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/ 23 February 2006
Police in the eastern Dutch city of Nijmegen have booked a man for his smelly feet, the Telegraaf newspaper reported on Thursday. The 56-year-old turned up at a shelter for the homeless in the city near the German border and took his shoes off before putting his feet up.
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/ 23 February 2006
The United States reacted coolly on Wednesday to prospects that former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide would return to Haiti after the election of his one-time protégé René Préval to lead the Caribbean nation. ”If we were asked, I think we would say it’s probably not a good idea. It doesn’t serve a useful purpose,” said deputy State Department spokesperson Adam Ereli.
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/ 23 February 2006
The unit at the Koeberg nuclear power station that tripped at the weekend, precipitating rolling power cuts in the Western Cape, could be back on stream earlier than predicted, Eskom chief executive Thulani Gcabashe said on Thursday. He said the reactivation of the unit was running roughly twelve hours ahead of schedule.
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/ 23 February 2006
South Africa’s Coastal Sharks will use a secret weapon as they try to reverse a wretched playing record in New Zealand against reigning champions Canterbury Crusaders in Super 14 rugby action on Saturday. The weapon is former All Blacks fly-half Tony Brown, who played 19 Tests and 83 Super 12 matches for the Otago Highlanders.
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/ 23 February 2006
South Africa’s producer price index (PPI) rose by 5,5% year-on-year (y/y) in January from a 5,1% y/y increase in December, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. The PPI declined by 0,1% on a monthly basis after December’s monthly increase of 0,1%. The PPI was expected to have risen by 5,8% y/y, according to an I-Net Bridge survey of economists.
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/ 23 February 2006
The South African wine industry, represented by the South African Wine & Brandy Company, has officially asked the government for support in regaining a competitive advantage internationally following nine years of deregulation. The call for intervention comes as the industry faces extremely difficult market conditions both locally and internationally.
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/ 23 February 2006
The resistance Khutsong residents were showing towards incorporation into North West was often the result of genuine misunderstanding, African National Congress president Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday. He told Metro FM listeners that party chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota had briefed him on his visit there at the weekend.
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/ 23 February 2006
Iraq’s political and religious leaders were engaged in a desperate effort on Wednesday night to stop the country from sliding into civil war after a huge bomb shattered the golden-domed mosque in the city of Samarra, one of Shia Islam’s most revered sites.
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/ 23 February 2006
China warned outspoken Hong Kong Bishop Joseph Zen on Thursday not to mix politics and religion, after Pope Benedict XVI named him a cardinal. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao also said Beijing’s position on refraining from establishing diplomatic ties with Rome had not changed because of the appointment.
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/ 23 February 2006
An Australian businessman who faked his own death nearly six years ago in an attempt to cash in a 3,5-million Australian dollar ($2,5-million) life insurance policy was jailed on Thursday for 15 months. Harry Gordon (56) who was declared officially dead after an apparent boating accident but never received the money, was also ordered to compensate police Aus$22 000 for the costs of searching for him.