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Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – A Johannesburg court on Thursday convicted seven Chinese nationals on charges of human trafficking.The accused were found guilty on 160 counts, which led to direct imprisonment of 20 years each, for various charges including human trafficking, child labour and a violation of various labour [...]
©- - 12 september 2025 - 06:59:14 - thread Society (313 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The South African Police Service (SAPS) anti-kidnapping task team has safely reunited an Indian businessman with his family following a shootout with an alleged mastermind behind the businessman’s kidnapping.The businessman was found in Johannesburg on Thursday morning.His rescue follows a shooting in which the [...]
©- - 05 september 2025 - 07:45:38 - thread Society (187 words)


New York, US (PANA) - Systematic rape and sexual violence are being used as weapons of war in Darfur, the International Criminal Court (ICC) warned on Thursday, as part of a widening investigation into what its Deputy Prosecutor said are escalating atrocities against civilians in the conflict-ridden region.Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat [...]
©- - 11 july 2025 - 05:20:16 - thread Society (532 words)


Vienna, Austria (PANA) - The global drive for renewable energy technologies has sharply increased demand for so-called critical minerals, heightening the risk of crime, corruption, and instability across supply chains as organised crime groups infiltrate the mining industry.Criminal networks are increasingly seeking to gain control over extraction sites, trade routes, [...]
©- - 21 may 2025 - 04:34:53 - thread Society (387 words)


Vienna, Austria (PANA) - The head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) called on Monday for renewed global commitment to combating emerging criminal threats and strengthening justice systems worldwide.In recent years, criminal and terrorist groups have seized “every” opportunity afforded by growing instability to “entrench, expand, and [...]
©- - 20 may 2025 - 05:07:42 - thread Society (215 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says he is in the process of establishing a judicial commission of inquiry to establish whether attempts were made to prevent the investigation or prosecution of apartheid-era crimes referred by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to the National [...]
©- - 02 may 2025 - 08:24:00 - thread Society (389 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Thomas Chauke, a 54-year-old Zimbabwean national, has been sentenced to 110 years’ imprisonment by the Makhanda High Court in South Africa.Chauke’s was convicted on six counts of rhino poaching and wildlife-related offences, alongside three counts of escaping lawful custody.South Africa's Environment Minister Dion George [...]
©- - 16 april 2025 - 07:12:35 - thread Society (171 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South African Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi on Thursday expressed her deep concern regarding the manner in which the case of Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso and his co-accused was handled by the prosecuting team.This follows the ruling by High Court Judge Irma [...]
©- - 10 april 2025 - 08:02:17 - thread Society (259 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Pretoria has welcomed the Malawian court ruling on Wednesday that self- proclaimed prophet Shepherd and his wife, Mary, be extradited to South Africa to face numerous charges including fraud and rape. Malawi’s Chief Resident Magistrate's Court ordered the high-profile fugitives to be remanded in custody [...]
©- - 13 march 2025 - 09:44:35 - thread Society (306 words)


Monrovia, Liberia (PANA) - There is often a disproportionate concentration of violence and crime among young people in low-income urban areas compared to their high-income counterparts. This is largely driven by structural violence, which includes systemic inequalities, limited opportunities, and inadequate social support systems.Over the past few years, we have engaged [...]
©- - 13 february 2025 - 07:43:02 - thread Society (912 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) –  The daughter of former President of South Africa Jacob Zuma will face charges of inciting terrorism that led to the deaths of 354 people in July 2021 after her father was jailed.Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla will appear in the Durban Magistrate's Court on Thursday and Zuma’s [...]
©- - 29 january 2025 - 09:03:09 - thread Society (250 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Nelson Mandela’s grandson is expected to appear in a Johannesburg court on Friday after being arrested at the former world statesman’s upmarket home. Police have confirmed that 33-year-old Mbuso Mandela was one of five suspects arrested on Wednesday after Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department officers traced [...]
©- - 09 january 2025 - 09:59:02 - thread Society (172 words)


New York, US (PANA) - Billions of people worldwide are set to benefit from enhanced safety online and in the physical world following the adoption of a legally binding treaty on cybercrime by the UN General Assembly.The 193 UN Member States adopted, by consensus, the historic Convention against Cybercrime – [...]
©- - 25 december 2024 - 06:09:03 - thread Society (558 words)


New York, US (PANA) - The General Assembly on Tuesday adopted the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime, a landmark global treaty aimed at strengthening international cooperation to combat cybercrime and protecting societies from digital threats.The agreement on the legally binding treaty marked the culmination of a five-year effort by UN [...]
©- - 25 december 2024 - 05:50:20 - thread Society (519 words)


Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) – Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters and allied militias have raped scores of women and girls, including in the context of sexual slavery, in South Kordofan state since September 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday. “These acts of sexual violence, which constitute war crimes [...]
©- - 16 december 2024 - 05:06:44 - thread Society (905 words)


New York, US (PANA) - The mechanism to complete the work of UN war crimes tribunals continues to make progress in delivering justice for the most serious crimes in Rwanda and the States of the former Yugoslavia, top officials told the Security Council on Tuesday.Briefing ambassadors, Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, [...]
©- - 11 december 2024 - 04:58:00 - thread Society (481 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA) on Tuesday said it had intercepted an unidentified German national who has been on Interpol’s most wanted list. The arrest occurred during a routine border operation conducted at OR Tambo International Airport over the weekend. The Commissioner of the Border [...]
©- - 19 november 2024 - 15:10:25 - thread Society (266 words)


Vienna, Austria (PANA) - Marking the inaugural International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organised Crime on Friday, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has called for unified global efforts to counter these pervasive threats.Proclaimed by the General Assembly in March 2024, [...]
©- - 15 november 2024 - 06:37:32 - thread Society (633 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South African Police on Tuesday confirmed that a female South African drug trafficker was arrested in Addis Ababa following a joint operation between authorities in the two countries. A team from Gauteng counter narcotics covert intelligence flagged a 29-year-old South African woman through Interpol on suspicion [...]
©- - 15 october 2024 - 07:42:00 - thread Society (237 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – A large contingent of police officers has been deployed to the Eastern Cape province after six people were shot dead and four others injured at the Lugongozo High School, near Qumbu, on Sunday night.A group of at least eight men, who were armed with [...]
©- - 08 october 2024 - 10:19:49 - thread Society (228 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) –South African  Police have confirmed that 25 suspects are in custody following this weekend’s mass shooting in the Eastern Cape which left 18 people dead.The massacre occurred at the Ngobozana village in Lusikisiki on Sawhen where mourners were preparing for a traditional ceremony for two [...]
©- - 01 october 2024 - 10:17:27 - thread Society (253 words)


New York, US (PANA) - UN Member States have finalised a new treaty targeting cybercrime, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported on Friday.After three years of work, the committee established by the UN General Assembly to negotiate the convention agreed on a draft text on Thursday.The draft [...]
©- - 10 august 2024 - 05:25:52 - thread Society (266 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South African police have rescued a businessman and arrested eight kidnappers, including three Tanzanian nationals in Johannesburg.The businessman was kidnapped on 5 July 2024 at a mosque in Roodepoort. He was rescued at a house in Lenasia last week.The SAPS anti- kidnapping task team has [...]
©- - 05 august 2024 - 17:06:05 - thread Society (204 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The trial of seven Chinese nationals charged with human trafficking and child labour offences has been postponed because two defence witnesses failed to attend proceedings in the Gauteng Division of the High Court. Counsel representing the accused, Jan Kruger, told the court that one of [...]
©- - 05 july 2024 - 11:01:59 - thread Society (213 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – At least 20 Portuguese butchery owners and staff have been kidnapped in South Africa’s Gauteng province over the past 18 months. Within the space of 72 hours last week, three butchery owners were kidnapped. Only one of the men has been rescued so far. Police [...]
©- - 03 july 2024 - 09:17:22 - thread Society (294 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) –  A criminal complaint has been made against newly appointed Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie for “incitement of xenophobic violence, hate speech and intimidation”. President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday announced that the leader of the Patriotic Alliance party had accepted his offer to serve [...]
©- - 02 july 2024 - 14:50:35 - thread Society (342 words)


El Fasher, Sudan (PANA) - The Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched a campaign on Tuesday to address the unfolding crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, amid the going war between rival military forces that erupted last April. In a video posted on social media, Karim Khan urged [...]
©- - 12 june 2024 - 06:48:06 - thread Society (677 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Two passengers have been arrested for allegedly making a bomb threat on board a passenger airline at Cape Town International Airport on Thursday night. The FlySafair flight to Johannesburg was grounded while a police bomb squad was deployed to the airport “due to a possible [...]
©- - 07 june 2024 - 10:49:18 - thread Society (192 words)


New York, US (PANA) - The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced at the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the investigative stage of the legal proceedings into alleged war crimes in Libya is expected to conclude by the end of 2025, transitioning into the judicial stage. That “roadmap”, [...]
©- - 15 may 2024 - 06:49:07 - thread Society (426 words)


Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Drug trafficking in the Sahel region – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and the Niger – continues to hinder security, economic development and the rule of law while jeopardizing public health, said a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).  Cannabis resin remains [...]
©- - 21 april 2024 - 05:13:41 - thread Society (572 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - As the 30th commemoration begins this Sunday, 7 April of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed, including Hutu and others who opposed the genocide and the extremist government that orchestrated it, Amnesty International is calling on [...]
©- - 05 april 2024 - 13:12:18 - thread Society (585 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The mastermind of South Africa’s biggest ever fraud case, former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste, committed suicide in Hermanus, outside Cape Town, on Thursday. He was 63. The former billionaire was due to hand himself over to police on Friday in connection with the manipulation of [...]
©- - 22 march 2024 - 08:44:40 - thread Society (177 words)


The Hague, Netherlands (PANA) - Forced marriages, human trafficking, conscription of child soldiers and forced labour will form part of crimes to be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court, once policy reviews on these crimes are complete, The Hague-based court said on Tuesday. ICC Prosecutor, Mr Karim Khan, made a call [...]
©- - 19 march 2024 - 15:34:25 - thread Society (414 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South African authorities have repatriated a two-year-old baby from a prison in Dakar, Senegal. The toddler was born in Senegal and has been in the care of the mother who was arrested last year in that country for drug trafficking. The Department of Social Development was [...]
©- - 13 march 2024 - 09:13:11 - thread Society (264 words)


Mogadishu, Somalia (PANA) - The Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Ghada Waly has highlighted the threats of transnational organized crime, terrorism and corruption that is plaguing Somalia. On a mission to the Horn of Africa nation, Executive Director Waly underscored that “Somalia faces daunting challenges [...]
©- - 05 march 2024 - 06:28:44 - thread Society (764 words)


Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - All parties to the Gaza conflict have been responsible for “clear violations of international humanitarian law including possible war crimes”, according to the UN’s top human rights official, Volker Türk. In his Office's latest report on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) scheduled to be [...]
©- - 28 february 2024 - 15:16:50 - thread Society (328 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – An American couple is suing Google after they were attacked last year in a Cape Town township while following directions on Google Maps. Jason and Catharine Zoladz were attempting to drive to Cape Town International Airport, when they were ambushed at a dangerous intersection near [...]
©- - 08 february 2024 - 09:45:12 - thread Society (156 words)


Washington, DC, US (PANA) - The US Department of State is designating Sudan’s former Minister of State for the Interior under the Omar al Bashir regime, Ahmad Mohammad Harun, under the War Crimes Rewards Programme with an offer of $5 million for information for his arrest.   Harun is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war [...]
©- - 30 january 2024 - 06:38:31 - thread Society (406 words)


New York, US (PANA) - The international community’s failure to execute warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and subsequent lack of accountability are fuelling the violence stemming from the war between rival militaries in Sudan, ICC Prosecutor told the UN Security Council on Monday. Prosecutor Karim Khan emphasised the [...]
©- - 30 january 2024 - 06:23:48 - thread Society (624 words)


Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - Experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council have begun their work to investigate grave allegations of crimes in Sudan, where nine months of fighting between rival military forces have left thousands dead and millions displaced. The Chair of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, Mohamed Chande Othman, said [...]
©- - 19 january 2024 - 05:28:17 - thread Society (175 words)


Banjul, Gambia (PANA) – The trial of former Gambian Interior Minister Ousman Sonko will open 8 January in Switzerland for serious crimes committed in The Gambia. This represents a significant advance for justice for the victims of grave abuses, Gambian and international groups that are part of the Jammeh2Justice campaign said [...]
©- - 05 january 2024 - 11:14:49 - thread Society (508 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Former Paralympian hero Oscar Pistorius was released on parole from Pretoria's Atteridgeville Correctional Centre on Friday after serving eight years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. "The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is able to confirm that Oscar Pistorius is a [...]
©- - 05 january 2024 - 07:44:03 - thread Society (274 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius will be released from an Eastern Cape prison on Friday, 11 years after killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The double-amputee was granted parole on 24 November, and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) said he will complete the remainder of [...]
©- - 04 january 2024 - 09:38:48 - thread Society (223 words)


New York, US (PANA) - The UN Secretary-General called for stronger action to fight the growing challenge of transnational organized crime in an address to the Security Council on Thursday.  António Guterres urged countries to strengthen cooperation, the rule of law and prevention efforts against this “vicious threat to peace, security, [...]
©- - 07 december 2023 - 19:24:30 - thread Society (858 words)


Pretoria, South Africa (PANA) - The impact of crime on South Africa’s economic prospects is high and broad-based, according to a World Bank report released Wednesday. The research is intended to support the government in the design and implementation of policies to combat and mitigate the costs of crime on the [...]
©- - 22 november 2023 - 12:38:14 - thread Society (569 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – A Soweto man who stole Nelson Mandela's Sugar Ray Leonard boxing belt has been jailed for 10 years. Mandela was a keen amateur boxer and the former world champion gave him the prized belt in the 1990s. Zofrey Botha admitted that he removed the Boxing Council [...]
©- - 26 october 2023 - 09:02:06 - thread Society (226 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Three people, a South African and UK tourists and a Ugandan tour guide, were killed when when assailants attacked their vehicle near a national park in south-west Uganda on Monday. The names of the deceased have not been released. Bashir Hangi, spokesperson for the Uganda Wildlife Authority [...]
©- - 18 october 2023 - 07:42:24 - thread Society (149 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - Police have confirmed that a prominent Palestinian businessman was shot and killed in Cape Town on Wednesday. Shafiq Nasser, who owns several businesses, was ambushed by gunmen on a motorcycle at a busy intersection. The 38-year-old was declared dead at the scene. Police confirmed that [...]
©- - 05 october 2023 - 15:15:47 - thread Society (108 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The South African authorities are seeking the extradition of a murder suspect, Lehlohonolo Maketoane, who fled to Lesotho on Friday. The body of the suspect's wife, Magistrate Mamello Thamae, was discovered in his car boot after the pair were reported missing from their home in Heilbron [...]
©- - 25 september 2023 - 11:30:19 - thread Society (208 words)


New York, US (PANA) - The international community must act now to protect future generations from the scourge of conflict-related sexual violence, the UN’s advocate on the issue, Pramila Patten, told the Security Council on Friday.  “Every new wave of warfare brings with it a rising tide of human tragedy, including new [...]
©- - 15 july 2023 - 08:08:01 - thread Society (570 words)

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