Nieuwoudt and friends appear in PE High Court and other brief reports...

* Nineteen officials accused of defrauding Mpumalanga\'s Local Government and Housing Department by awarding themselves bonuses totalling more than R300 000 were released on bail of R2000 each yesterday. The 19 officials were not asked to plead on charges of theft and fraud when they appeared in Nelspruit Magistrates’ Court. The case was postponed until June 21. – News24 * A court held preliminary hearings yesterday in the trial of the only surviving suspected hostage-taker in last year\'s school seizure in southern Russia. The trial of Nur-Pashi Kulayev will start on May 17 at the Supreme Court of North Ossetia, the Russian province where the raid took place, and it will be open to the public, according to Russia\'s Deputy Prosecutor-General Nikolai Shepel. – The Mercury * The Gay and L esbian Alliance is to inform 59 secondary schools that some pupils will bring same-sex partners to their matric dances and that any action against such pupils boils down to violation of basic human rights. – IoL * Three residents of an upmarket Port Elizabeth suburb have appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrates’ Court on charges of shooting more than 30 taxis with a pellet gun and causing thousands of rands in damage. Guy Snyman (29), Nicky Ivans (20) and Hallem Cockcroft (27) have been released on bail of R500 each. The matter was postponed to May 17 for further investigation. – The Herald * The Nelspruit Magistrates’ Court has granted bail of R2 000 each to at least 19 Mpumalanga Local Government and Housing officials accused of tampering with the salary system and paying themselves extra salaries and bonuses. The amount involved is said to be more than R300 000. The case has been postponed until June 21. – SABC News * A Regional Court in Perth, Australia, has sentenced a SA woman, Ann Susanna Catharina van Schalkwyk (57), to six years in jail after finding her guilty of smuggling millions of rands worth of cocaine into Perth from Durban. –News24