World

Barbed wire fences mark the borders inside the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea (L) in this photograph taken on October 27, 2010. (Reuters/Hyungwon Kang) N North Korea’s military said it will cut off roads and railways to South Korea and bolster border defenses from Wednesday, citing South Korean military exercises and U.S. “strategic nuclear assets” for the decision. Relations between North and South Korea have been particularly strained recently with both sides exchanging threats of annihilation if the other were ever to attack. “A project will be launched first on October 9 to completely cut off roads and railways connected to the ROK and fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defense structures,” said the general staff of the North Korean People’s...

Ly Samet in an undated photo. Former Prime Minister Hun Sen said one of his top advisers, Ly Samet, solicited bribes in exchange for favors and government positions and has defrauded several Cambodians over the last two years – including one incident in which US$10 million was paid. Hun Sen wrote on Facebook on Monday that Ly Samet’s assets should be frozen, and Phnom Penh court officials should issue an order to return money he accepted from people. “Ly Samet always used my name to cheat people,” he wrote. “He even told people who he had cheated that he had given the money to me.” Last year, Hun Sen stepped down as prime minister in favor of his son, Hun Manet, but he retains power as Senate president and as head of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP. As party presid...

Tibetan students learn Tibetan writing in a first-grade class at the Shangri-La Key Boarding School during a media-organized tour, in Dabpa county, Kardze Prefecture, southwestern China's Sichuan province, Sept. 5, 2023. Chinese authorities detained four Tibetan teens from a shuttered Buddhist monastery school after they resisted being sent to schools run by the Chinese government, two residents living in Tibet told Radio Free Asia. The students, aged 15-18, had been attending the school of the Lhamo Kirti Monastery in Dzoge County in Sichuan province, where instruction was in Tibetan and subjects included Buddhist teachings. But in July, the school was closed because Chinese officials said students under 18 had not attained the age at which they could receive monastic education. ...

Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan. Photo: Flickr The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have reiterated their call for President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, this time citing his admission of the so-called SARS rogue unit’s existence. Gordhan was cross examined by advocate Dali Mpofu, on behalf of his client former South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner Tom Moyane on Monday, 30 November 2020. Moyane and Gordhan have not enjoyed a rosy working relationship – with the former SARS Commissioner accusing the former finance minister of being racist and arrogant. Moyane also took issue with the early retirement payout of former SARS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Pillay and accused him of establishing the ‘rogue unit’. “The unit did exi...

Brendin Horner Image source via Facebook: Brendin Horner The two men who have been charged with the brutal murder of 21-year old farm manager, Brendin Horner on a farm outside the sleepy town of Senekal, quietly return to the dock today Tuesday 1 December. The 32-year old Sekwetje Mahlamba and 44-year old Sekola Matlaletsa are alleged to have stabbed and strangled Horner to death in early October, in what the state believes is a stock theft incident gone wrong. HORNER MURDER ACCUSED REARRESTED WHILE OUT ON BAIL While it has been widely reported that Matlaletsa was released out on R 5000 bail on 22 October, Free State Police Commissioner, Baile Motswenyane, revealed in her address at the Ministerial Rural Safety Imbizo in Bethlehem in mid-November, that Matlaletsa was in fact back in c...