Customs officials in Côte d’Ivoire began a strike on Tuesday to demand the release of three colleagues imprisoned over a toxic-waste scandal, preventing registration of cocoa shipments for export, an official said. ”Ships which already have their [customs] documents signed can leave [the port] but ships which will try to obtain them today [Tuesday] will be blocked,” one customs officer said.
South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni says the bank has had a strategy meeting at which the matter of de-linking the mortgage system from prime interest rates was discussed. This emerged in question time at a meeting with trainee accountants in Cape Town on Monday.
In September 1997 Richard Dawkins allowed an Australian film crew into his Oxford home, only to realise in the course of a particularly inept interview that they were creationists trying to trap him. Tumbling to this, he paused for some moments while deciding whether to throw them out or attempt a long and thoughtful explanation that they didn’t want to hear.
Prudence and Polly the pigeons are blissfully unaware that they are at the centre of the latest political storm to hit Scotland’s Parliament. The birds go about their business of pecking and eating in their nest in the canopy above the main entrance of the iconic building in Scotland’s capital.
North Korea said on Tuesday it would conduct a nuclear test in the future but would never use atomic weapons first and remained committed to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, Pyongyang’s KCNA news agency reported. Analysts say the reclusive state, which shocked the region in July with a series of missile tests, has enough fissile material to make at least six to eight nuclear bombs.
There was no warning, not even the roar of the approaching 737, before the two planes collided at 11 278m, according to a passenger aboard the smaller corporate jet whose seven occupants miraculously survived the fatal encounter. Joe Sharkey was on assignment in Brazil and relaxing aboard the Embraer Legacy 600 jet with his window shade closed when he felt the mid-air impact.
The MTN Group has acquired an extra 6,98% interest in its subsidiary, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, the company said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Pearl Majola said MTN made the purchase from minority shareholders at a cost of ,9-million, or about R2,6-billion.
Football agents could be forced to reveal details of their bank accounts by the Premier League’s inquiry into allegations of corruption in football. Former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens, who is leading the inquiry, said his team may use Football Association rules to force agents to open their accounts for inspection.
Spain’s Real Zaragoza face censure again after a Levante player was subjected to racist abuse from fans during their Primera Liga match on Sunday. Referee Fernando Teixeira Vitienes, in his match report, said he heard monkey chants being directed at a Levante player.
West Indian great Clive Lloyd will mastermind the campaign of Brian Lara’s team during the Champions Trophy one-day tournament starting in India on Saturday. Lloyd, captain of World Cup-winning teams in 1975 and 1979, has been appointed a consultant to coach Bennett King and Lara during the 10-nation event, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said in a statement on Tuesday.