban for non-South Africans from countries affected by the Ebola virus outbreak.

"We also welcome the minister’s intention to medically examine and screen all South Africans returning from these countries until further notice," DA MP Wilmot James said in a statement.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Thursday that Cabinet issued an immediate travel ban for non-South Africans from countries affected by the Ebola virus disease.

Zuma's son in court

Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma's son Duduzane is expected to attend an inquest at the Randburg Magistrate's Court on Friday.

Zuma allegedly hit a minibus taxi in Rivonia, Johannesburg, while driving a Porsche, causing the taxi to overturn.One person was killed and three people were injured.

At the time, metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said the Porsche rear-ended the taxi on the M1 south off-ramp at Grayston Drive.

Fatal head-on collision on N2

Johannesburg -Two people died and four others were injured when two vehicles collided head-on on the N2 outside of Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, paramedics said on Thursday.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said a man and a woman were declared dead at the scene.

Media too mainstream - Harber

                                                                                                  Anton Harber

Johannesburg - Diversity in newsroom demographics, management and ownership is greater than 20 years ago, but there is a lack of diversity in content, professor Anton Harber said on Thursday.

"Before 1994, even under censorship, we had a left wing alternative media, a rightwing alternative media, [and an] active trade union media," the University of Witwaterand journalism professor said at media diversity round table discussion in Johannesburg.

EFF trampled on dignity of Parliament - Mantashe

Johannesburg - The Economic Freedom Fighters trampled on Parliament's dignity by disrupting proceedings in the National Assembly on Thursday, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said.

"That is trampling on the dignity of Parliament as an institution... and if you want to destroy that institution for a short term satisfaction, you will regret it," Mantashe told journalists after a dinner hosted by the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Johannesburg. "When there is no Parliament, there will be dictatorship."

Cable fault leaves Pretoria in the dark

Johannesburg - Residents of Equestria in Pretoria are without power on Tuesday because of cable faults, the City of Tshwane said.

Some of the residents of Equestria were without power due to cable faults affecting seven mini-substations, spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said in a statement.

"The city is fully aware of the situation and a dedicated team of technicians is attending to these faults."Mashigo said power was expected to be restored on Wednesday morning.

Earlier, power was restored to areas in and around the Highveld area in Tshwane following power outages due to attempted cable theft.

Mpumalanga man jailed for raping brother

Mbombela - A mentally ill man was sentenced to 10 years' jail by the Nelspruit Regional Court on Tuesday for raping his 16-year-old mentally handicapped brother.

The 36-year-old man from Matsulu, outside Mbombela, Mpumalanga, was found guilty of rape, a Sapa correspondent reported.

"What makes it harder is that you did not show remorse and the victim is mentally impaired, which means it would be hard for him to say yes or no to whatever happens to him," said Magistrate Willie Wilkens.

North West man appears for girlfriend's murder

Johannesburg - A man appeared in the Bafokeng Magistrate's Court for allegedly killing his girlfriend, North West police said on Tuesday.

The case against Daniel Boikanyo, 49, was postponed on Monday to 25 August for further investigation, Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said.

Marikana causes need second inquiry - Mpofu

                                                                                Dali Mpofu 

Pretoria - It would be unfeasible for the Farlam Commission of Inquiry to embark on a second phase probing the 2012 Marikana unrest, a lawyer said on Tuesday.

"If justice is to be done to the issue of the underlying causes, then a separate and different inquiry must be done," Dali Mpofu, who represents hundreds of injured and arrested Lonmin miners, told the inquiry's public hearings in Pretoria.

"A commission that is not time-bound and adversarial and dominated by lawyers," he said.

"The weakness of the present inquiry is that some of the 'witnesses', like Cecil John Rhodes, or whoever started the mining industry, cannot be called. Lonmin cannot answer for them."

Struggling Liberia creates 'plague villages' in Ebola epicenter

Health workers wearing protective clothing prepare to carry an abandoned dead body presenting with Ebola symptoms at Duwala market in Monrovia August 18, 2014.

 To try to control the Ebola epidemic spreading through West Africa, Liberia has quarantined remote villages at the epicenter of the virus, evoking the "plague villages" of medieval Europe that were shut off from the outside world.

With few food and medical supplies getting in, many abandoned villagers face a stark choice: stay where they are and risk death or skip quarantine, spreading the infection further in a country ill-equipped to cope.

In Boya, in northern Liberia's Lofa County, Joseph Gbembo, who caught Ebola and survived, says he is struggling to raise 10 children under five years old and support five widows after nine members of his family were killed by the virus.

Impeachment: Nasarawa Assembly petitions NJC, suspends member

Nasarawa State House of Assembly has urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate the state Chief Judge, Justice Umaru Dikko, for allegedly conniving with the executive in violating the 1999 Constitution as amended.

This followed a resolution passed by the House in a matter of public interest brought before it by the member representing Udege/Loko, Muhammad Baba Ibaku and seconded by Muhammad Okpede (Doma North)

The lawmakers described the alleged action of the Chief Judge in the impeachment saga as a total violation of Section 188(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), urging the NJC to investigate and sanction him to serve as a deterrent to other judges in the country.