A Chinese court has handed a sentence of life in jail to the boss of a huge smuggling and bribery scam who was at the centre of a lengthy deportation battle with Canada, state media has said.

Lai Changxing, 53, received the sentence at a court in southeast China’s Xiamen, the city from which he directed his sprawling criminal empire before fleeing the country, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. The sentence was the maximum available to the Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court after China, in order to secure Lai’s extradition, issued an unusual promise to the Canadian government not to execute him.

Read more here (via Al Jazeera)

The National Union of Metalworkers of SA wants the government to nationalise economic sectors – including mines and banks – without compensation.

Speaking at the University of Johannesburg yesterday, Irvin Jim, the union’s general secretary, rejected the findings of research commissioned by the ANC that found that nationalisation was not viable. Releasing discussion documents ahead of the union’s policy conference next month, Jim said nationalisation could be embraced only if there was “political will”.

Read more here (via Times Live)

The DA March that went horribly wrong, Sean Davison speaks out on assisted dying and Imran Kahn to be Pakistan’s next prime minister– Here is a sneak peek of what you’ll find inside the 36th issue of NewsNow — now on sale for only R10! (more…)

ANC threatens to go to court for Zuma painting, fuel prices to drop within the next month and disco singer, Donna Summer, dies at 63. Here are all the stories you need to know: (more…)

The government says it remains committed to e-tolling and will appeal the high court’s interim order halting its implementation in Gauteng.

“Cabinet has taken a decision to appeal the interim order to stop the e-tolling,” government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi told a fortnightly post-Cabinet briefing. He said the government had only received a written copy of Judge Bill Prinsloo’s April 28 judgment late on Wednesday.

Read more here (via Mail & Guardian)

ANC Women’s League president Angie Motshekga has criticised the “sexist and racist” insults of Cosatu members towards DA leader Helen Zille and parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko.

Cosatu members said during Tuesday’s DA protest in Johannesburg over a youth wage subsidy that they wanted to “strip Zille naked” and referred to Lindiwe Mazibuko as ”the madam’s sidekick”.

Several female Democratic Alliance supporters who took part in the march were injured as a result of rough treatment by Cosatu men.

Read more here (via Times Live)

Soccer has been banned on public fields in Lavender Hill in a drastic attempt to clamp down on gang violence and end the spate of killings.

“There will be no more soccer played in Lavender Hill for the next two months. The soccer games, which are informal, are arranged by gangs,” Kevin Southgate, chairman of the Steenberg Community Police Forum (CPF), said on Wednesday. “These soccer matches are just used as a façade for the gangsters to recruit youngsters.”

In recent weeks gang violence has flared up in Lavender Hill and other areas, shattering peace treaties signed by rival gangsters and driven by Community Safety MEC Dan Plato.

Read more here (via IOL)

The jury for the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or has spoken out over claims of sexism prompted by the lack of female film-makers in the running.

Many critics have complained that all 22 films in the contest have been directed by men, many past winners of the award. But jury member British director Andrea Arnold said: “I would absolutely hate it if my film was selected because I was a woman. I would only want my film to be selected for the right reasons.”

Read more here (via BBC)

An instruction to halt the investigation into former crime intelligence head Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli came from police bosses, according to newspaper reports on Thursday.

The order to stop investigating Mdluli was given by Hawks boss Lieutenant General Anwa Dramat on February 13, according to a report by Hawks detective Colonel Kobus Roelofse which was filed in the South Gauteng High Court on Tuesday.

Read more here (via News24)

Zuma condemns DA/Cosatu violence, South Africa clamps down on rhino poaching, Vavi’s ANC warning. Here are all the stories you need to know: (more…)

Only 20 percent of a group of 2000 metropolitan adults support what Julius Malema says and does, a recent survey revealed.

“This is in the same region as the 17 percent of September 2011, the 21 percent measured in mid-2010 and down on the 27 percent seen at the end of 2009,” the researchers said on Wednesday. The study was conducted by TNS South Africa between April 13 and 24, before the African National Congress Youth League leader was expelled from the ANC.

Read more here (via Times Live)

Protesting Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) members attacked a Post Office van in central Johannesburg on Wednesday morning.

They pelted it with stones in Jorissen Street, forcing the driver to reverse around a corner. About 100 of the union’s members, employed by the SA Post Office (Sapo) in Gauteng, converged on Cosatu House in Braamfontein to protest against an unresolved labour broking agreement.

Read more here (via News24)

New French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged differences on Tuesday over how to boost growth in recession-plagued Europe, but pledged to forge a joint approach in time for an EU summit next month.

The Socialist Hollande jetted to Berlin only hours after being sworn in to meet Merkel, a conservative, for the first time, arriving over an hour late after his plane was hit by lightning and he was forced to return briefly to Paris. The meeting was being closely watched for signs the leaders of Europe’s biggest economies will be able to move beyond a war of words over how to resolve the debt crisis that now threatens to tear apart the 13-year-old currency bloc.

Read more here (via IOL)

Carlos Fuentes, one of Latin America’s best-known authors and a sharp critic of governments in Mexico and the United States, died on Tuesday after a literary career spanning more than five decades. He was 83.

Fuentes wrote more than 20 novels and several collections of short stories. His most famous novels include “The Death of Artemio Cruz,” “The Old Gringo” and “The Crystal Frontier.” The Old Gringo was the first US bestseller by a Mexican author and was made into a 1989 movie starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda.

Read more here (via Mail & Guardian)

Greece will hold a new election after politicians failed to form a government, nine days following an inconclusive vote, prolonging a political crisis that pushes it closer to bankruptcy and exit from the euro.

After a third day of failed talks with political leaders on Tuesday, a spokesman for President Karolos Papoulias said the process of seeking a compromise had been declared a failure and a new vote must be held. He did not immediately give the date for the new vote, but elections rules suggest it will be in mid-June. A caretaker government would be formed on Wednesday, the spokesman said.

Read more here (via Al Jazeera)

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has received legal papers from Freedom Under Law (FUL) applying for the removal of Lt-Gen Richard Mdluli from the police, his spokesman said on Wednesday.

“We can confirm that we received the court papers and that our legal team are currently studying them,” Zweli Mnisi said. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has received legal papers from Freedom Under Law (FUL) applying for the removal of Lt-Gen Richard Mdluli from the police, his spokesman said on Wednesday.

Read more here (via Times Live)

Bosnian military leader in UN court for war crimes, DA to press charges against Cosatu and South Africa is ranked top on a World Bank’s survey. Here are all the top stories you need to know: (more…)

Are you struggling with a lack of results from your exercise routine? It’s common to exercise for an extended period of time and not reap the rewards if you aren’t giving your body the correct food.

Health site realbuzz.com has assembled an excellent list of the perfect foods that can enhance the positive effects of exercise when eaten before, during and after your workout.

Read more here (via Realbuzz)

According to Human Rights Watch, a Baghdad prison that was supposed to have shut down in 2011 is still in operation.

Iraq’s Human Rights Ministry has denied the Human Rights Watch claim as inaccurate, saying the detention centre in question, known by its former US military designation as Camp Honour, was shut down more than a year ago.

Read more here (via Huffington Post)

Newly elected French President Francois Hollande’s work begins as France economy posts zero growth in first quarter.

The French economy stalled in the first quarter as household consumption flatlined, businesses pared back investment and exports slowed, underlining the challenge facing Socialist President Francois Hollande as he takes office on Tuesday. It may add to his drive to push the euro zone to adopt growth as well as austerity policies.

Read more here (via Business Day)